Chapter VIII: Part 8

Twenty-five hundred men answered Jackson's call. They marched south through a barren country. Food was scarce. His army, almost starved, threatened to go home. A half-starved soldier saw Jackson sitting under a tree and asked him for something to eat. Looking up, Jackson said: "It has always been a rule with me never to turn away a hungry man. I will cheerfully divide with you." Then he drew from his pocket a few acorns, saying: "This is the best and only fare I have."

But Jackson soon received reënforcements, and then, in spite of all these drawbacks, he broke the power of the Creeks in the great battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River in Alabama. After that the Indians were only too glad to cease fighting and sue for peace.

[Sidenote: =A third call to arms=]

Jackson was hardly home again before President Madison made him a major-general, and sent him with an army to guard New Orleans from the British.

After attacking and capturing Pensacola, a Spanish fort which the English occupied, he hurried his army on to New Orleans. Nothing had been done to defend the city. Jackson immediately declared martial law. He threw himself with all the energy he had into getting New Orleans ready, for the British troops were already landing.

[Sidenote: =The two armies=]

The British general had twelve thousand veterans, fresh from their victory over the great Napoleon. Jackson had only half as many men. But nearly every man was a sharpshooter. They were riflemen from the wilds of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, and every man was burning with an ardent desire to fight and defeat the redcoats.

Jackson had not long to wait. On came the British in solid column, with flags flying and drums beating. The fog was breaking away. Behind the breastworks stood the Americans with cannon loaded to the muzzle and with deadly rifles primed for the fight.

_Won by Jackson after peace was made, this battle helped to make him president and to change history_]

[Sidenote: =The beginning of the battle=]

The cannon were the first to fire, but the redcoats closed up their shattered ranks, and moved on. Those lines of red! How splendid and terrible they looked! The Americans gave three cheers. "Fire!" rang out along the line. The breastworks were instantly a sheet of fire. Along the whole line it blazed and rolled. No human being could face that fire. The British soldiers broke and fled.

[Sidenote: =The battle in earnest=]

[Sidenote: =The victory after the treaty=]

Once more they rallied, led by General Pakenham, a relative of the great Duke of Wellington. But who could withstand that fire? Pakenham was slain, and again his troops fled. The battle was over. The British had lost two thousand six hundred men and the Americans only twenty-one! This victory was won after peace had been made between England and America. A ship was then hurrying to America with the glad news.

[Sidenote: =Jackson a hero=]

Everywhere the people rejoiced greatly over the victory of New Orleans. Jackson was a great hero, and wherever he went crowds followed him, and cried out, "Long live the victor of New Orleans!"

For several years Jackson remained at the head of the army in the South. The Seminole War was fought, and those Indians were compelled to make peace.

_From a painting by Thomas Sully which hangs in the rooms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia_]

[Sidenote: =Elected president=]

=127. The People's President.= The people of the United States elected Jackson president in 1828, and reëlected him in 1832 by a greater majority than before, showing that he was very popular.

[Sidenote: =Quarrels with the bank=]

[Sidenote: =Great men oppose Jackson=]

President Jackson had a quarrel with the men who were managing the United States Bank. This bank kept the money for the government. He ordered that the money of the government be taken out of this bank and put in different State Banks which were called "pet" banks. In the Senate of the United States at this time were three men of giant-like ability--Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun. They joined together to oppose President Jackson in his fight against the United States Bank. These men made many long and very bitter speeches against the president.

The Senate finally passed a resolution blaming President Jackson for taking the money away from the United States Bank. President Jackson was furious. He wrote a protest and sent it to the Senate. The people in the states took sides, and the excitement spread to all parts of the country.

[Sidenote: =Jackson and Benton friends=]

In the Senate was another great man, Thomas H. Benton of Missouri. Although Jackson and Benton had once fought a terrible duel in Nashville, they now were good friends. Benton attacked Clay, Webster, and Calhoun in powerful speeches and defended President Jackson in every way he could. At last, after several years, he succeeded in getting the Senate to expunge, or take away, from their records the resolution blaming President Jackson.

There was great rejoicing among Jackson's friends, and Senator Benton was the hero of the day. President Jackson gave a great dinner party in Washington in Benton's honor.

[Sidenote: =Nullification=]

For a long time South Carolina and other southern states had been complaining about the high tariff which Congress had passed. In 1832 South Carolina declared in a state convention that her people should not pay the tariff any longer. She resolved to fight rather than obey the law and pay the tariff. This act of the convention was called nullification.

[Sidenote: =President Jackson's proclamation=]

President Jackson was very angry when he heard of this act of South Carolina. He told General Scott to take soldiers and war vessels to Charleston, and enforce the law at all hazards. The president published a letter to the people of South Carolina, warning them not to nullify a law of Congress.

[Sidenote: =Jackson a Union man=]

These acts made President Jackson very popular at the North, where the people all believed the president had saved the Union from breaking up.

In 1837 his second term as president expired and he retired from public life after having seen his good friend, Martin Van Buren of New York, made president.

[Sidenote: =Death at the Hermitage=]

Jackson returned to Tennessee, greatly beloved by the people. There, in his home, called the Hermitage, he spent the rest of his life. He died in 1845, at the age of seventy-eight.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Eli Whitney was born in Massachusetts.
_2._ As a boy he was very much interested in tools, and worked in
his father's shop with all kinds of mechanical contrivances. _3._
He earned his way through college doing carpenter work. _4._ After
graduation he set out to teach in Savannah. _5._ He failed to
get the situation, and went to visit a friend who had taken much
interest in him. _6._ The South needed a machine to separate the
cotton fiber from the seed. _7._ Whitney set to work to make one,
at the suggestion of his friend, Mrs. Greene. _8._ The cotton gin
revolutionized the South. _9._ It made cotton raising the chief
industry, and brought thousands of slaves into the country.

