ent the highly praiseworthy opinion formed of his partners by their
loving wives. The rising smile was charitably suppressed. In extreme
cases a suggested excursion to Europe at the company's expense, to
relieve Chester from the cruel strain, and enable him to receive the
benefit of a wife's care and ever needful advice, was remarkably
effective, the wife's fears that Chester's absence would prove ruinous
to the business being overcome at last, though with difficulty.

Due allowance must be made for Mrs. Roebuck's view of the situation.
There can be no doubt whatever, that Mr. Roebuck's influence,
hopefulness and courage were of inestimable value at this period to the
over-wrought and anxious inventor. Watt was not made of malleable stuff,
and, besides, he was tied to his mission. He was bound to obey his
genius.

The monster new engine, upon which so much depended, was ready for trial
at last in September, 1769. About six months had been spent in its
construction. Its success was indifferent. Watt had declared it to be a
"clumsy job." The new pipe-condenser did not work well, the cylinder was
almost useless, having been badly cast, and the old difficulty in
keeping the piston-packing tight remained. Many things were tried for
packing--cork, oiled rags, old hats (felt probably), paper, horse dung,
etc., etc. Still the steam escaped, even after a thorough overhauling.
The second experiment also failed. So great is the gap between the small
toy model and the practical work-performing giant, a rock upon which
many sanguine theoretical inventors have been wrecked! Had Watt been one
of that class, he could never have succeeded. Here we have another proof
of the soundness of the contention that Watt, the mechanic, was almost
as important as Watt the inventor.

Watt remained as certain as ever of the soundness of his inventions.
Nothing could shake his belief that he had discovered the true
scientific mode of utilising steam. His failures lay in the
impossibility of finding mechanics capable of accurate workmanship.
There were none such at Carron, nor did he then know of any elsewhere.

Watt's letter to his friend, Dr. Small, at this juncture, is
interesting. He writes:

You cannot conceive how mortified I am with this disappointment.
It is a damned thing for a man to have his all hanging by a
single string. If I had wherewithal to pay the loss, I don't
think I should so much fear a failure; but I cannot b