superintendent. Had he stuck to his
job he might have become a partner in the great firm of Cobb, Bates and
Yerxa, and put Bates to the bad. It would have then been Cobb, Rogers
and Yerxa--and later, H. H. Rogers, Dealer in Staple and Fancy
Groceries. But something happened about this time that shook New Bedford
to its center, and gave Fairhaven a thrill.

Whale-oil was whale-oil then, and whale-oil and New Bedford were
synonymous. Now, a man out in Pennsylvania had bored down into the
ground and struck a reservoir. A sort of spouting sperm-whale! But with
this important difference: whales spout sea-water, while this gusher
spouted whale-oil, or something just as good.

* * * * *

The year Eighteen Hundred Fifty-nine is an unforgetable date--a date
that ushers in the Great American Renaissance, in which we now live.
Three very important events occurred that year. One was the hanging of
Old John Brown, who was fifty-nine years old, and thus not so very old.
This event made a tremendous stir in Fairhaven, just as it did
everywhere, especially in rural districts. The second great event that
happened in Eighteen Hundred Fifty-nine was the publication of a book by
a man born in Eighteen Hundred Nine, the same year that Lincoln was
born. The man's name was Charles Darwin, and his book was "The Origin of
Species." His volume was to do for the theological world what John
Brown's raid did for American politics. The third great event that
occurred in Eighteen Hundred Fifty-nine was when a man by the name of
Edwin L. Drake, Colonel by grace, bored a well and struck "rock-oil" at
Titusville, Pennsylvania.

At that time "rock-oil" or "coal-oil" was no new thing. It had been
found floating on the water of streams in West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio
and Pennsylvania.

There were rumors that some one in digging for salt had tapped a
reservoir of oil that actually flowed a stream. There were oil-springs
around Titusville and along Oil Creek. The oil ran down on the water and
was skimmed off by men in boats. Several men were making modest fortunes
by bottling the stuff and selling it as medicine. In England it was
sold as "American Natural Oil," and used for a liniment. The Indians had
used it, and the world has a way of looking to aborigines for medicine,
even if not for health. Spiritualistic mediums and doctors bank heavily
on Indians. This natural oil was known to be combustible. Out of doors
it help