_10._ Thomas Jefferson, born in Virginia, loved books; while in
college he met Patrick Henry. _11._ Went to the Burgesses and
planned the committees of correspondence. _12._ Jefferson was sent
to the Congress of 1776 and wrote the Declaration of Independence.
_13._ After the war Jefferson was sent as Minister to France.
_14._ Washington chose him as Secretary of State, and he founded
the Democratic-Republican party. _15._ Jefferson was popular as
president. _16._ He cut down expenses, and with his savings in
running the government purchased Louisiana.

_17._ The Columbia River was discovered by Gray. _18._ The way to
the Oregon country was made known by Lewis and Clark. _19._ The
Indians received them with kindness along the route. _20._ They
followed the Columbia until they reached the Pacific; Clark made a
map of the region they had gone through. _21._ As a reward, Lewis
was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and Clark of the
Missouri Territory. _22._ Fur traders and missionaries soon found
their way to the Oregon country.

_23._ Perry went to serve against the pirates, was eager to fight
the English when war broke out, and was appointed commandant at
Lake Erie. _24._ Perry built a fleet and won a famous victory over
the English. _25._ A gold medal was struck in his honor by Congress.

_26._ Andrew Jackson was born of poor parents; learned from the
woods more than from books. _27._ Jackson was captured by the
British. _28._ His mother died nursing American soldiers. _29._
He studied law, went over the mountains to Nashville, and was
elected to Congress. _30._ He also served as United States senator.
_31._ Jackson defeated the Indians, captured Pensacola, and won
a brilliant victory at New Orleans. _32._ Jackson was elected
president and was opposed in his policy by Clay, Webster, and
Calhoun. _33._ Threatened South Carolina over nullification. _34._
Died at the Hermitage in 1845.

=Study Questions.= _1._ What did Whitney like to do as a boy?
_2._ How did he help himself through college? _3._ Why did he
go to Savannah? _4._ Whom did he meet on the way? _5._ Describe
how cotton was then separated from the seed. _6._ Describe the
action of the machine made by Whitney. _7._ What was the effect
of his invention? _8._ How did the value of cotton shipped out of
the country compare with other goods? _9._ What effect did the
invention have on negro slavery in the South?

_10._ Name some things boys did on a Virginia plantation in
Jefferson's time. _11._ Name some of Virginia's great men whom
Jefferson knew. _12._ Explain how the committees of correspondence
worked. _13._ Who were the men appointed to make a Declaration of
Independence? _14._ Why did Jefferson write the Declaration? _15._
Why did French people like Jefferson? _16._ Picture Jefferson's
return home. _17._ How was Jefferson fitted for Secretary of State?
_18._ What were the people then disputing about, and who were their
leaders? _19._ Why did Jefferson want the government to be plain
and simple? _20._ Who wanted it different? _21._ Tell the story of
the buying of Louisiana. _22._ Why did Americans think the buying a
great event? _23._ Why did Jefferson not become president a third
time? _24._ What can you tell of the friendship of John Adams and
Thomas Jefferson? _25._ Describe the trip of Lewis and Clark up the
Missouri River. _26._ How did the Indians on the way receive them?
_27._ How did they return home? _28._ What offices were given Lewis
and Clark?

_29._ What important command was given to Perry? _30._ Tell what he
did when his ships were ready for the "Battle of Lake Erie." _31._
Picture the battle. _32._ What honors were given to Perry?

_33._ Where was Andrew Jackson born? _34._ Name some other boys who
learned more from the woods than from books. _35._ Mention some
early experiences Jackson had with the British soldiers. _36._
What other experiences did he have in the war? _37._ What led
him to go to Nashville? _38._ Explain how Jackson outwitted the
Indians. _39._ What did he do as a young lawyer? _40._ Tell the
story of Jackson's first call to arms. _41._ Give a full account
of Jackson's second call to arms. _42._ Imagine yourself one of
Jackson's soldiers, and tell what you saw and heard at the battle
of New Orleans. _43._ Give an account of Jackson's fight against
the United States Bank. _44._ Who was Thomas H. Benton, and why
did he defend President Jackson? _45._ What action did South
Carolina take in 1832, and what did the president do? _46._ Where
did Jackson live after his last term as president?

=Suggested Readings.= ELI WHITNEY: Brooks, _The Story of Cotton_,
90-99; Southworth, _Builders of Our Country_, Vol. II, 108-116;
Shillig, _The Four Wonders_, 1-32.

JEFFERSON: Wright, _Children's Stories of American Progress_,
55-85; Cooke, _Stories of the Old Dominion_, 180-192; Hart, _How
Our Grandfathers Lived_, 317-320; Butterworth, _In the Days of
Jefferson_, 32-168, 175-206, 216-264.

PERRY: Beebe, _Four American Naval Heroes_, 71-130; Wright,
_Children's Stories of American Progress_, 130-144; Hart, _How
Our Grandfathers Lived_, 241-242, 248-249; Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 172-174.

JACKSON: Brooks, _Century Book of Famous Americans_, 162-172;
Blaisdell and Ball, _Hero Stories from American History_, 185-198;
Hart, _How Our Grandfathers Lived_, 284-291; Barton, _Four American
Patriots_, 133-192; Frost, _Old Hickory_.

THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION GREAT BY THEIR INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES

ROBERT FULTON, THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAMBOAT

[Sidenote: =How boats were driven=]

=128. The Invention of the Steamboat.= Once there were no steam engines to drive boats. On sea and river they were driven by wind, and on canals they were pulled along by horses.

