USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 51
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the factory we beheld somc twenty of these ma- chines, each occupying a space of about four feet by twelve, at work in most industrious activity, making a noise like the combined ticking of a thousand clocks, and moving by some invisible power, and acting apparently without any su- perintendence; for, at the moment of our en- trance there was no one in the apartment. One boy, we were told, could attend ten or twelve inachines; for there was little to be done, but to change the leather as the cards are completed. To describe the machine, is to me impossible ;- 1 can only tell you some of the results of its opera- tions. A piece of leather, of the size of the card to be made, is inserted in two long clamps, that stretch it and hold it firm in the machine ;- the wire is put on a reel, like a skein of yarn, and the end of it given to the machine, which is set in motion by a small band, revolving over a drum moved by a small steam engine, in an apartment below, and in a few minutes the ac- tive little automaton completes, without any human agency, one of the finest cards used at Lowell, perfect and ready to be placed on the carder. The beauty and delicacy of its move- inents excel those of any machine I ever saw be fore. After the leather is placed in the machine and the wire given to it, the first motion brings up to the leather a curved head of a small iron snake, with a forked tongue, fine as the most delicate cambrick needle, with which it darts at the leather and perforates it ;- in a wink, a pair of small fingers rise with a tooth in their hold and insert it in the scarce perceptible punctures made by the snake's sting, and then disappear, and out darts again the reptile's head ;- when the wire is inserted in the leather by the little digital nip- pers. The two prongs of the card tooth are straight, but the instant it is driven through the leather, a small hammer, on the opposite side, gives it a slight blow, by which it is bent into its hook shape. The rapidity of these movements is so great when the machine is running at its usual speed as to render it difficult to follow them with the eye. I scarcely dare trust my memory to state the number of teeth it forms and inserts in a minute ;- I am confident that it is as large as five hundred, and I believe it is almost as high as nine hundred. To have any just conception of this extraordinary achievement of human inge- nuity, consider what wonderful precision, exact- ness and delicacy is required in a machine, first to form the fine tooth of the exact shape and size; then to perforate the leather and insert the pronged wire into the almost invisible holes. Each part, remember, is performed by succes- sive motions of independent parts of the machine, mnoving with a rapidity that inserts, say five hundred in a minute ;- counting the motions of the hammer, the bending of the wire, the perfo- rations and insertion of the teeth, there are not less than two thousand independent, successive acts of the machine every instant of time that it is running.
A correspondent of the Concordia Intelligen- cer, who lately visited the great factory at West Cambridge, built by this inventor and still in op- eration, writes as follows :- " Whittemore's ma- chine for making cotton and wool cards has saved to the world an amount of manual labour, which places him among the greatest benefactors of his race. When the circumstances of the in- ventor are considered, the machine appears a most remarkable creation of native genius, and is an extraordinary instance of a mind undrilled by education, unaided by science, and unpracti- ced even in mechanical labour, eliminating a " Incredible as it may appear, this machine of such beautiful combinations of varied, yet sim- ple movements, came forth at once perfect and complete from the brain and hand of the inven- tor. The first machine cast and built from his original model in wood, I saw in operation and was told that it was as perfect as any one in the factory ;- after near forty years use of it, no im- series of the most complicated and beautiful com- binations known to us in mechanics. On be- holding its rapid, delicate, and almost incredible operations, one can scarce avoid the impression that the inventor has created something more than a machine ;- that he has given it volition and intelligence. There being a factory in the village, built by the inventor still in operation, | provement has been suggested to the original
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conception of the author of this ingenious and wonderful piece of mechanism.
