LIFE IN WASHINGTON 243 



decline this offer, although, to a man of limited means, 

 the remuneration proposed by Mr. Childs was a tempta- 

 tion. Mr. Childs, however, begged him to consider the 

 matter and those of his scientific friends, to whom he 

 confided the matter, urged him so strongly that he decided 

 to attempt it. It proved so easy to him and so successful, 

 and fitted in so well with his constant reading of the 

 scientific periodicals, foreign as well as domestic, which 

 treated of a vast variety of subjects, that he began to 

 look around for some additional work of this kind. It 

 was probably through my mother's cousin, the late Dr. 

 S. S. Cutting, that he was brought into communication 

 with Harper Brothers of New York. The result of 

 this was the beginning of an editorial department of 

 science in Harper's Magazine, and a similar column in 

 the 'Weekly,' with the understanding that an article 

 might occasionally be published in the 'Bazar.' All this 

 matter he did not undertake to prepare himself; indeed, 

 he was too thorough in his conception of the value of 

 scientific work to be willing to do this. A number of 

 eminent specialists were employed as collaborators, my 

 father furnishing many articles himself and editing those 

 of his aids. Among the contributors were Professor L. F. 

 Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor 

 Otis T. Mason, of Washington, and Doctor Cleveland 

 Abbe. Many notable cases of applied science abroad 

 were first published by him in America among which a 

 prominent instance is that of the machine for weaving 

 nets; a French invention, the American rights of which 

 laid the foundation of the prosperity of the American 

 Net and Twine Company which hastened to purchase 

 them. 



"In the literary revision of this work, my mother took 