[Sidenote: =Inventors before Fulton=]

James Rumsey on the Potomac, John Fitch on the Delaware, and William Longstreet on the Savannah had each invented and tried some kind of steamboat, before Robert Fulton.

Fulton was born of Irish parents, in New Britain, Pennsylvania, in 1765. At the age of three he lost his father. Young Fulton had a great taste for drawing, painting, and inventing.

He went to Philadelphia, then the largest city in the Union, when he was twenty, and engaged in painting and drawing. His first savings were given to his widowed mother to make her comfortable.

[Sidenote: =Studied under Benjamin West=]

Fulton finally decided to be an artist, and went to England to make his home with Benjamin West, a great painter who once lived at Philadelphia.

_After the painting by Benjamin West_]

[Sidenote: =Influenced to become an engineer=]

There he became acquainted with the Duke of Bridgewater, who influenced him to become a civil engineer. Fulton now met James Watt, who had greatly improved the steam engine. At one time the young man aided Watt in building an engine.

[Sidenote: =Meets Livingston in France=]

Fulton next went to France, where he became interested in plans for inventing diving boats, torpedoes, and steamboats. Here he met Robert R. Livingston, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, then United States Minister to France. Livingston took a deep interest in his experiments in driving boats by steam, and furnished him the means to make them.

[Sidenote: =Fulton's trial boats=]

Fulton made a "model" boat, which he left in France. Shortly afterward, he built a boat twenty-six feet long and eight feet wide. In this vessel he put a steam engine. The trial trips proved beyond a doubt that steamboats could be made.

[Sidenote: =Twenty years' rights=]

Livingston believed in Fulton and his steamboat. When he returned to New York, Livingston obtained from the legislature the right to navigate the waters of the state by steam for twenty years. The one condition was that the boat should go against the current of the Hudson at the rate of four miles an hour.

[Sidenote: =Gets engine in England=]

[Sidenote: =The "Clermont"=]

Fulton got his engine from the inventors, Watt and Boulton, in England--the only place where suitable engines could be found. The engine came in 1806. A boat called the _Clermont_ was built to carry it. She was one hundred thirty feet long and eighteen feet wide. She had a mast with a sail. At both ends she was decked over, and in the middle the engine was placed. Two large side-wheels dipped two feet into the water.

=129. The "Clermont" Moves.= At one o'clock in the afternoon of August 7, 1807, a great crowd gathered to see the first voyage of the _Clermont_. Many people did not expect to see the vessel go. They believed Fulton and Livingston had spent their money for nothing. Fulton gave his signal from the deck of the _Clermont_. The people looked on in astonishment as the boat moved steadily up the pathway of the Hudson.

[Sidenote: =A great victory for Fulton and Livingston=]

The _Clermont_ kept on going till out of sight, and the crowds of wondering people went home hardly believing the evidence of their eyes. Up the river, against the current of the mighty Hudson, she made her way till Albany was reached. She had gone one hundred fifty miles in thirty-two hours, and won a great victory for Fulton and Livingston.

[Sidenote: =Name of boat changed to "North River"=]

When winter came the _Clermont_ was taken out of the water and rebuilt. They covered her from stem to stern with a deck. Under the deck they built two cabins, with a double row of berths. Everything was done to make her attractive in the eyes of the people. They changed her name to the _North River_. In the spring she made her trips regularly up and down the Hudson.

[Sidenote: =Steamboats appear on different rivers=]

=130. Steamboats on All the Rivers.= In 1809 a steamboat was built on Lake Champlain, another on the Raritan, and a third on the Delaware. From this time forward, steamboats, carrying passengers and freight from place to place, began to appear on all the great rivers in the settled portions of the United States.

[Sidenote: =People along the Ohio frightened=]

In 1811 a steamboat was built on the Ohio River at Pittsburgh. It started on its trip down the beautiful Ohio. People gathered on the banks of the river to see it go by. The steamboat, at first, made a frightful noise. Hence when it came to places where news traveled slowly, the people were sometimes frightened, and the negroes, terror stricken, ran crying into the woods.

[Sidenote: =A steamboat helped Jackson=]

In 1814 a steamboat carried supplies to General Jackson at New Orleans, and helped him to win the great battle fought there.

Seven steamboats were running on the Ohio and the Mississippi at the close of the War of 1812. Before another year went by, a steamboat had made its way from New Orleans against the currents of the Mississippi and the Ohio rivers to Louisville, laden with goods from Europe.

The steamboat had now won a place on the American rivers. It aided in the rapid settlement of the country. It made travel quick and easy, and it carried the goods of settlers up and down the rivers.

[Sidenote: =Robert Fulton dies, 1815=]

Robert Fulton died in 1815, deeply mourned by all his countrymen, and was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City.

[Sidenote: =Steamboats carry goods up the Mississippi=]

[Sidenote: =Erie Canal across New York=]

=131. The Erie Canal.= Before Fulton invented the steamboat, supplies had been carried to the western settlers over the mountains from the East. Now, however, steamboats puffed up the Mississippi from New Orleans loaded down with goods that had been brought all the way from Europe. The settlers could get all the supplies they wanted and at a much lower cost. For this reason the merchants of New York and the East were in danger of losing all their trade with the settlers. They saw that they must have some connection with the West by water, and so they planned the Erie Canal. It took seven years to dig. When it was finished it was three hundred sixty-three miles long, forty feet wide, and four feet deep. The depth was later increased to seven feet. It stretched straight across the state of New York from Lake Erie to the Hudson River.

In the autumn of 1825, when the canal was finished, there was a great celebration. A "fleet" of canal boats carried Governor Clinton of New York and a number of other distinguished men across the state.

