MEMOIR OF ELI WHITNEY. 291 



peat here what has been said of Whitney's earliest indications of mechanical ge- 

 nius — picniicing, however, lliat we must otherwise contine this notice chiefly to 

 the bearing of his great invention, the cotton-gin, on the interests of Agriculture. 

 To follow him, pleasing as the task might be, into all the diversified walks of 

 mechanical ingenuity, would be wandering too much beyond the limits of agri- 

 cultural biography, to wliich we are restricted. Even thus far, pleasing as is 

 the duly, we could not indulge, to the exclusion of more practical matter, were 

 it not to give assurance to the votaries of the plow that liere, at least, if nowhere 

 else, a Register shall always be open, where justice may be done to those real 

 benefactors of their race to whom the more solid rewards of Government are de- 

 nied by the wise policy of enlightened legislators, faitkfully representing a dis- 

 cerning and — alas! may it now be added, without the smallest spice of party 

 spirit ? — a u-arJikc people I 



Of Whitney's early passion for mechanical employments, his sist<y gives the 

 following account : " Our father had a workshop, and sometimes made wheels, 

 of diii'erent kinds, and chairs. He had a variety of tools, and a lathe ibr turning 

 chair-posts. This gave my brother an opportunity of learning the use of tools 

 when very young. He lost no time ; but, as soon as he could handle tools, he 

 was always making something in the shop, and seemed not to like working on 

 the farm. On a time, after the death of our mother, when our father had been 

 absent from home two or three days, on his return he inquired of the housekeeper 

 what the boys had been doing? 8he told him what B. and J. had been about. 

 * But what has Eli been doing ?' said he. She replied, ' He has been making a 

 ■fiddle.' 'Ah !' added he, despondingJy, ' I fear Eli will have to take his portion 

 in fiddles.' He was at this time about twelve years old. His sister adds that 

 this fiddle was finished throughout like a common violin, and made tolerably 

 good music. It was examined by many persons, and all pronounced it to be a 

 remarkable piece of work for such a boy to perform. From this time he was em- 

 ployed to repair violins, and had many nice jobs, which were always executed to 

 the entire satisfaction, and often to the astonishment, of his cu'stomers. His fa- 

 ther's watch being the greatest piece of mechanism that had yet presented itself 

 to his observation, he was extremely desirous of examining its interior construc- 

 tion, but was not permitted to do so. One Sunday morning, observing that his 

 father was going to meeting, and would leave at home the wonderful little ma- 

 chine, he immediately feigned illness as an apology for not going to church. As 

 soon as the family were out of sight, he flew to the room where the watch hung, 

 and, taking it down, he was so delighted "vvith its motions that he took it all in 

 pieces before he thought of the consequences of his rash deed ; for his father was 

 a stern parent, and punishment would have been the reward of his idle curiosity, 

 had the mischief been detected. He, however, put the work all so neatly to- 

 gether that his father never discovered his audacity until he himself told him, 

 many years afte.rward." 



Whitney lost his mother at an early age, and, when he was thirteen years old, 

 his father married a second time. His step-mother, among her articles of furni- 

 ture, had a handsome set of table-knives she valued very highly, which our young 

 mechanic observing, said to her, " I could make as good ones, if f had tools ; and 

 I could make the necessary tools, if I had a few common tools to make them 

 with." His step-mother thought he was deriding her, and was much displeased ; 

 but it so happened, not long afterward, that one of the knives got broken, and he 

 made one exactly like it in every respect, except the stamp on the blade. This 



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