This fact will appear still more surprising when the history of the inventor is known, and the adverse circumstances, which attended his la- bours, are related. In early life he was extreme- ly poor. Amos Whittemore, the inventor, was at first a day labonrer ;- having an aptness for mechanical labour, he took up the humble em- ployment of an itinerant tinker; and for many years supported a wife and increasing family by repairing " pans, cans, and the whole kitchen trade" of the farmers in the regions about Bos- ton. As he advanced in mechanical dexterity and knowledge, he added a higher branch of the arts to his profession, and became a cleaner and repairer of old clocks. He at last resigned the itinerant wagon, and took a shop in his native town of Cambridge. and put forth a shingle on which it was announced, "Watches and Clocks repaired here." It was while engaged in this re- spectable mechanical trade, that he formed the first conception of his card machine. He was too poor to undertake the construction of it without aid, and no one could be found who had faith enough in his talents to risk an hundred dollars on the success of the invention. After many discouraging efferts to obtain assistance, he en- tered into an agreement with a younger brother, who was labouring at " the aul and last;" and it was stipulated that the latter should divide the amount of his weekly earnings, between his own and brother's family, while Amos was employed in constructing his machine and putting it in op- eration; and if the invention proved valuable, the two brothers were to share equally the ad- vantages of the patent. It was difficult by the labour of one man, to preserve two large families from suffering through a New England winter; but the machine slowly advanced, and hope sus- tained them in the struggle with want and pov- erty ;- spring came and saw it almost completed; -summer arrived, and the lone labourer who thad been hidden from the world for six months in an old obscure building, giving form and shape to the conceptions of his own brain, came forth with one of the most remarkable inventions of his age, ·complete in all its parts, and so perfect in its opera- tions, that a child could perform the labour of fifty adults. When success had been made sure, aid was no longer reluctantly withheld. Patents were secured in this country, England, and France; and the rights to the use of the machine in Europe, was sold for a sum sufficient to com- mence the business here, on a large scale. The demand in this country at that time, principally for hand cards, was immense, and the projector of the machine for setting the teeth, imincdiately commenced a machinery for the boards and han- dles for the ordinary domestic card; this he soon completed; and the whole process of construct- ing a card from the wire in the skein, and the unpunctured leather in the hide, and the board and handle from the rude block of wood, was done by machinery, with the exception of nailing the leather on the board.
" The Whittemores, instead of selling the right to the machine, retained a monopoly of the busi- ness in their own hands. The embargo having occurred soon after the establishment of their factory, and the war of 1812 succeeding the foriner event, people were forced into the use of homespun and domestic manufactures, which greatly enhanced the demand for cards ;- and
the families of the two brothers, who had often in former days looked forward with solicitude for means to procure an humble meal, began to roll in wealth, and adopt a style of magnificent and luxurious living. Before the expiration of their first patent, as a tribute of national gratitude, and a reward of the extraordinary mechanical in- genuity displayed by the invention, Congress passed a special act for renewing the patent for double the time for which they were then grant- ed. Soon after procuring this grant from the country, the original patentees sold out their right to a stock company for a large sum and re- tired from all active pursuits, with an ample for- tune, and with the intention of passing the re- mainder of their lives in " otium cum dignitate."
" But how often are the apparently surest prospects of life delusive; how dangerous is it for a man " to say unto his soul, take thine ease ;"- a mind that had displayed the most extraordinary powers of combination, and which, without claiming any new discovery in science, or the application of new powers, had excelled in me- chanical ingenuity, all the great inventors of the age, sunk into a lethargy, after it had lost its accustomed stimulus to action, and its powers declined, till in a few years, the great inventor became a confirmed hypocondriac. The strangest idea he imbibed, and which became inveterately fixed in his mind, was that his legs had became vitrified, and that these useful members of his person, had turned to glass. With this notion irradically fixed in his head, he had two long narrow canes made and lined with downy cush- ions in which he placed his legs, to secure them from injury; and it was his employment all day, seated in a recumbent position, and his leg in a horizontal position, with a long wand in his hand, to keep people at a respectable distance, and to warn them not to approach incautiously his fra- gile limbs. Various oxpedients were adopted to remove the strange hallucination; but although his mind on all subjects not relating to his own physical condition, was rational, yet on this point the dictates of reason, and the evidence of his senses were impotent to remove the false im- pression. Fear, nor joy, nor the most violent passions could for a moment break the delusion; -he could by no means be forced to use his limbs ;- placed within the reach of the approach- ing tide, or surrounded by a conflagration, he would drown or suffer the tortures of the stake,. rather than risk the integrity of his fragile limbs, in an attempt to escape. Although the functions. of the bodily organs were regular, his strength declined with the powers of his mind ;- and with growing weakness, and aberrations of his intel- lect, his fortune wasted away ; and he died at last, within eight years after he relinquished business, in a premature dotage, and with little more money than lic bad at the commencement of his fortunate carcer ;- and to the last breath of his life insisted that his legs were glass.
