LIFE IN WASHINGTON 243 
decline this offer, although, to a man of limited means, 
the remuneration proposed by Mr. Childs was a tempta- 
tion. Mr. Childs, however, begged him to consider the 
matter and those of his scientific friends, to whom he 
confided the matter, urged him so strongly that he decided 
to attempt it. It proved so easy to him and so successful, 
and fitted in so well with his constant reading of the 
scientific periodicals, foreign as well as domestic, which 
treated of a vast variety of subjects, that he began to 
look around for some additional work of this kind. It 
was probably through my mother’s cousin, the late Dr. 
S. S. Cutting, that he was brought into communication 
with Harper & Brothers of New York. ‘The result of 
this was the beginning of an editorial department of 
science in Harper’s Magazine, and a similar column in 
the ‘Weekly,’ with the understanding that an article 
might occasionally be published in the ‘Bazar.’ All this 
matter he did not undertake to prepare himself; indeed, 
he was too thorough in his conception of the value of 
scientific work to be willing to do this. A number of 
eminent specialists were employed as collaborators, my 
father furnishing many articles himself and editing those 
of his aids. Among the contributors were Professor L. F. 
Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor 
Otis T. Mason, of Washington, and Doctor Cleveland 
Abbe. Many notable cases of applied science abroad 
were first published by him in America among which a 
prominent instance is that of the machine for weaving 
nets; a French invention, the American rights of which 
laid the foundation of the prosperity of the American 
Net and Twine Company which hastened to purchase 
them. 
“In the literary revision of this work, my mother took 
