the window
on the Fourth of July. These candles in every window lighted up the
whole town. But one year candles were scarce and high. The city asked
the people not to light up their windows on the Fourth.

Bob did not like to miss the fun of his Fourth of July. He went to
work to make something like rockets or Roman candles. It was a very
dan-ger-ous business for a boy.

"What are you doing, Bob?" some one asked him.

"The city does not want us to burn our candles on the Fourth," he
said. "I am going to shoot mine into the air."

[Illustration]

He used to go fishing with a boy named Chris Gumpf. The father of
Chris went with them. They fished from a flat boat. The two boys had
to push the boat to the fishing place with poles.

"I am tired of poling that boat," said Robert to Chris one day when
they came home.

So he set to work to think out a plan to move the boat in an easier
way than by poles. He whittled out the model of a tiny paddle wheel.
Then he went to work with Chris Gumpf, and they made a larger paddle
wheel. This they set up in the fishing boat. The wheel was turned by
the boys with a crank. They did not use the poles any more.

THE FIRST STEAMBOAT.

The first good steam-boat was built in New York. She was built by
Robert Fulton. Her name was "Clermont." When the people saw her, they
laughed. They said that such a boat would never go. For thousands of
years boat-men had made their boats go by using sails and oars. People
had never seen any such boat as this. It seemed foolish to believe
that a boat could be pushed along by steam.

The time came for Fulton to start his boat. A crowd of people were
standing on the shore. The black smoke was coming out of the
smoke-stack. The people were laughing at the boat. They were sure that
it would not go. At last the boat's wheels began to turn round. Then
the boat began to move. There were no oars. There were no sails. But
still the boat kept moving. Faster and faster she went. All the people
now saw that she could go by steam. They did not laugh any more. They
began to cheer.

[Illustration: Seeing the First Steam boat]

The little steam-boat ran up to Al-ba-ny. The people who lived on the
river did not know what to make of it. They had never heard of a
steam-boat. They could not see what made the boat go.

There were many sailing vessels on the river. Fulton's boat passed
some of these in the night. The sailors were afraid when they saw
the