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: "I will build you a machine which will dig 

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

 earth rapidly and cheaply." 



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. 



