FOUR GOATS.—A PUZZLE.
WHO WAS HE, AND WHAT DID HE INVENT?
BY I. R. OQUOIS.
He was born on the 9th day of June, 1781, in a small village eight miles west of a large town whose name occurs in an old and well-known saying about carrying coals.
His father, who went by the name of "Old Bob," and was fireman of the pumping engine in a colliery, was a hard-working man, and so poor that the floor of the house in which he lived was of clay, and the walls and ceiling unplastered.
He was the next to the eldest in a family of six children.
When he was eight years old his father moved to Dewly Burn. After they went there he soon began earning twopence a day for herding Widow Ainslie's cows. He was anxious to work in the colliery, and before long he obtained a position there. When he was fourteen he was assistant to his father. His wages were a shilling a day, and he was so afraid he would be thought too young for the work that he would hide whenever the owner came to the mines. He was always happy and good-natured about his work, and full of fun. When he was seventeen he had advanced until he was receiving twelve shillings a week, but he was not able to read. He was fond of studying machinery, and had a decided taste for inventing and improving, but he could not do much without books, so he attended night school three nights in the week. At the age of twenty he added to his other earnings by shoe-making.
He was married when he was twenty-one. He devoted all his spare time to the study of mechanics and to inventing, but none of his inventions were successful as yet. He devoted his evenings to mending clocks and watches to get the means to send his only son to school.
Before 1812 he was deeply interested in and at work on the invention which afterward made him famous. His invention was tried in 1814, and proved a failure.