" His brother and partner after having well filled his purse, became afflicted with violent po- litical aspirations to the gratification of which his lack of e Incation was an insurmountable barrier in New England. Failing in the object of his ambition at the East, in 1818 he went to Ken- tucky where, in that early period, he thought his wealth would give him more consideration .- Among the first acquaintances he made, was that of Prentice the celebrated speculator in lands and produce, and who at one time controlled the
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whole financial and commercial operations of the | community along the Ohio. Drawn into the Jascinating toils of that arch intriguer, he en- trusted the management of his funds to his new friend, who in one day stript him of every dollar he possessed, and within one year from the pe- rio of his departure, he returned to Boston, with less worldly means than he had when he gained his daily bread by his awl and lapstone.
" Some may censure the publication of these details of private life ;- but as they relate princi- pally to a man whose character and fame has be- come a subject of history, and as they contain a moral for the government of our desires of wealth, and one for the employment of our phys- ical and mental powers, teaching us that idleness in age as well as youth destroys the strength and health of the strongest and noblest faculties. I trust you will be excused for giving them to the world."
The Weather.
We have had to Tuesday last, twenty-eight successive days which as an average of cold have had no parallel for the past in the Miami Val- ley. The thermometer has ranged during three of those mornings from two to six degrees below zero, and the average of cold during the whole period, must have been twelve to fifteen degrees below the freezing point. I place this on record for future comparisons.
Popping the Question.
We forgot where we met the following laconic example of "popping the question:" "Pray, madam, do you like buttered toast?" " Yes, sir." "Will you marry me?" The mode adopt- ed by an eccentric physician is almost as con- densed. A lady came to consult him. He pre- scribed and took his guinea. " Madam," said he, " I wish to see you to-morrow. In the in- terval, take the medicine here prescribed, and ere we meet again, made up your mind to give me a plain YES or NO to the question I now put to you. I am inclined to wed, not to woo. Will yon allow me to lay out my fee in the purchase of your wedding ring?"
Tricking a Landlord.
I find the following in one of my exchanges :---
"A man lived in a house between two black- smiths, and was disturbed by the noise they made. At last they promised to remove, on condition that he should give them an excellent dinner, which he readily agreed to do. When the prom- ised feast was ended, he asked them whither they intended to transfer their domicils. "Why," answered one of them, " iny neighbour will re- move to my shop and I to his."
I can parallel this without going out of Cin- cinnati.
A heavy property holder here had a tenant named Jones, who had been delinqnent so long for rent, that the landlord in despair offered to
forgive his arrears if he would remove. In reply, the tenant observed that he would like to accom- modate his creditor, and that he had a house in view, but the owner required payment of the rent in advance. Rather than retain a tenant rent free, the landlord agreed to advance Mr. Jones the price of a monthi's rent, giving him an uncurrent note at ten per cent. discount. In the evening when the landlord's agent came to report the day's business and pay over his re- ceipts, there was the identical note of ten dollars. The landlord it seems had paid him a premium to remove from one of his houses to another one.
Poetry.
The question is sometimes asked, what is the use of poetry? The noble sentiments so loftily and beautifully expressed in the following verses makes the blood course livelier through the veins, and animate the desponding and the weary in the good fight of faith. These stanzas are worthy the lyre of Robert Burns, whose spirit they breathe. They are from a late number of the Dublin Nation.
Our Faith.
The slave may sicken of his toil, And at his task repine- The manly arm will dig the soil Until it reach the mine; No toil will make the brave man quail, No time his patience try,
And if he use the word " to fail," He only means-" to die."
What is a year in work like ours? The proudest ever planned- To stay Oppression's withering powers, And free our native land! Oh! many a year were bravely past, And many a life well lost,
If blessings such as these, at last, Were purchased at their cost!
The seed that yields our daily bread Not for a year we reap, But when the goodly grain we spread, We hold the labour cheap- Yet ere the winter's snow appears, Must other seeds be sown,
For man consumes the golden ears As quickly as they're grown.
Not so the harvest Freedom yields, 'Twill last for ages long, If those who till her glorious fields, Be steadfast, brave and strong; Shall we, then, hopelessly complain, Because its growth is slow, When thousands die before the grain Is ripened, which they sow?
