America's Great Men and Their Deeds.

American Inventions
and Inventors

By

William A. Mowry, A.M., Ph.D.
and Arthur May Mowry, A.M.

Authors of "First Steps in the History of our Country," and "A History of the United States, for Schools."

Silver, Burdett and Company

New York Boston Chicago

FOR THE STUDY OF AMERICAN HISTORY

FIRST STEPS IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.

By William A. Mowry, A.M., Ph.D., and Arthur May Mowry, A.M.

Pp. 320, profusely illustrated. The narrative of our country as told in the stories of 39 great Americans. Introductory price, 60 cents.

A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, for Schools.

By William A. Mowry, A.M., Ph.D., and Arthur May Mowry, A.M.

Pp. 466, highly illustrated. Accurate in statement, clear and graphic in style, patriotic and unpartisan in spirit. Introductory price, $1.00.

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE UNITED STATES.

By Townsend MacCoun, A.M. Pp. 48, 43 colored maps with text. Introductory price, 90 cents.

HISTORICAL CHARTS OF THE UNITED STATES.

By Townsend MacCoun, A.M. 20 charts, 38x40 inches, containing 26 progressive maps, in high colors, for school and lecture-room use. Introductory price, with supporter, $15.00.

Both the "Historical Geography" and the "Historical Charts" portray the appearance of the map of our country after each of its changes until the present.

Copyright, 1900

By Silver, Burdett and Company

PREFACE.

A school history should set forth such facts, and in such an order, as to show the progress of civilization. The great lessons of history are found in that line of events in the past which exhibits the progress of mankind—the uplift of humanity. The record of no other country can present a more startling array of forward movements and upward tendencies than that of our own land, and in no one direction does this upward movement appear quite so clearly as in the line of inventions.

Man's efforts are, first, to overcome nature. Food, shelter, and clothing are his primary wants. After these are supplied, he rises to higher realms of thought and action. Then he nourishes his intellect, exercises his sensibilities, and provides nutriment for his soul, that it, also, may grow. In this book the above logical order is followed.

It is painfully evident that many schoolchildren dislike the study of history. The authors of this book believe that this need not be. It is clear that the study should be undertaken at an earlier age than is usually the case in our public schools. It is not necessary, and oftentimes not desirable, that the books of history should be studied as text-books. Frequently they should be used as reading books. Such use is more likely to develop in the minds of the younger children a love for history.

This book, while adapted to older persons, has been prepared with special reference to the needs and capacities of children from ten to twelve years of age. It is commended to teachers and parents with full confidence that they will find it useful, and that the children will be both interested and profited by its perusal.

CONTENTS.

HEAT.
CHAPTER PAGECHAPTER PAGE
I.Fire[11]V.Fuel[37]
II.Indian Homes[17]VI.Coal[44]
III.Colonial Homes[24]VII.Matches[51]
IV.Chimneys[31]
LIGHT.
I.Torches[61]V.Illuminating Gas[81]
II.Candles[67]VI.Electric Lighting[85]
III.Whale Oil[72]VII.Lighthouses[90]
IV.Kerosene[77]
FOOD.
I.Uncultivated Foods[99]IV.Implements for Harvesting[117]
II.Cultivated Foods[104]V.Soil[124]
III.Implements for Planting[111]VI.A Modern Dinner[131]
CLOTHING.
I.Colonial Conditions[143]V.Leather[164]
II.The Cotton Gin[148]VI.Needles[172]
III.Cotton[153]VII.The Steam Engine[178]
IV.Wool[158]
TRAVEL.
I.By Land[187]V.Canals[215]
II.By Water[194]VI.Railroads[223]
III.Stagecoaches[200]VII.Modern Water Travel[229]
IV.Steamboats[207]VIII.Modern Land Travel[235]
LETTERS.
I.Language[247]V.The Telegraph[270]
II.The Printing Press[252]VI.The Atlantic Cable[278]
III.The Postal System[258]VII.The Telephone[286]
IV.Signaling[265]VIII.Conclusion[292]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FrontispiecePage
Count Rumford[9]
A New England Kitchen One Hundred Years Ago[10]
A Train Leaving the Station[11]
A Vestal Virgin[14]
Iroquois Long House[20]
Indian Method of Broiling[22]
Plying the Axe[25]
A Colonial Fireplace[27]
Hauling in a Backlog[29]
Cooking in a Colonial Kitchen[30]
A Franklin Stove[34]
In a Coal Mine[42]
Blacksmith at His Forge[48]
Thomas Carrying Fire[52]
Tinder Box, Flint, and Matches[53]
Thomas A. Edison[59]
Minot Ledge Light, Massachusetts Bay[60]
Indians Traveling at Night[62]
Ancient Lamps[65]
Franklin Making Candles[69]
Reading by Candlelight[70]
Whale Fishing[73]
Oil Wells[79]
A Gasometer[83]
Edison's Heroic Act[86]
Grace Darling[94]
Cyrus H. McCormick[97]
Cutting Sugar Cane in the Hawaiian Islands[98]
Indians Hunting Game[102]
The Corn Dance[104]
Captain John Smith[106]
An Ancient Plow[109]
Mowing with Scythes[118]
A Reaper and Binder[120]
The McCormick Reaper[121]
Threshing with Flail[123]
Colonists in a Shallop[124]
An Irrigating Trench[128]
A Rice Field[129]
A Dinner Party[131]
Loading Fish at Gloucester[134]
A Cattle Train[136]
Drying Coffee in Java[139]
Eli Whitney[141]
A Quilting Bee in the Olden Time[142]
Tailor and Cobbler[145]
Flax Wheel[146]
An Old-Fashioned Loom[147]
A Cotton Field[149]
A Cotton Pod[150]
The Cotton Gin[151]
President Jackson and Mr. Slater[156]
The Interior of a Modern Cotton Mill[157]
Sheep-Shearing[162]
Dr. Whitman Starting on His Journey[168]
Sewing by Hand[173]
An Old Windmill[178]
A Corliss Engine[181]
Robert Fulton[185]
An Ocean Steamer[186]
A Man and His Wife Traveling on Horseback[191]
The Bay-Path[193]
Pilgrim Exiles[195]
A Birch-Bark Canoe[197]
Old-Style Calashes[202]
An Old-Fashioned Stagecoach[204]
Munroe Tavern, Lexington, Mass.[205]
Fitch's Steamboat[209]
Collision of the Clermont and the Sloop[217]
The Erie Canal[221]
Old-Style Railroad Train[227]
A River Tunnel[234]
A Pullman Sleeper[237]
Brooklyn Bridge[239]
The Boston Subway[242]
Electric Car, New York City[243]
Samuel F. B. Morse[245]
Modern Printing Presses[246]
Ancient Implements of Writing [249]
An Ancient Scribe[251]
A Franklin Press[255]
Postage Stamps[261]
Assorting Mail on the Train[262]
Signaling by Beacon Fires[266]
Electric Wires[270]
Morse Hears of His Success[274]
Laying an Ocean Cable[282]
The Great Eastern[283]
A Telephone[287]
Alexander Bell Using a Long-Distance Telephone[288]

COUNT RUMFORD.

A NEW ENGLAND KITCHEN ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO.

AMERICAN INVENTIONS AND INVENTORS.