1 The birch bark canoe was the most beautiful and ingenious of all the Native Americans’ inventions. It was so broad that it could float in shallow streams, so strong that it could shoot dangerous rapids, and so light that one man could easily carry it on his back.

 

2 To make such a boat the Native Americans picked out a tall tree, with thick bark and with as few branches as possible. This they would cut down, care being taken to prevent it from falling against other trees, thereby hurting the bark. The bark was then split along the length of the tree, and carefully peeled off in pieces the length and breadth of the canoe. They were very particular not to have any holes in the bark, which, during the season when the sap was in the tree, was firm and fine.

 

3 The bark was then spread on the ground in a smooth place, the inside downwards, and, in order to stretch it better, logs of wood or stones were placed on it. Then the edges of the bark were gently bent upwards to form the sides of the boat. Some sticks were fixed into the ground at a distance of three or four feet from each other, forming the curved line which the sides of the boat were intended to make. The bark was bent to the form which the boat was to have, being held firmly in position by the sticks thus driven into the ground.

 

4 The ribs of the boat were made of tough hickory, cut into long, flat pieces, and bent to the shape of the boat, the wider ones in the middle, and the narrower ones towards the ends. When thus bent and tied in position, the ribs were placed upon the bark about ten inches apart.

 

5 The upper edge of each side of the boat was made of two thin poles, the boat’s length, and put close together with flat edges to hold the bark between. These long poles, firmly attached to the ribs, determined the shape of the boat. The edge of the bark was now inserted between the poles on each side and was sewed to the poles by means of mouse-wood, bark, or roots.

 

6 The poles were now sewed together at the end, and the bark was made water tight where it was joined by pounded bark of the red elm. Bands were placed across the top of the ribs of the boat to prevent spreading or crushing in, and boards were laid across the bottom to step on. The boat was then ready for use.

 

7 This was a frail structure, and had to be treated very tenderly. The sides were easily torn open by rocks and hidden branches of trees, and therefore, the Native Americans were always on the lookout for danger. The bottom could be easily crushed through, hence the Native Americans went barefoot, and entered the canoe very gingerly.

 

8 But with such a canoe three or four persons could easily float, and in some of the war canoes even a dozen Native Americans could find space. With long paddles and strong arms, the Native Americans forced their craft over the lakes and along the rivers with great ease and speed. It was strong enough to hold a heavy load, so long as it did not strike a rock or hidden tree. Such a boat could shoot down a dangerous rapid, if it was directed by skillful hands. When the Native Americans wished to move from one lake to another, they lifted the canoe out the water, strapped it across the back of one man, who took it over the trail across the country from one body of water to another.

1 The British had left Philadelphia, and were in full retreat across Jersey on their way to New York. Washington was right behind them, the front ranks of the American Army fighting the rear ranks of the British. It was a long, running fight. At last, they came to Monmouth, and there a battle was begun. General Charles Lee, in charge of the American forces, acted so badly that the issue of the fight was long in doubt.

 

2 When Washington saw the disorder of the troops, he was angry, and rebuked General Lee so harshly that the officer turned as white as a sheet. He was afterwards tried by court-martial and dismissed.

 

3 Then Washington took charge himself. Orders flew thick and fast. Aids scurried in every direction, putting cannon in position, and getting ready for the renewed attack which was sure to come. Soon the guns roared, the heat of battle became terrible, and smoke covered the entire field; the dust and dirt were blinding. The men were suffering from lack of water. It was then that Molly Pitcher, the wife of one of the gunners, called out, “Go on with the firing. I will fetch water from the spring.”

 

4 The men waved their hands to her; she ran down the hill, drew water in a canteen, and carried it back and forth to the soldiers. She passed from cannon to cannon, while the men drank and kept on with their deadly work.

 

5 How many times she did this no one knew, but, as she was coming once with her supply of water, a shot from the enemy struck her husband in the breast, and he fell beside his smoking cannon. Molly ran to him, and knelt down by him; one look was enough to convince her that he was dead.

 

6 As she sat there in speechless grief, with the dead man’s head in her lap, an officer rode up, and said to some soldiers, “Take this cannon to the rear; there is now no one to serve it.”

 

7 When Molly heard this, she sprang to her feet, and cried out, “Stop! That cannon shall not leave this field for lack of someone to serve it. Since they have killed my poor husband, I will take his place, and avenge his death.”

 

8 With that, she seized the rammer from the hands of her dead husband, sprang to the muzzle of the piece, rammed home the powder, and stepped back, saying, “Ready!” Then the cannon blazed again, carrying death and dismay to the ranks of the enemy.

 

9 Molly Pitcher stood at her post as long as the battle lasted. Black with smoke, covered with dirt and dust, blinded by the heat, she did the work of a man. She never flinched for a moment, nor did she stop until the order came to cease firing.

 

10 Then she sat down on the ground by the side of her poor dead husband, took his head again in her lap, and gave way to her tears and grief.

