406 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMEEICA 



corners. Mauy such people may now learn for the first 

 time that each and every frame thus employed had paid 

 a small royalty to Thomas Blanchard, a royalty, how- 

 ever, in the aggregate amounting to many thousands of 

 dollars. It is said that the manufacturer for whom the 

 invention was made refused to pay Blanchard two thou- 

 sand dollars outright for the invention, preferring to pay 

 him a royalty of five per cent. His feelings may be 

 imagined when he paid over to the genius more than two 

 thousand dollars the first year. 

 A World He improved the manner of making the handles of 



Benefactor ^ , n 



shovels, saving material and making a stronger handle. 

 The principle of his inventions was applied in so many 

 ways that to-day the world is full of what Blanchard did. 

 Millions of boot and shoe lasts are made every year, and 

 every one is a tribute to the Sutton boy. To drop out for 

 a single day, from the factories and machine shops of the 

 world, the inventions and applications of Thomas Blan- 

 chard, would throw the mechanical world into inextricable 

 confusion. When the nation gets tired of erecting statues 

 to soldiers, perhaps it will remember the men who helped 

 to make life worth living. 



Blanchard lived till April 16, 1864, when he ceased 

 from earth, and his mortal remains were borne to Mount 

 Auburn, where hero -worshippers may find his grave on 

 Spruce Avenue ; his monument being surmounted by a 

 bust of the great inventor, while upon the base is a medal- 

 lion or relief of the lathe which gave him his world-wide 

 reputation. 