[Sidenote: =New York recovered her trade=]

The merchants of the East were no longer afraid of the Mississippi route, for they had a route of their own. The canal became the great highway of commerce from the East to the West and from the West to the East. New York recovered her trade, and flourishing cities grew up along the canal.

But there were cities in the East that could not use the canal. Farther south they could not dig a canal across the mountains. All their goods had to be carried over the Cumberland Gap on the backs of horses. But a new means of travel and transportation had been invented, which was to far surpass the steamboat and which was to help every city no matter where located.

[Sidenote: =The first railroad=]

=132. Railroad Building.= The first railroad in America was a very rude affair. There were no "palace cars" or steel rails, nor did the trains run at a speed of sixty miles an hour. Instead, cars that looked like huge wagons ran on wooden rails and were dragged along by horses.

[Sidenote: =Stephenson's "Puffing Billy"=]

But George Stephenson had thought out a plan for a machine that would pull the cars along by steam. He called his engine "Puffing Billy." He kept at work always improving it. In 1825, after eleven years of hard work, he made an engine that could pull both passengers and freight.

[Sidenote: =The first long railroad=]

In 1828 the first long railroad in America was started. A great ceremony took place. It was a very solemn occasion. Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the Declaration of Independence, drove the first spade into the ground where the first rail was to be laid. As he did so he said, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to that of signing the Declaration of Independence." This railroad was the famous Baltimore & Ohio.

Inventors continued to improve the locomotive. In 1831 an American company built one which ran at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. At that time that was considered a very rapid rate.

[Sidenote: =By rail from Boston to Buffalo=]

Since then railroad building and transportation have improved wonderfully. By 1842 one could travel by rail from Boston to Buffalo. But it was not until ten years later that Chicago was connected by rail with the East.

[Sidenote: =To the Pacific coast=]

Gradually the railroads spread a network over the country. In 1857 St. Louis and Chicago were connected. A railroad to the Pacific coast was much needed, and Congress voted an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the work. By 1869 the great work was completed. Other lines to the coast were started, and to-day many railroads cross the mountains, connecting the Pacific with the North, South, and Atlantic regions.

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH

[Sidenote: =Morse, 1791=]

=133. The Coming of the Telegraph.= Samuel Morse was born in Massachusetts (1791). His father was a Presbyterian minister. Young Morse went to the common schools and to Yale College.

[Sidenote: =Paints portraits=]

In college he used his spare time in painting, and after graduation he went to England and studied under the best artists. He came home and for a time painted portraits for a living.

[Sidenote: =The idea came to him of sending news by electricity=]

After having spent some years abroad, in work and study, Morse was again returning home from France when the idea of sending news by electricity first came to him.

[Sidenote: =A machine and an alphabet=]

"Why can't it be?" said Morse to a friend, who answered, "There is great need of sending news by electricity." He began, then and there, to plan a machine and to invent an alphabet. This was all done on shipboard. When he reached land he went to work with a will at his new-found problem.

[Sidenote: =The hungry inventor=]

For a long time the work went on very slowly, for inventors must eat and sleep and pay their way in the world. While Morse was struggling over his machine and trying to make himself master of the strange force called electricity, he was very often hungry and at times even on the point of starvation.

[Sidenote: =Alfred Vail=]

Now came a bright spot in his career. A young man named Alfred Vail, an excellent mechanic, saw Morse's telegraph instruments, and immediately believed they would be successful. Young Vail borrowed money and became Morse's assistant in the great work. For what he did he deserves credit next to Morse himself.

[Sidenote: =Getting ready for Congress=]

[Sidenote: =Behind locked doors=]

A patent must now be had and the telegraph must be so improved that they could show it to a committee of Congress. It was arranged that Vail and a mechanic by the name of Baxter should do the work behind locked doors. For, if some one should happen to see the instruments, and obtain a patent first, then Morse and Vail would be ruined.

[Sidenote: =The dot and dash alphabet=]

In the locked shop the two men worked steadily day after day. Vail made many improvements. Among these was the new "dot and dash" alphabet. At last, one day in January, 1838, everything was in complete working order. Baxter, hatless and coatless, ran for Mr. Vail's father to come at once and see the telegraph work.

[Sidenote: =The final test=]

[Sidenote: =Patented in Morse's name=]

At one end of the wire stood young Vail, and at the other stood Morse. This wire was stretched around the room so that it was three miles in length. The elder Vail wrote: "A patient waiter is no loser." He said to his son: "If you can send this message, and Mr. Morse can read it at the other end, I shall be convinced." It was done, and there was great rejoicing. The invention was hurried to Washington, and young Vail took out a patent in the name of Morse.

[Sidenote: =Congressmen watch the instruments=]

Morse obtained permission to set up his telegraphic instruments in rooms in the capitol. These rooms were filled with congressmen watching the strange business. Members in one room would carry on witty conversations with persons in the other room. This was great fun for those looking on. But it was slow work talking with members of Congress and winning their help.

[Sidenote: =Congress makes fun of the idea=]

=134. The Government Aids.= Finally Morse asked for thirty thousand dollars to build a line from Washington to Baltimore. The bill met opposition, one member moving that a part of the money be used in building a railroad to the moon, another that it be used in making experiments in mesmerism.

_From a photograph taken by Abraham Bogardus, New York City_]

[Sidenote: =Morse ruined if bill does not pass=]

Morse stood leaning against the railing which separated the outsiders from the members. He was greatly excited, and turning to a friend, said: "I have spent seven years and all that I have in making this instrument perfect. If it succeeds, I am a made man; if it fails, I am ruined. I have a large family, and not money enough to pay my board bill when I leave the city."