 

11 Washington had seen her with her cannon during the battle. He admired her courage and patriotism and sent for her to come to headquarters. He told her what a splendid deed of heroism she had done, and conferred on her an officer’s commission. After that, she wore an epaulet, and everybody called her “Captain Molly.”

“Patience and the investment of time and labor for future results are essential factors in every inventor’s success.”

 

1 The field of invention is closed to no one. The studious mechanic may design and improve on the machine he operates. The day laborer, if dissatisfied with his lot, may devise means for lessening the toil of his class, and largely increase his earning capacity. The busy housewife, not content with the drudgery incident to her household cares, may devise a means or article which will lighten her task, and prove a blessing to her sisters. The plodding clerk, without an iota of mechanical knowledge, may perfect a system or an office appliance which will prove of vast benefit to himself and his fellows. The scientist may discover new forces and make new applications of old principles which will make the world marvel,—and so on through the whole category of crafts, occupations, and professions.

 

2 If one of the old Kings of Israel, centuries ago, voiced the sentiment that there was nothing new under the sun, do we not possess, at the present time, a similar mental attitude, and are we not apt to say with him that there appears to be “nothing new under the sun”? Civilization begets new needs and wants; opportunities for new inventions are multiplying at a tremendous rate. In other words, where an inventor, two centuries ago, would have had one hundred chances to “make good,” today the chances are multiplied many thousand-fold.

 

3 No avenue of business can open up the possibilities of such enormous honors and fabulous money returns as a real invention which is in universal demand. The discoveries of the past form a record which is not only glorious, but points the man of genius of today in an unswerving manner to the possibilities which the future holds, and which are vastly greater than anything which has gone before. Each age finds the people convinced that human ingenuity has reached the summit of achievement, but the future will find forces, mechanical principles, and combinations which will excite wonder, and prove to be of incalculable benefit to mankind.

 

(4) Our old friend Darius Green and his flying machine, that we heard about when we were children, was not as great a fool as he was imputed to be. Witness at the present time the marvelous results attained by inventors with airships. We are proud of Wilbur and Orville Wright, who at this writing have just broken all records for Aeroplanes, or “machines heavier than air.” It seems that in five or ten years from now the navigation of the air will be a problem perfectly solved.

 

5 (Since writing the above, on Thursday, September 17th, Orville Wright, at Fort Myer, Va., met with an accident to his machine, which resulted in the death of Lieutenant Selfridge, of the U.S. Army, and severe injuries to the inventor. The accident is said to have been due to the breaking of one of the propellers.)

 

6 When you think that the first locomotives that were invented were considered wonders if they made a speed of eight to ten miles per hour, the chances are that within the next few years we will have airships going through space at incredible rates of speed.

 

7 We might also, at this time, refer to the experiments of Count Zeppelin and Santos- Dumont, and the American, Professor Baldwin, in “dirigible balloons.” This type of airships will undoubtedly be superseded by the “Aeroplane,” or the “Helicopter.” The principal inventors in this line are Henry Farman, the French inventor, and Delagrange, the German. Wright Brothers hold the world’s record, at this time.

 

8 Little did Murdock (who erected, in 1792, while an engineer in Cornwall, England, a little gasometer which produced gas enough to light his house and office) think that in the year 1908 no house would be considered as modern unless it was fully equipped with the gas for lighting and heating which he discovered and brought to practical use. It is also said that “while Murdock resided in Cornwall he made gas from every substance he could think of, and had bladders filled with it, with which, and his little steam carriage running on the road, he used to astonish the people.” No one is astonished at “little steam carriages,” or, in other words, automobiles, nowadays, one hundred and sixteen years later.

 

9 Our grandparents, when they were young people, imagined that they were living in the “Golden Age,” and yet, we today would consider their lack of what we nowadays consider positive necessities a mighty primitive and inconvenient manner in which to live. When the “wisest man,” centuries ago, is chronicled as saying, “There is nothing new under the sun,” they lived in tents, rode camels, fought with bows and arrows, sling shots and battering rams! While the Tower of Babel was possibly the first “skyscraper,” it did not contain express elevators, hot and cold water, telephones, call boxes, yale locks, granolithic floors, fire escapes, transom lifts, automatic sprinklers, stationary wash stands, water closets, steam or hot water heat, electric and gas lights, push buttons, sash weights, and so on ad infinitum. So you can readily appreciate the marvelous strides the human race is making in the way of material development, and all, or nearly all of which has been due to the fertile brain and nimble wit of the inventors! Who will have the temerity to say when and where this development will stop, when Solomon, centuries ago, thought they had reached the limit?

 

10 What will be the next wonderful invention? For instance, the perfected telephote? You, by stepping into a cabinet in Philadelphia, could have your photograph taken and shown in Boston, all by and through an electric wire! The Telephote may transmit light and color as the Telephone does sound; why not a combination of the two, so you can see your friend perfectly when you talk to him on the ‘phone?

 

11 Our grandparents thought they were as comfortable as possible, and they were, because they did not know any better. Do we know better? One hundred years from now, possibly, our great, great-grandchildren will consider us as having lived in the “stone age.” The field of invention has no bars up,—you, all of us, are free to enter.