invention. Among them was John
Rumsey, of Maryland, who built a steamboat in 1774, and John Fitch, of
Connecticut, who completed his first model of a steamboat in 1785.

In the next four years Fitch built three steamboats, the last of which
made regular trips on the Delaware River, between Philadelphia and
Burlington, during the summer of 1786. It was used as a passenger boat,
and it made a speed of eight miles an hour; but Fitch was not able to
secure enough aid from men of capital and influence to make his boats
permanently successful.

The first man to construct a steamboat which continued to give successful
service was Robert Fulton. Robert Fulton was born of poor parents in
Little Britain, Pennsylvania, in 1765, the year of the famous Stamp Act.
When the boy was only three years old his father died, and so Robert was
brought up by his mother. She taught him at home until he was eight, and
then sent him to school. Here he showed an unusual liking for drawing.

[Illustration: Robert Fulton.]

Outside of school hours his special delight was to visit the shops of
mechanics, who humored the boy and let him work out his clever ideas with
his own hands.

A story is told of how Robert came into school late one morning and gave
as his excuse that he had been at a shop beating a piece of lead into a
pencil. At the same time he took the pencil from his pocket, and showing
it to his teacher, said: "It is the best one I have ever used." Upon
carefully looking at the pencil, the schoolmaster was so well pleased that
he praised Robert's efforts, and in a short time nearly all the pupils
were using that kind of pencil.

[Illustration: Fulton's First Experiment with Paddle-Wheels.]

Another example of Robert's inventive gift belongs to his boyhood days. He
and one of his playmates from time to time went fishing in a flatboat,
which they propelled with long poles. It was hard work and slow, and
presently Robert thought out an easier way. He made two crude
paddle-wheels, attached one to each side of the boat, and connected them
with a sort of double crank. By turning this, the boys made the wheels
revolve, and these carried the boat through the water easily. We may be
sure that Robert's boat became very popular, and that turning the crank
was a privilege in which each boy eagerly took his turn.

While still young, Robert began to paint pictures also. By the time he was
seventeen he had become skilful in the use of his brush