Memoir of the Life of Eli Whitney. 209 



tolling his genius, and commending him to their notice and friend- 

 ship. He modestly disclaimed all pretensions to mechanical genius ; 

 and when they named their object, he replied that he had never seen 

 either cotton or cotton seed in his life. Mrs. G. said to one of the 

 gentlemen, " 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 

 to his getting some employment to enable him to prosecute the study 

 of the law." 



But a new turn that no one of the company dreamed of, had been 

 given to Mr. Whitney's vievys. It being out of season for cotton 

 in the seed, he went to Savannah and searched among the ware 

 houses and boats, until he found a small parcel of it. This he car- 

 ried home, and communicated his intentions to Mr. Miller, who warm- 

 ly encouraged him, and assigned him a room in the basement of the 

 house, where he set himself at work with such rude materials and 

 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 

 article which was not at that time to be found in the market of Sa- 

 vannah. Mrs. Greene and Mr. Miller were the only persons ever 

 admitted to his workshop, and the only persons who knew in what 

 way he was employing himself. The many hours he spent in his 

 mysterious pursuits, afforded matter of great curiosity and often of 

 raillery to the younger members of the family. Near the close of 

 the winter, the machine was so nearly completed as to leave no, 

 doubt of its success. 



Mrs. 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 

 could be found to give occupation to the negroes, and support to the 

 white inhabitants. This opened suddenly to the planters boundless 

 resources of wealth, and rendered the occupations of the slaves less 

 unhealthy and laborious than they had been before. 



Mrs. Greene, therefore, invited to her house gentlemen from differ- 

 ent parts of the State, and on the first day after they had assembled, 

 she conducted them to a temporary building, which had been erected 

 for the machine, and they saw with astonishment and delight, that 

 more cotton could be separated from the seed in one day, by the 



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