58 JETHRO WOOD; 



mittee who were to report on the bill were as- 

 sured that during the 28 years of the patent, 

 Wood's family had reaped immense wealth, 

 and wished to keep up a monopoly. The two 

 quiet ladies, fresh from the retirement of a 

 Quaker home, where they had learned little 

 of the world, were even accused of attempting 

 to secure its extention through bribery. It 

 was the wolf charging the lamb with roiling 

 the water. So ignorant were they of such 

 means, that, though the Chairman of the Com- 

 mittee plainly told the younger lady in a few 

 words of private conversation that a very few 

 thousand dollars would give her a favorable 

 verdict, she did not understand the suggestion 

 till after an unfavorable report was presented, 

 and the bill killed in the House. 



" When they were about to leave Washing- 

 ton, some friendly members of Congress ad- 

 vised them to deposit the valuable documents 

 which had been used in their suit, including 



