embarrassed that it could not pay the regiment of which he was a member.
Mr. Howe promptly advanced the money, and his comrades were saved from
the annoyances which would have attended the delay in paying them. He
died at Brooklyn, Long Island, on the 3d of October, 1867.

Mr. Howe will always rank among the most distinguished of American
inventors; not only because of the unusual degree of completeness shown
in his first conception of the sewing-machine, but because of the great
benefits which have sprung from it. It has revolutionized the industry
of the world, opened new sources of wealth to enterprise, and lightened
the labor of hundreds of thousands of working people. Many a pale-faced,
hollow-eyed woman, who formerly sat sewing her life away for a mere
pittance, blesses the name of Elias Howe, and there is scarcely a
community in the civilized world but contains the evidence of his
genius, and honors him as the benefactor of the human race.




CHAPTER XVIII.

RICHARD M. HOE.


To write the complete history of the printing press would require years
of patient labor and research, and a much larger space than the limits
of the present work will permit. There are few subjects more attractive
or more worthy of consideration than the history of this wonderful
invention, which seems more like a romance than a narration of facts.
The historian who should essay the task would be required to carry his
reader back to the darkest ages of the world, and, beginning with the
stamps used for affixing hieroglyphical characters to the now crumbling
ruins of Egypt and Nineveh, trace the gradual development of the
beneficent conception from the signets of the Israelites, and the stamps
used by the Romans for marking certain kinds of merchandise, through the
rude process of the Chinese, Japanese, and Tartars, to the invention of
Johannes Guttenberg, and, finally, to the wonderful lightning
steam-presses of to-day.

In these pages it is not proposed to offer to the reader any such
narrative. On the contrary, the story of the printing press will be
taken up just as it was on the point of reaching its greatest
perfection, since our subject concerns only the man who brought it to
that state.

This man, RICHARD MARCH HOE by name, was born in the city of New York,
on the 12th of September, 1812. His father, Robert Hoe, was a native of
the village of Hose, Leicester, England, and the son of a wealthy
farmer. Disliking his father's pursuit, he apprenticed himself to a
carpenter. When only sixteen years old, the elder Hoe purchased his
indentures from his master and sailed for the United States. He was
almost penniless when he reached New York, and in this condition entered
the store of Mr. Grant Thorburn one day in search of employment. Mr.
Thorburn manifested a sudden and strong liking to the youth, took him to
his own house, and when he was prostrated with the yellow fever, during
the epidemic of 1804, nursed him tenderly throughout. Setting to work
immediately upon his arrival in New York, he made friends rapidly, and
prospered in his trade so well that when but twenty years old he was
able to marry. His bride was a daughter of Matthew Smith, of
Westchester, and a sister of Peter Smith, the inventor of the hand
printing press, which bears his name. With this gentleman and Matthew
Smith, jr., his brother, Robert Hoe entered into partnership. Their
business was that of carpentering and printers' joinery; but after Peter
Smith had completed the invention of his hand press, it gradually grew
into the manufacture of presses and printers' materials. Both of the
brothers died in 1823, and Robert Hoe succeeded to the entire business.

The manufactory of "Robert Hoe & Co." was originally located in the
centre of the old block between Pearl and William Streets, and Pine
Street and Maiden Lane. Soon after their establishment there, the city
authorities ran Cedar Street right through their building, and they
removed to Gold Street, near John. They have been twice burned out here,
but still occupy these premises with their counting-room and lower shop.

Printing by steam had long attracted the attention of persons engaged
in the art, and many essays had been made in this direction by different
inventors, both in this country and in Europe. The most successful
results were the Adams press, the invention of Mr. Isaac Adams, of
Boston, Mass., and the Napier press, that of a British artisan. It was
the latter which was the means of identifying Mr. Hoe with the steam
press.

The Napier press was introduced into this country in 1830, by the
proprietors of the _National Intelligencer_, but when it arrived, these
gentlemen were not able to release it from the Custom-house. Major Noah,
himself the proprietor of a newspaper, was at that time Collector of the
port of New York, and he, being anxious to see the press in operation,
requested Mr. Hoe to put it together. Mr. Hoe performed this task
successfully, although the press was a novelty to him, and was permitted
to take models of its various parts before it was reshipped to England.
It was found to be a better press than any that had ever been seen in
this country, and the _Commercial Advertiser,_ of New York, and the
_Chronicle_, of Philadelphia, at once ordered duplicates of it from
England.

Mr. Hoe was very much pleased with this press, but believed that he
could construct a much better one. "To this end he despatched his new
partner, Mr. Sereno Newton, to England to examine all the improvements
in machinery there, and bring home samples of such as he thought might
be advantageously adopted in this country. Mr. Newton, besides being an
ingenious mechanic, was well-read in books, and was considered one of
the first mathematicians in New York. Returning from his mission, he
constructed a new two-cylinder press, which soon superseded all others
then in use." Mr. Hoe's health failed, compelling him, in 1832, to
retire from the business.

