mes. But Americans do not stop for fire
or water. The city was built up again, far handsomer than before, and it
is now one of the greatest cities, not only of this country, but of the
world.

This was not the only disaster which came upon the country. In 1886
there was a frightful earthquake in South Carolina, that shook down a
great part of the city of Charleston. And in 1889 there was a terrible
flood that swept away the young city of Johnstown, in Pennsylvania, and
drowned more than two thousand people. And there were tornadoes, or wind
storms, in the west that blew down whole towns as you might blow down a
house of cardboard with your breath. And there were great strikes and
riots that were almost like war, and various other troubles. But all
these could not stop the growth of the country. Every year it became
richer. New people came, new factories were built, new fields were
farmed, and the United States seemed like a great hive of industry, and
its people like so many bees, working away, day by day, and gathering
wealth as bees gather honey.

It not only got many of the old articles of wealth, but it found many
new ones also. Never was there a country with so many inventors or men
that have made things new and useful to everybody, and never were there
more wonderful inventions. I have told you about some of our inventors;
I shall have to speak of some more of them. There were hundreds of men
busily at work at inventing new machines and tools, new things to help
everybody--the farmer, the merchant, the workman in the factory, and the
cook in the kitchen. It went on so that there was not much done by hand,
as in old times, but nearly everything was done by machine.

CHAPTER XXV

THE MARVELS OF INVENTION

IT is not a pleasant thing to go hungry for twenty-four hours and to go
many days without half enough to eat. I think all my readers will agree
with me in this. I fancy none of you would like to find an empty table
before you when the dinner bell rings. But this is a thing that has
happened to many inventors; and one of these was Samuel F. B. Morse, to
whose genius we owe the electric telegraph.

You know about the invention of the steamboat, the locomotive, the
cotton-gin and various other early inventions; but there have been many
later inventions, and one of the most important of these is the
telegraph, which tells us every day what is taking place over the whole
world.

Professor Morse was a Ne