Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 207 



A carpenter being at work upon one of the buildings of the gentle- 

 naan with whom Mr. Whitney boarded, the latter begged permission to 

 use his tools during the intervals of study; but the mechanic being a 

 man of careful habits, was unwilling to trust them with a student, and it 

 was only after the gentleman of the house had become responsible for 

 all damages, that he would grant the permission. But Mr. Whitney 

 had no sooner commenced his operations, than the carpenter was sur- 

 prised at his dexterity, and exclaimed, " there was one good mechanic 

 spoiled when you went to college." 



Soon after Mr. Whitney took his degree, in the autumn of 1792, he 

 entered into an engagement with a Mr. B. of Georgia, to reside 

 in his family as a private teacher. On his way thither, he was so 

 fortunate as to have the company of Mrs. Greene, the widow of Gen. 

 Greene, who, with her family were returning to Savannah, after spend- 

 ing the summer at the north. At that time it was deemed unsafe to 

 travel through our country without having had the small pox, and 

 accordingly Mr. W. prepared himself for the excursion, by procur- 

 ing inoculation while in New York. As soon as he was sufficiently 

 recovered, the party set sail for Savannah. As his health was not 

 fully re-established, Mrs. Greene kindly invited him to go with the fam- 

 ily to her residence at Mulberry Grove, near Savannah, and remain 

 until he was recruited. The invitation was accepted ; but lest he 

 should not yet have lost all power of communicating that dreadful 

 disease, Mrs. Greene had white flags (the meaning of which was well 

 understood) hoisted at the landing, and at all the avenues leading 

 to the house. As a requital for her hospitality, her guest pro-' 

 cured the virus, and inoculated all the servants of the household, more 

 than fifty in number, and carried them safely through the disorder. 



Mr. Whitney had scarcely set his foot in Georgia, before he was 

 met by a disappointment which was an earnest of that long series of 

 adverse events which, with scarcely an exception, attended all his 

 future negotiations in the same State.* On his arrival, he was in- 

 formed that Mr. B. had employed another teacher, leaving Whitney, 

 entirely without resources or friends except those whom he had made 

 in the family of Gen. Greene. In these benevolent people however, 

 his case excited much interest, and Mrs. Greene kindly said to him, 



* In a letter to his friend, Josiah Stebbins, Esq. (the late Judge Stebbins of Maine) 

 dated Geo. April 11, 1793, Mr. Whitney says, "Fortune has stood with her back 

 towards me ever since I have been here." — It does not appear that, so far as re- 

 lated to Georgia, he ever found her position reversed. 



