310 AS UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT-II 



was clear evidence of a noble purpose. Whatever worthy 

 work his hand had found to do, he had done it with his 

 might: the steamers of Cayuga Lake; the tunnel which 

 carries the waters of Fall Creek to the mills below; the 

 mills themselves ; the dams against that turbulent stream, 

 which he built after others had failed, and which stand 

 firmly to this day; the calendar clocks for which Ithaca 

 has become famous, and of which he furnished the original 

 hint all these he touched upon, though so modestly that 

 I never found out his full agency in them until a later 

 period, when I had made the acquaintance of many of his 

 townsmen. 



Especially interesting were his references to the begin 

 nings of American telegraphic enterprise, with which he 

 had so much to do. 



His connection with it began in a curious way. Travel 

 ing in northern New England to dispose of a plow which 

 he had invented, he entered the office of a gentleman who 

 had taken the contract for laying the first telegraphic wires 

 underground between Washington and Baltimore, and 

 found him in much doubt and trouble : the difficulty was to 

 lay the leaden pipe containing the two insulated wires at a 

 cost within the terms of the contract. Hearing this, Mr. 

 Cornell said : &quot; I will build you a machine which will dig 

 the trench, lay the pipe and wires, and cover them with 

 earth rapidly and cheaply. &quot; 



This proposal was at first derided ; but, as Mr. Cornell 

 insisted upon it, he was at last allowed to show what he 

 could do. The machine having been constructed, he ex 

 hibited it to a committee; but when the long line of 

 horses attached to it were started, it was so thrown about 

 by the inequalities of the surface that the committee de 

 clared it a failure. Presently Mr. Cornell took them to 

 the ground over which the machine had just passed, and, 

 showing them a line of newly turned earth, asked them 

 to dig in it. Having done this, they found the pipe incas 

 ing the wires, acknowledged his triumph, and immediately 

 gave him and his machine permanent employment. 



