The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1899-11-29
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flesh, now with arm of iron. He starts
at the end of the wheat field, heads his
horses to the opposite end Of the field,
rides on. At the stroke Of his iron char
lot the gold of the grain is surrendered,
the machine rolling this way and rolling
that, this way and that, until the work
which would have been accomplished in
many days is accomplished in a few
hours, the grain field PROSTATE before the
harvesters.
What quick, clean work the wheel of
the reaper does make! Soon after the
thrashing machines iron toothed cylin
ders are ready for their prey. The I'M
bound wheat is plunged into the vortex,
and the broken straw is in one place and
the pure wheat is in another place. I
stand in awe and thanksgiving at the
agricultural conquest and cry out with
the text, 20 wheel!'
Can you imagine anything more beau
tiful than the sea island cotton? l take
up the unmelted snow in my hand. How
beautiful it is! But do you know by
what painstaking and tedious toll it
passed into anything like practically?
If you examined that cotton, you would
find it full Of seeds. 1t was a severe
process by which the seed was to be ex-
tracted from the fiber. Vast populations
were leaving the South because they
could not make any living out of this
product. One pound of green seed cot
ton was all that a man could prepare in
one day, but Eli Whitney, Massachu-
sets Yankee, woke up. got handful of
cotton and went to constructing a wheel
for the parting Of the fiber and the seed.
Benefits of Inventive Genius.
Teeth on cylinders. brushes on cylin-
derS, wheels on wheels. South Carolina
gave him $4,000 for his invention, and
instead Of one man taking whole day to
prepare a pound of cotton for the market
now he may prepare three hundred
| weight, and the South is enriched, and
the commerce of the world is revolution
lied, and over 100000 bales of cotton
were prepared this year, enough to keep
at work in this country 14,3O0,0OO spin
dies, employing 100000 hands and en-
listing S2S1, 100000 of capital.
Thank you, Eli Whitney, and L. S.
Chichester Of New York, his successor
Above all, thank God for their inventive
genius, that has done so much for the
prosperity of the world.
ton production and cotton manufacture
enough cloth to cover the tables of a ma
ton, and enough spool thread to sew ev-
cry rent garment, and enough hosiery to
warm the nations feet, and enough cord
age to fly the sails of all the shipping
and enough wadding to supply the guns
of all the American sportsmen, and
enough Irvine to fly all the kites outside
Of Wall street, and enough tape to tie up
all the briefs of all the attorneys, and
enough fannels to blanket a slumbering
world, l thank God.
| Thirdly, [ look to see what the wheel
has done for the travelling world. No one
can tell how many noble and self sacri-
hclng inventors have been crushed be-
tween the coach wheel and the modern
| locomotive, between the paddle and the
| ocean steamer.
| will not enter into the controversy as
to whether John Fitch or Robert Fulton
or Thomas Somerset was the inventor of
the steamboat. They all suffered and
were martyrs of the wheel, and they
! shall be honored.
When 1T was proposed to light London
with gas, Sir Humphry Davy, the great
philosopher, said that he should as soon
! think of cutting slice from the moon
and setting it upon a pole to light the
city. Through all abuse. and caricature
Fitch and Fulton went until yonder the
wheel is in motion, and the Clermont. the
hrst steamboat, is going up the North
river, running the distance-hold your
breath while l tell you-from New York
to Albany in thirty-two hours.
| Now all the rivers and lakes and seas
have turned white with rage under the
shifting of the steamboat wheel In the
phosphorescent wake of it sails the
worlds commercial properties. Through
the axle of that wheel nations join hands,
and America says to Venice, "Give me
your pictures" and to France. "Give me
your graceful apparel" and to England:
''Give me your Sheffield knives and Not
tingham laces and Manchester goods, and
| will give you breadstuffs, corn and rye
! and rice will give you cotton for your
mills. I will give you cattle for your
| slaughter houses. Give me all you have
to spare, and l will give you all l have
to spare" And transatlantic and cisat-
lantic nations grasp each others hands
/ in brotherhood.
What a difference between John
| F1tchS steamboat, OO feet long, and the
Oceanic, 7O4 feet long, The ocean wheel
turns swifter and swifter, filling up the
distance between the hemispheres and
Fastening the time spoken of in the book
of Revelation when there shall be no
! more sea.
While this has been doing on the water
James Watts wheel has done as much
on tie land. How well remember San
derson's stage COACH running from New
Brunswick to Easton, as he drove
through Somerville, N. J., turning up to
the postof1ice and dropping the mail bags
with ten letters and two or three news
papers, Sanderson himself on the box, 6
feet 2 inches and well proportional long
lash whip in his hand, the reins of six
| horses in the other, the leaders" lather-
ed along the line of the traces, foam
dripping from the bits!
Transportation Facilities.
1t was the event Of the day when the
stage came. 1t was our highest ambition
to become a stage driver. Some of the
boys climbed on the great leathern boot
of the stage and those of us who could
not get on shouted "Cut behindv' I saw
! H. 4 r