MARRIED.
At North Bend, on Tuesday, the 16th of December, by the Rev. Geo. W. Walker, Mr. JOHN B. ROWSE to Miss MARGARET M. SILVER, of that place.
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Recollections of the Last Sixty Years .-- No. 3.
BY J. JOHNSTON, EsQ., of Piqua.
The Wyandotts were a part of my agency also. They occupied the Sandusky country, the country of the river Huron, in Michigan, and a tract of land near Malden, in Upper Canada. Their principal chief was Tarhee or the Crane, who resided at Upper Sandusky, where he died twenty-five years ago; and from the treaty of Greenville with Gen. Wayne, in 1795, was a steadfast friend of the government and people of the United States. About forty years ago this tribe contained twenty-two hundred souls, and in March, 1842, when as commissioner of the United States, I concluded with them a treaty of cession and emigration, they had become re- duced to eight hundred of all ages and both sexes. Before the [Revolutionary War, a large portion of the Wyandotts had embraced christi- anity in the communion of the Roman Catholic Church. In the early part of my ageucy the Presbyterians had a mission among them at Lower Sandusky, under the care of Rev. Joseph Badger. The war of 1812 broke up this benevo- lent enterprise. When peace was restored the Methodists became the spiritual instructors of these Indians, and continued in charge of them until their final removal westward of Missouri river, two years ago. The mission had once been in a very prosperous state, but of late years had greatly declined, many of the Indians having gone back to habits of intemperance and heath- enism: a few continued steadfast to their chris- tian profession. Of this number was "Grey Eyes," a regularly ordained minister, of pure Wyandott blood, a holy, devoted and exemplary christian. This man was resolutely opposed to the emigration of his people, and was against me at every step of a long and protracted negotia- tion of twelve months continuance. I finally overcome all objections; on the last vote, more than ftwo-thirds of the whole male population were found in favour of removal. The preacher had always asserted that, under no circumstances would he ever go westward. His age was about forty-eight years; his character forbade any ap- proaches to tampering with him; and although I felt very sensibly his influence, yet I never ad- dressed myself to him personally on the subject of the treaty: but as soon as the whole nation in open council, had voted to leave their country and seek a new home far in the west, I sent an invitation to the preacher to come and dine with me and spend the evening in conversation; he came accordingly. I told him that in conse- quence of his sacred character, I had abstained from using any means to influence his course in
relation to the pending negotiation; that my business with him had no concealment; it was open, and communicated to all men, women and children; and as many of their white friends as desired to hear me in open council; that I came to them with the words of their great father, Harrison; and although the lips that first uttered these words were cold in death, still they were the words of truth-which all must acknowledge were for their present and future good; that in the treaty I was about to sign in a few more days with their chiefs, ample justice was done their whole nation, and this too as well on account of my own character as the character of him who had sent me to treat with them; that if he-the preacher "Grey Eyes"-was called to preach the gospel to his nation and race, it was his duty to go with them westward and do them all the good in his power; that in a few more years the Indians would be all gone from Ohio and Michi- gan, and he well knew he could not, by reason of his ignorance of our language, minister to the whites, and that it must therefore be evident to all that the Providence of God called loudly upon him to go westward with his people; and there administer as he had done to their spiritual and temporal wants. He replied that during the progress of the treaty, he had opposed me to the utmost extent of his power; that now the nation having decided by a large majority on selling their lands and removing to the west, he had de- termined on uniting his fate with it, and would prepare to go along and do all the good he could for his people. From this time forward the preacher and myself were very good friends. He frequently called and ate with me, on all which occasions I called on him for a blessing, which he pronounced in his own language, in a very devout and becoming manner. When I had brought my business with the Wyandotts to a close, and was on the point of leaving there, I sent for my good friend the preacher and gave him all my remaining provisions and stores, not of large amount, remarking to the Indians pres- ent, to prevent their being jealous, that their min- ister being the servant of Jesus Christ, devoting his time to the care of their souls and bodies, to the neglect of himself and family, it was proper therefore that I should provide for him as far as lay in my power: to which they very readily as- sented. The Wyandotts were always a leading tribe among the Indians of the Northwest: with them was the sacred fire deposited at Browns- town, Michigan; and here was the great council of the confederacy held and peace and war deci- ded upon in the war of 1812. The place was pol- luted with the spilling of blood in battle, and no conncil could ever after be held there.