[Sidenote: =Telegraph line to Baltimore built=]

[Sidenote: =The first message=]

It was ten o'clock, March 3, 1843, the last night of that Congress. Morse gave up and went to his hotel. In the morning a friend met and congratulated him on the action of Congress in granting thirty thousand dollars for his telegraph line--the last thing Congress did that night. Morse was surprised. The telegraph line to Baltimore was built and the first dispatch was ready to send. Morse called the young woman who had been the first to congratulate him, to send this first message: "What hath God wrought."

[Sidenote: =Honors heaped on the inventor=]

The success of Morse was slow at first, but he lived to see the day when his instrument was used in Europe. He visited Europe again, was given gold medals, and received other rewards and honors from many of the rulers of the different European countries.

[Sidenote: =Morse dies, 1872=]

He died in 1872 at the good old age of eighty-one. Congress and state legislatures paid tribute to his memory.

[Sidenote: =The telephone=]

=135. A Wider Use for Electricity.= Samuel Morse was hardly in his grave before a wonderful invention was made which called electricity into far wider use in carrying news. This new invention was the telephone, and two men, Bell and Gray, applied for patents on it at almost the same time.

The instruments are wonderful conductors of sound, carrying, as they do, the actual words and tones of the voice.

[Sidenote: =Marconi beats them all=]

But Marconi has gone beyond them all in his invention. He sends the electric wave forth without the aid of a wire, thus giving rise to wireless telegraphy.

CYRUS WEST FIELD, WHO LAID THE ATLANTIC CABLE BETWEEN AMERICA AND EUROPE

[Sidenote: =Cyrus W. Field, 1819=]

[Sidenote: =In business for himself=]

=136. The Atlantic Cable.= Cyrus W. Field was born in Massachusetts in 1819. His grandfather was a Revolutionary soldier. Cyrus went to school in his native town of Stockbridge, and at fifteen was given a place in a New York store at fifty dollars a year. Before he was twenty-one he went into business for himself. At the end of a dozen years he was the head of a prosperous firm. In 1853 he retired from active business.

[Sidenote: =Why not span the Atlantic?=]

Field became interested in a man who was joining Newfoundland with the mainland by means of a telegraph line. "Why not make a telegraph line to span the Atlantic?" thought Field. He went to work, and put his schemes before Peter Cooper and other generous men. They believed in them.

[Sidenote: =Englishmen also approve the plan=]

Field next went abroad and laid his plan before a number of Englishmen. He pleaded so eloquently that they, too, were convinced. He returned to America to lay the matter before Congress and ask that body to vote him a sum of money.

[Sidenote: =President Pierce signs the bill=]

Congress was very slow about it, and the bill did not pass until the last days of that session. President Pierce signed it the last day of his term as president.

[Sidenote: =Half a million dollars gone=]

Field returned to England and watched over the making of his "cable." In August, 1857, everything was ready. The cable lay coiled on shipboard, ready to be let out in the Atlantic. The great ship started, and everything went well till three hundred thirty-five miles of the cable had been let out, when it broke in two. It was the same as losing half a million dollars.

[Sidenote: =A second trial=]

[Sidenote: =Breaks again=]

Field went back to England and began promptly to prepare for a second trial. He then came to America and made arrangements to use the _Niagara_, a large vessel. The British ship, _Agamemnon_, was also taken to help in this second trial. The ships started in mid-ocean, one going one way and one going the other way. This time only one hundred eleven miles were laid, when the cable again parted.

[Sidenote: =A council of war=]

Field hastened to London to meet the men who had backed him in his undertaking with their money. It was a council of war after a terrible defeat! But Mr. Field did not believe in surrender, even to the sea.

[Sidenote: =Success=]

On the seventeenth of July, 1858, the ships again set sail for mid-ocean. They "spliced" the cable, and the _Niagara_ with Mr. Field on board sailed away for Newfoundland. The British ship went the other way. This time they were successful. Both countries were excited. Queen Victoria flashed a message under the sea to President Buchanan.

[Sidenote: =A great day in New York=]

Great was the rejoicing in New York, the home of Mr. Field. A religious service, expressive of the deep interest of the people in the success of his work, was held in Trinity Church, at which two hundred clergymen in gowns appeared; national salutes were fired, a great procession was formed, an address was made by the mayor of the city and, at a very late hour, a grand banquet was held. While the banquet was going on, the cable gave its last throb, and parted.

_From a photograph by Elliott and Fry, London_]

[Sidenote: =The cable parts the third time=]

The very day that a whole city rose up to do honor to the Atlantic telegraph and its author, it gave its last flash and then went to sleep forever in its ocean grave.

[Sidenote: =After a wait of five years=]

After five years of slow and toilsome work, caused by the fact that the Civil War was raging in the United States, Cyrus W. Field was again ready. When the vessel, bearing the cable, was within six hundred miles of land, the cable broke again.

[Sidenote: =The money subscribed=]

=137. The Final Success.= An Anglo-American Telegraph Company was now formed. Mr. Field subscribed $50,000, Daniel Gooch $100,000, and another person promised to bear a part of the expense. On a Friday they set out and on another Friday they reached America with the cable safely laid. Mr. Field sent this message to England:

[Sidenote: ="Hearts Content"=]

"Hearts Content, July 27, 1866. We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God, the cable is laid, and is in perfect working order."

[Sidenote: =Effect on the civilized world=]

[Sidenote: =Great honor for Mr. Field=]

The success of this undertaking, after so many years of failure, produced a great effect throughout the civilized world. Mr. Field was the center of all rejoicing. Congress voted him a gold medal. England did honor to his name. The Paris Exposition of 1867 gave him the highest medal it had to bestow. From Italy he received a decoration. States and chambers of commerce in all parts of the nation passed resolutions in praise of his great work.

