Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-09-01

bins, and by modestly saying that he be.
lieves be could make machine to spin tho
yarn if he had the money.
When he had put his rough model to-.
gether, he explained as best he could the
way it was to work, and what marvels it
Would bring about in tho cheapening of
calico. He was lietened to patiently until
he talked of building great mills for his
machine, and driving the engine by water
power like corn mill, and then, one by
oac, they oil began to laugh and jecr, until
poor Dick thrust his model hastily into his
pocket and went out crest fallen AID dis
hcartened.
Perhaps to console himself for these aud
other trials, he married wife, but soon
found that Instead Of improving his posi-
ton, he made matters worse. The absorb
ing employment Of invention drew off his
mind from his business, and he soon began
to feel the pressure of poverty. Not that
he cared very much for that; but his wifo
did, aud she, perhaps naturally, concluding
that good wig maker was better than
bad machine planner, in Gt of passion
destroyed all his models. lie was by no
means the first inventor who had to combat
difficulties at homo as well US abroad. Nor
must wo look with too severe an ego upon
tho anxious wife, who fears that her hus-
bands strange infatuaton may beggar them
both, and thut hopeIcssy. But sho was
unwse in her mode of treatment. Love
might lead, but anger could never drive,
and being provoked beyond measure by the
loss of his priceless models, he separated
from his wife, determined to go his way
and bcggar himself unhindercd if he chose,
which he did most effcctually. Happening
one day to SEQ red hot iron passing be-
tween rollers for the purpose of drawing it
out, it occurred to him that he could use
the idea in makiug machine for tho epiu-
ming of cotton thread. He had mado the
acquaintance of a oockmakcr at Warriug-
ton, one Kay, by name, who had been use
full to him in constructing wheels for his
perpetual motion machine, and to him he
went, brimful of his new idea. But tho
matchmaker could not help him, and so he
gave up his business altogether, deter
mined to carry out his ideas at any cost
Indeed, his mind was in somo degree
strengthened by a feeling of confidence in
his own power. lie saw that great need
his mind, and he believed that he was the
Mdu W uuhc IL. AS " olulcuillcS III CHo
way-wcl, they were made to be overcome,
and ho was the man to overcome them.
What was this new machine to d.? II
was to spin thread Of cotton long enough
to enable the Reavers to use it as warp, tho
thread that run lcngthwise 10 the cloth
Calicoes were, up to this time, mixture Of
linen aud cotton. Tho warp was linen be-
cause no means had Us yet been devised of
mukiug cotton Threads long enough. The
demand for calicoeo grew, although they
cost moro than silk does now, and in the
manufacturing districts the weavers had
sometimes to scour the country in order
that they might collect from tho women
who carded md spun sufficient weft to
serve them for tho remainder Of tho day
So undesirable had this etate of things be-
come that, as early as 1888, Mr.. Wyatt
of Birmingham, had taken out patent for
spinning by means Of rollers, and his ma.
| chino had been tried both at Birmingham
and Northamton, but without success, and
it was at length broken up as failure.
just thirty years after Wyatt's patent was
taken out Arkwright moacstly produced the
first result of his labOrs, being tho model
of maoline constructed by Kay, the
watch maker, under his guidance. This
he exhibited in tho parlor of the Free
Grammar School at Preston, but tho cxhi-
btion was not Us agreeable to the towns
people as to him.
We find his condition ut this time low in
the extreme. His clothes were 80 tattered
that when he desired to vote ns burgess
of Preston at O contested election, some
kind friends were moved with compassion,
and subscribed money enough TO make him
prcsentable when he went to the poll.
But his spinning machine on which he
had spent so much precious time and
money, instead of awakening curiosity and
wonder, excited oDly suspicion and strife
When ho went abroad he heard omi-
nous whispcrngs, and even outside tho
schoolroom angry groups of working people
discussed tho merits of tho labor saving ap.
paratus with no pleasant words. In Fact,
it was pluin thu. if he wanted to escape
mobbng ho must take his model and fly.
Othor inventors had been treated with
scant ceremony. Kay's fy-shuttlo and
Hargraves spinning jenny had both called
forth violent opposition, for tho ignorant
work people beliyed that the worlds pro-
gress could be stopped by breaking up the
modelo of the inventorsj and peltiDg those
unhappy men with stones.
Ho tooh his model to Nottingham where
ho found friends with money and influence,
who gave him helping hand. Mr. Strut,
who was man of great perception, and
himself an inventor, having boon intro
duced to Arkwright, was much struck
with tho model, and offered orms of parts
nership. These having boon accepted,