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There is nothing in the history of the settle- ment and extension of the English and their de- scendants upon this continent so melancholy to the mind of the christian and philanthropist as the case of the Indians, the primitive inhabitants and lords of the country. Since the first landing of the Europeans to the present day, hundreds of tribes of the natives have been swept away by the avarice, cupidity and vices of the white man, leaving not a single individual to testify that they ever had an existence; and what is most disrepu- table in this matter to our race up to the present moment, not a single effectual attempt has been made by the English government during our Colonial vassalage, nor since the American revo- Iution by the Congress and President of the Uni- ted States, to lay the foundation of a system to preserve the unhappy race of the red man from final extinction. All our plans have been di- rected to shifts and expedients to acquire their lands and push them further back, without in the least altering the tenure of their possession. The last story on our part was, go southwest of Mis- souri and we will never call upon you for the cession of another acre. In reference to this very matter, in my farewell speech to the Wy- andotts, they were told that the white people loved land; it was their food; that they in the course of time might be called on in the west to sell the lands which I had assigned them by the treaty; but no matter who invited them to coun- cil for such a purpose, if it was the President him- self in person, to shut their ears and obey uo such call; never for a moment entertain a propo- sition of the kind. If you do this you will be safe: if you once listen you are undone, for the white man will overcome you with money and goods. What do we see already? While I am writing this sheet we read that a deputation of the Potawatomies is on a visit to the President at Washington imploring him to put a stop to the demands made upon them to abandon their pres- ent homes; and yet it is but a few years, certain- ly not more than twenty, since those same Indi- ans left Indiana, the country near Chicago, and Michigan at our bidding, and to make room for our population. Is it any wonder that the Indi- ans cannot be civilized; and that all confidence on their part in our race is at an end? Seeing that our avarice, overreaching and encroach- ments upon their homes has no limits, nothing can save them but a total change in our policy towards them. I had been officially connected with the Indian service upwards of thirty years and had reflected much upon their deplorable condition. The result was communicated many years ago to the men in power at Washington, through Gen. Joseph Vance, our then as at present representative in Congress. My plan
was predicated upon the basis that without a local government, adapted to the condition and wants of the Indians, and for their exclusive use and benefit, their race must perish. Nething has since occurred to change that opinion, but much to confirm and strengthen it.
A territorial government, under the authority of Congress, should be established over the Indi- ans to be composed of a Governor, Council and House of Representatives: the Governor to be appointed in the usual way by the President and Senate, the Council to be composed of the Indian agents for the time being, and the House of Rep- resentatives to be composed exclusively of per- sons elected by the various tribes, and in all cases to be Indians by blood, each member so elected and admitted to a seat to receive from the United States Treasury $2 or $3 per day for his attend- ance, and $2 .or $3 per day for each thirty miles travel going to and returning from the seat of the Indian government, a delegate in Congress as a matter of course. A plan of the kind here proposed, would gradually introduce among the Indians a knowledge of civil government and its blessings, and pave the way for their civilization: without something of the kind their race msut perish. Thatitis a sacred debt due to the primi- tive inhabitants of the land, from the representa- tives of the American people in Congress assem- bled, no man acquainted with the wrongs of the red man will attempt to deny. Connected with the providing a government for them must be a solemn covenant on the part of Congress that no attempt shall ever be made to purchase or alienate any part of the Indian territory, and the total abandonment of the practice of removing com- petent and faithful agents for political cause. The longer an honest and competent agent is in office, the better for both the government and the Indians. So mischievous in its effects has been this practice of removing men in the Indian ser- vice, that I have known persons under Gen. Jack- son's administration to receive the appointment of Indian interpreter, who knew not a single word of Indian; and another who received the appoint- ment of blacksmith and held the place for several years, and never performed a day's work at the anvil and bellows. Notorious, wicked, and in- competent men have in many instances been ap- pointed agents and commissioners for managing their affairs; and a course of measures pursued towards them for the last sixteen years, in viola- tion of treaties, law and right that has banished from the minds of the Indians every, vestige of confidence they ever had in us. Wholesale frauds have been practised upon them by men in office, to the disgrace of the government and people of the United States.
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