Finally he took a trip around the world and received honors from many nations. Mr. Field lived at Tarrytown, New York. He died in New York City in 1892, at the age of seventy-three.

CYRUS H. MᶜCORMICK, INVENTOR OF THE REAPER

=138. Making Bread More Plentiful for Millions.= It was only natural that Cyrus H. McCormick should be interested in inventions. His father, Robert McCormick, had fitted up many labor-saving devices for use on his farm. He tried to make a reaper, but it was a failure.

One hundred years ago the common method of harvesting in this country was by "cradling" the grain. For this, a scythe with prongs on its handle was used. The prongs caught the grain and laid it in rows, ready to tie.

Cyrus Hall McCormick was born at Walnut Grove, West Virginia, in 1809. The boy was always interested in inventing. When fifteen, he invented a better grain cradle. At twenty-one he made a hillside plow that surpassed his father's. His great invention, the reaper, was made the following year. His friends all laughed at his machine, but he went on perfecting it. All his life Cyrus McCormick had to meet ridicule or bitter competition. But he came of Scotch-Irish fighting stock. He had the determination which battles its way to success.

In 1834 the reaper was patented. It was shown at the World's Fair in London in 1851. It won a prize as the most valuable thing in the whole fair.

_After a model of the original reaper_]

Cyrus H. McCormick started to manufacture his machine at Chicago in 1847. The demand for reapers grew rapidly. When the Civil War called out one man in three from the North, there were enough reapers in use to equal the labor of one million slaves. The North not only fed itself but sent great quantities of grain to England. Cyrus McCormick's great invention did much to help the North abolish slavery.

=139. Reapers for the West.= The invention of the reaper made it possible for the West to be quickly settled. Before, farmers raised only the few acres they could be sure of harvesting. Grain is lost, if not cut a few days after it is ripe. The wide prairies of the West could not be harvested by the old methods. Now on these great plains huge reapers drawn by engines sometimes cut forty-eight feet of grain in a single swathe.

Because of the labor it saves, McCormick's invention has made the cost of bread low for millions of people. With hand-reaping half the people of the country would be busy producing nothing but bread. In the past most nations were never free from the danger of starvation. Now the world produces enough for all.

A noted French society, when it elected McCormick a member, said that he had "done more for the cause of agriculture than any other living man."

ELIAS HOWE, INVENTOR OF THE SEWING MACHINE

=140. A Time-Saving Invention.= Elias Howe was a poor boy who won great riches through his invention, but spent most of his years in a long, dreary struggle with poverty.

Elias was born in Massachusetts in 1819. His father was a poor man. He worked in his father's mill and then in the cotton mills of New England until he came to have a thorough knowledge of machinery. When he was twenty-four he began his great invention, the sewing machine.

Sewing machines using a chain stitch had already been invented in England and France, but a chain stitch ravels easily. Howe invented a lock stitch machine. Like earlier machines, it had a needle with an eye in its point to bring a loop of thread through the cloth. In chain stitching the needle at the next stitch passes through this loop. Howe instead passed a shuttle carrying a second thread through the loop. This made a firm lock stitch.

Howe tried to get tailors to buy his machine. He proved that it would sew seven times as fast as the best needleworkers. But they were afraid it would take work away from their men, and would have nothing to do with it.

After patenting his machine, Howe took it to England, but there he remained as poor and unknown as before.

Returning to New York he heard that unscrupulous men had stolen or "pirated" his ideas, and that the sale of sewing machines was now a thriving business. But Howe was determined to uphold his rights. In 1859, after a battle of many years in the law courts, he secured the full and complete title to his invention.

=141. A Turn in Fortune.= The man who had faced poverty and rebuffs all his days now came into great wealth. His income each year would be equal to-day to at least a million dollars.

Sewing machines have now become almost a necessity in all American homes. It is hard to realize the amount of close, slow, exacting work from which Howe's machine has released women everywhere. The work of the most skillful needlewomen is not to be compared in speed and evenness with machine stitching. Garments now can be produced in vastly greater quantities than by hand work, and machine stitching is much more durable.

When the Civil War came, Howe's sewing machine made tents, shoes, and uniforms for the great Union army which would not have had them in time otherwise. Howe himself enlisted as a private and served while his health lasted. He died in 1867 when only forty-eight years old.

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL

=The Leading Facts.= _1._ Fulton's invention greatly increased
commerce before the coming of railroads. _2._ Congress granted
Morse money to build a telegraph line, after many delays. _3._ Bell
and Gray invented the telephone. _4._ Marconi invented wireless
telegraphy. _5._ Cyrus Field after many failures laid a permanent
cable across the Atlantic in 1866. _6._ McCormick's reaper hastened
the settlement of the West. _7._ Howe became rich through the
invention of the sewing machine.

=Study Questions.= _1._ Tell of early attempts to build steamboats.
_2._ Give the story of the _Clermont_. _3._ Give an account of the
steps by which Morse won success. _4._ How many attempts did Field
make before a permanent cable was laid? _5._ What was the great
importance of McCormick's reaper? _6._ Describe Howe's first sewing
machine.

=Suggested Readings.= ROBERT FULTON: Glascock, _Stories of
Columbia_, 186-188; Wright, _Children's Stories of American
Progress_, 104-120; Thurston, _Robert Fulton_.

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE: Trowbridge, _Samuel Finley Breeze Morse_;
Mowry, _American Inventions and Inventors_, 270-277; Holland,
_Historic Inventions_, 168-188.

BELL AND GRAY: Holland, _Historic Inventions_, 215-232.

CYRUS WEST FIELD: Judson, _Cyrus W. Field_; Doubleday, _Stories
of Inventors_, 3-16; Mowry, _American Inventions and Inventors_,
278-285.

