erican
hearts with grief. Not while the United States exists will the name of
Washington be forgotten or left without honor. His home and tomb at Mt.
Vernon are visited each year by thousands of patriotic Americans. As was
said of him long ago by General Henry Lee, he was and is, "first in war,
first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

CHAPTER XVII

THE STEAMBOAT AND THE COTTON GIN

I THINK you must now have learned a great deal about the history of your
country from the time Columbus crossed the ocean till the year 1800, the
beginning of the Nineteenth century. You have been told about discovery,
and settlement, and wars, and modes of life, and government, and other
things, but you must bear in mind that these are not the whole of
history. The story of our country is broad and deep enough to hold many
other things beside these. For instance, there is the story of our great
inventors, to whom we owe so much. I propose in this chapter to tell you
about some of those who lived near the year 1800.

First, I must ask you to go back with me to a kitchen in Scotland many
years ago. On the open hearth of that kitchen a bright fire blazed, and
near by sat a thoughtful-faced boy, with his eyes fixed on the
tea-kettle which was boiling away over the fire, while its lid kept
lifting to let the steam escape. His mother, who was bustling about, no
doubt thought him idle, and may have scolded him a little. But he was
far from idle; he was busy at work--not with his hands, but with his
brain. The brain, you know, may be hard at work while the body is doing
nothing.

How many of you have seen the lid of a kettle of boiling water keeping
up its clatter as the steam lifts it and puffs out into the air? And
what thought has this brought into your mind? Into the mind of little
James Watt, the Scotch boy, it brought one great thought, that of power.
As he looked at it, he said to himself that the steam which comes from
boiling water must have a great deal of force, if a little of it could
keep the kettle lid clattering up and down; and he asked himself if such
a power could not be put to some good use.

Our Scotch boy was not the first one to have that thought. Others had
thought the same thing, and steam had been used to move a poor sort of
engine. But what James Watt did when he grew up, was to invent a much
better engine than had ever been made before. It was a great day for us
all when that engine was i