id Memoir of the Life of Eki Whitney. 209 
: tolling his genius, and commending him to their notice and friend- 
ship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius ; 
en they named their object, he replied that he had never seen 
er cotton or cotton seed in his life. Mrs. G. said to one of the 
atlemen, “I have accomplished my aim. Mr. Whitney is a very 
deserving young man, and to bring him into notice was my object. 
The interest which our friends now feel for him, will, I hope, lead 
___ tohis getting some employment to enable him to prosecute the*study 
in a the law.” 
2 - But a new turn that no one of the company dreamed of, had been 
given to Mr. Whitney’s views. It being out of season for cotton 
in the seed, he went to Savannah and searched among the ware 
i houses and boats, until he found a small parcel of it. This he car- 
tied home, and communicated his intentions to Mr. Miller, who warm- 
_ lyencouraged him, and assigned him a room in the basement of the 
} house, where he set himself at work with such rude materials and 
ry 
‘3 
‘ 
instruments as a Georgia plantation afforded. With these resources 
however, he made tools better suited to his purpose, and drew his 
own wire, (of which the teeth of the earliest gins were made,) an 
_ ‘tticle which was not at that time to be found in the market of Sa- 
_ Yamah. Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller were the only persons ever 
is dmitted to his workshop, and the only persons who knew in what 
rs way he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his 
__-‘Bysterious pursuits, afforded matter of great curiosity and often of 
ke naillery to the younger members of the family. Near the close of 
‘~ the'Winter, the machine was so nearly completed as to leave no 
——— Woubt of its success. 
is ts. Greene was eager to communicate to her numerous friends 
. the knowledge of this important invention, peculiarly important at 
that time, because then the market was glutted with all those articles 
Which were suited to the climate and soil of Georgia, and nothing 
* “ould be found to give occupation to the negroes, and support to the 
é White inhabitants. ‘This opened suddenly to the planters boundless 
unhealthy and laborious than they had been before. 
's. Greene, therefore, invited to her house gentlemen from differ- 
“nt parts of the State, and on the first day after they had assembled, 
_ conducted them to a temporary building, which had been erected 
o as machine, and they saw with astonishment and delight, that 
Vv n could be separated from the seed in one day, by the 
—10t. XXT—No. 1. 27 
* 
esources of wealth, and rendered the occupations of the slaves less ~ 