CYRUS H. MCCORMICK: Brooks, _The Story of Corn_, 218-220; Forman,
_Stories of Useful Inventions_, 91-96; Sanford, _The Story of
Agriculture in the United States_, 144-149.

ELIAS HOWE: Hubert, _Inventors_, 99-110.

THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON COUNTRY, AND CALIFORNIA

SAM HOUSTON, HERO OF SAN JACINTO

[Sidenote: =Houston among the Cherokees=]

=142. Sam Houston.= Young Houston was born of Scotch-Irish parents, in Virginia (1793). His father had fought under General Morgan in the Revolution. Sam Houston did not have much schooling, and when but thirteen his family moved to east Tennessee. Made angry by his older brother, he left home and went to live with the Cherokee Indians. He liked the wild life of the Indians and took part with the Indian boys in their pastimes of hunting, fishing, and playing at games.

_Here Houston, under Jackson in the victory over the Creeks, won great distinction_]

[Sidenote: =Returns home=]

[Sidenote: =Wounded in battle=]

He was now eighteen. He returned home and went to school a term at Marysville Academy. In the war of 1812 General Jackson called the men of Tennessee to arms. Young Houston responded to the call, and fought against the Indians in the great "Battle of Horseshoe Bend." After doing heroic deeds, he was dangerously wounded. Houston was a long time in getting well.

_From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady in the collection of the War Department, Washington, D.C._]

[Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=]

At twenty-five he began to study law in Nashville and in six months--just a third of the time said to be necessary--he was ready to practice. Houston's rise in the law and in the favor of the people was rapid. He went from one position to another until the people elected him to Congress.

[Sidenote: =Governor of Tennessee=]

[Sidenote: =Forsakes his home=]

He was in Congress four years. He won many friends by his gracious behavior. The people of Tennessee made him their governor. But suddenly, without warning, Houston resigned as governor, and forsook his home and friends. He sailed down the Mississippi River to the Arkansas, and up this river several hundred miles to the land of his early friends, the Cherokees, whom the United States government had sent to that far-away country.

[Sidenote: =Returns to the Cherokees=]

[Sidenote: =The old chief's welcome=]

Here Houston found the old chief--now the head of his tribe--who had adopted him as a son years before on the banks of the Tennessee. The chief threw his arms around him in great affection and said: "My son, eleven winters have passed since we met. My heart has wondered often where you were; and I heard you were a great chief among your people.... I have heard that a dark cloud had fallen on the white path you were walking, and when it fell ... you turned your thoughts to my wigwam. I am glad of it,--it was done by the Great Spirit.... My wigwam is yours, my home is yours, my people are yours,--rest with us."

[Sidenote: =Visits Washington=]

When Andrew Jackson became President of the United States Houston went, in his Indian dress, on a visit to Washington. He was warmly received by his old friend from Tennessee.

[Sidenote: =Visits Tennessee=]

Once more he turned his face toward the wilderness. He stopped in Tennessee and was warmly greeted by old friends. He did not stay long in Tennessee.

[Sidenote: =Hastens to Texas=]

Neither did he stay long with the Cherokees, but hastened to Texas, where the people were already murmuring against the treatment they were receiving from Mexico.

[Sidenote: =Texas declares independence=]

The people of Texas finally issued a declaration of independence. Thereupon the Mexicans resolved to send a large army into Texas and force the revolutionists into submission to the government.

_Of its defense by Travis, Crockett, and their few men it was said, "Thermopylae had her messenger of woe--the Alamo had none"_]

A most important event of this war was the capture, by a large Mexican force, of an old mission building used as a fortress, called the Alamo. It was defended by one hundred forty men, among them the famous "Davy" Crockett, Colonel Travis, and Colonel Bowie--the inventor of the bowie knife. Only six Texans were alive after the capture of the fortress. These heroic men died, fighting the Mexicans to the last.

[Sidenote: ="Remember the Alamo!"=]

"Remember the Alamo!" became the war cry of every Texan. The Mexicans were approaching, five thousand strong, under General Santa Ana. General Houston commanded the Texans, about seven hundred in all.

[Sidenote: =Massacre of Goliad=]

Suddenly the news came that General Fannin and his men, five hundred in number, had been massacred by the Mexicans at Goliad. The cause of Texan independence looked dark indeed.

[Sidenote: =Houston's retreat=]

Houston began a retreat of two hundred fifty miles to the eastward. Santa Ana followed closely after him, but scattered his men, just as Houston wanted him to do, until he had with him only eighteen hundred men. They were now on the banks of the San Jacinto.

_Where his battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" won Texas independence from Mexico_]

[Sidenote: =Battle of San Jacinto=]

Houston waited till the Mexicans were a bit careless, then seven hundred Texans charged the breastworks of the Mexicans. After the first fire they clubbed their guns and went at it, pioneer fashion, with the cry, "Remember the Alamo!" The right and the left wings of the Mexicans gave way first, and then the center.

[Sidenote: =Retreat of the Mexicans=]

They retreated, expecting to cross a deep, narrow bayou or stream on a log bridge, but Houston had had the bridge destroyed. The slaughter was terrific. The stream was choked with Mexicans and their horses.

[Sidenote: =Santa Ana captured and sent to visit Washington=]

Santa Ana was captured and was turned over to the Texan government. Many thought he ought to die because of the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, but Houston, generous toward the beaten man, sent him on to visit Washington.

[Sidenote: =Houston elected president of Texas=]

Houston had been badly wounded, and sailed to New Orleans for medical care. He returned to be elected first president of the "Lone Star Republic," as Texas was called. He was reëlected for a second term and served his country well.

[Sidenote: =Annexation of Texas=]

Houston wanted Texas made a part of the United States. This was afterwards done, and war followed with Mexico.

In 1845 Texas sent Houston to the United States Senate, where he served his state for fourteen years. He was devoted to our national Union. He died in 1863.

DAVID CROCKETT, GREAT HUNTER AND HERO OF THE ALAMO

[Sidenote: =Crockett found his schooling in the woods=]

=143. A Brave Backwoodsman.= At the close of the Revolution, Tennessee was still largely a wilderness. Here David Crockett was born in 1786. In those days schools on the frontier were few and poor, and young "Davy" found most of his schooling in the backwoods. He learned to know the woods and streams and the animals that lived in them. As a boy he spent most of his time hunting and trapping. As a young man he was one of the most famous rifle shots in the United States.

When the Creek War broke out, he enlisted under Andrew Jackson to march against the Indians. The young rifleman fought so well under "Old Hickory" that Tennessee made him a colonel.

[Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=]

He had become a famous hunter and fighter. He thought he would try politics next. Instead of making political speeches, he went about from place to place telling stories. The people liked both him and his stories so well that they elected him to the legislature. A few years later they sent him to Congress.

[Sidenote: =Returns to the wilderness=]

[Sidenote: =Joins the fight at the Alamo=]

By and by Crockett grew tired of civilization. He wanted to get back to the wilderness. His old home was too well settled to suit him. So he wandered to Texas. Here he heard that the Mexicans were surrounding the Americans at San Antonio. "Davy" Crockett loved a good fight too well to stay away. He hastened to join the small band of brave men who were defending the Alamo. All could have escaped had they chosen to do so, but with iron courage these hundred and forty stayed and defied Santa Ana's thousands.

For several days the Mexicans were held at a distance. They dared not bring their cannon close to the building, for the concealed sharpshooters picked off the men who tried to man the guns. Old Crockett himself laid low five men in charge of one cannon.

_Showing the territory added to the United States after the Louisiana Purchase_]

[Sidenote: =David Crockett fights to the last=]

The fall of the Alamo was however merely a question of time. Little by little the walls were battered down, and finally the Mexicans were ready to storm. On they came, a great charging mass. The American riflemen shot them down by scores, but when one Mexican fell another took his place. One by one the fearless defenders fell. The last man to go down was Davy Crockett.

It is said that he stood with his back to the wall, fighting to the last, and that the Mexicans, afraid to meet him hand to hand, shot him down from a distance.

JOHN C. FREMONT, THE PATHFINDER OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

[Sidenote: =His father a French refugee=]

=144. A Great Explorer.= Fremont's father was a Frenchman who was driven to America by the terrible French Revolution. John Charles Fremont was born at Savannah (1813) while his parents were on a journey through the South. His father died soon after, and his mother went to live in Charleston, South Carolina.

[Sidenote: =Goes to South America=]

After a time at a good school, Fremont entered the junior class in Charleston College (1828). After leaving college he spent two and a half years on a voyage to South America.

[Sidenote: =Becomes a civil engineer=]

On his return he joined a company of engineers sent by the governor to explore the mountains between South Carolina and Tennessee, in order to find a suitable place for a railroad. This work was through a region rough, wild, and full of beauty. It gave young Fremont a taste for exploration which never left him.

Fremont's longing for a wild life was gratified when he was made assistant to a famous Frenchman who was exploring the wild region between the upper Missouri River and Canada.

[Sidenote: =Marries Senator Benton's daughter=]

After this work Fremont returned to Washington and later married Jessie Benton, the daughter of the senator from Missouri. Thomas H. Benton was a great friend of President Jackson.

Fremont was now related to a powerful man who was deeply interested in the growth of the "Great West." Benton's repeated speeches on the "West" and on the "Oregon Country" called attention to the importance of the Pacific slope.

_After a photograph from life_]

[Sidenote: =Receives permission to explore South Pass=]

In 1842 Fremont, now a lieutenant of engineers, received permission from the government to explore the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains. With a party made up largely of French Canadians, and assisted by that famous guide, Kit Carson, he passed up the Kansas River, crossed to the Platte, went up this river, and thus reached the South Pass.

[Sidenote: =Unfurls the Stars and Stripes on Fremonts Peak=]

=145. On the Watershed.= Standing on the watershed of a continent, he saw the beginnings of rivers that flow into the Atlantic, and of others that stretched away through unknown regions to the Pacific. He took four men and climbed what has since been called Fremonts Peak, one of the highest of the Rockies, about 13,800 feet above the sea. At the top Fremont unfurled the Stars and Stripes in all its glory!

=146. A Pathway to the Pacific.= Fremont reported his discovery at Washington and immediately applied for orders to make an expedition to discover a more southerly route to California and Oregon.

[Sidenote: =Beholds Great Salt Lake=]

He left the little town of Kansas City with his guide, Kit Carson, in May, 1843. In September, after traveling seventeen hundred miles, the little party beheld the shores of Great Salt Lake. What feelings must have stirred the breasts of men shut in for months by mountains, at seeing what appeared to be an ocean, here in the midst of a continent! Little did they dream of that hardy band of immigrants, so soon to follow, who would make the shores of this sea blossom like a garden. Fremont wrote: "As we looked over that vast expanse of water and strained our eyes along the silent shores, over which hung so much doubt and uncertainty, I could hardly repress the almost irresistible desire to continue our exploration."

[Sidenote: =Reaches Fort Vancouver=]

After making preparations, the party crossed over to a branch of the Columbia River. Down this stream they traveled until Fort Vancouver was reached on November 4. Here Fremont was the guest of the governor of the British Hudson Bay Company.

[Sidenote: =Travel in deep snow=]

[Sidenote: =Crossing the Sierra Nevada=]