Young Richard M. Hoe had been brought up in his father's business,
after receiving a fair education. He inherited his father's inventive
genius, combined with a rare business capacity, and from the first was
regarded as the future hope of the establishment. Upon the withdrawal of
his father, a partnership was established between himself, his brother
Robert, Mr. Newton, and his cousin Matthew Smith, but the style of the
firm remained unchanged.

Richard Hoe's first invention was conceived in 1837, and consisted of a
valuable improvement in the manufacture of grinding saws. Having
obtained a patent for it in the United States, he visited England in
that year for the same purpose. By his process circular saws may be
ground with accuracy to any desired thickness. He readily obtained a
patent in England, as the excellence of his invention commended it to
every one. While there he gave especial attention to the improvements
which had been made in the printing press, in the manufacture of which
his firm was still largely engaged. Returning to New York, he devoted
himself entirely to this branch of his business, and soon produced the
machine known as "Hoe's Double-Cylinder Press," which was capable of
making about six thousand impressions per hour. The first press of this
kind ever made was ordered by the New York _Sun_, and was the admiration
of all the printers of the city. This style of press is now used
extensively for printing country newspapers.

As long as the newspaper interest of the country stood still, "Hoe's
Double-Cylinder Press" was amply sufficient for its wants, but as the
circulation of the journals of the large cities began to increase, the
"double-cylinder" was often taxed far beyond its powers. A printing
press capable of striking off papers with much greater rapidity was felt
to be an imperative and still-increasing need. It was often necessary
to hold the forms back until nearly daylight for the purpose of issuing
the latest news, and in the hurry which ensued to get out the morning
edition, the press very frequently met with accidents.

Mr. Hoe was fully alive to the importance of improving his press, and,
in 1842, he began to experiment with it for the purpose of obtaining
greater speed. It was a serious undertaking, however, and at every step
fresh difficulties arose. He spent four years in experimenting, and at
the end of that time was almost ready to confess that the obstacles were
too great to be overcome. One night, in. 1846, while in this mood, he
resumed his experiments. The more he pondered over the subject the more
difficult it seemed. In despair, he was about to relinquish the effort
for the night, when suddenly there flashed across his mind a plan for
securing the type on a horizontal cylinder. This had been his great
difficulty, and he now felt that he had mastered it. He sat up all
night, working out his design, and making a note of every idea that
occurred to him, in order that nothing should escape him. By morning the
problem which had baffled him so long had been solved, and the
magnificent "Lightning Press" already had a being in the inventor's
fertile brain.

He carried his model rapidly to perfection, and, proceeding with it to
Washington, obtained a patent. On his return home he met Mr. Swain, the
proprietor of the Baltimore _Sun_ and Philadelphia _Ledger_, and
explained his invention to him. Mr. Swain was so much pleased with it
that he at once ordered a four-cylinder press, which was completed and
ready for use on the 31st of December, 1848. This press was capable of
making ten thousand impressions per hour, and did its work with entire
satisfaction in every respect.

This was a success absolutely unprecedented--so marked, in fact, that
some persons were inclined to doubt it. The news flew rapidly from city
to city, and across the ocean to foreign lands, and soon wherever a
newspaper was printed men were talking of Hoe's wonderful invention.
Orders came pouring in upon the inventor with such rapidity that he soon
had as many on hand as he could fill in several years. In a
comparatively brief period the _Herald_, _Tribune_, and _Sun_, of New
York, were boasting of their "Lightning Presses," and soon the
_Traveller_ and _Daily Journal_, in Boston, followed their example. Mr.
Hoe was now not only a famous man, but possessed of an assured business
for the future, which was certain to result in a large fortune. By the
year 1860, besides supplying the principal cities of the Union (fifteen
lightning presses being used in the city of New York alone), he had
shipped eighteen presses to Great Britain, four to France, and one to
Australia. Two of the presses sent to England were ordered for the
London _Times_.

Mr. Hoe continued to improve his invention, adding additional cylinders
as increased, speed was desired, and at length brought it to the degree
of perfection exhibited in the splendid ten-cylinder press now in use in
the offices of our leading journals, which strikes off twenty-five
thousand sheets per hour. Whether more will be accomplished with this
wonderful machine the future alone can determine, but the inventor is
said to be still laboring to improve it.

In 1858, Mr. Hoe purchased the patent rights and manufactory of Isaac
Adams, in Boston, and since then has carried on the manufacture of the
Adams press from that place. He has also established a manufactory in
England, where he conducts a profitable business in both the Adams and
the Hoe press. Over a million and a half of dollars are invested in
these establishments in New York, Boston, and London, in land,
buildings, and stock. The firm manufacture presses of all kinds, and
all materials used by printers except type and ink. They also
manufacture circular saws, made according to Mr. Hoe's process.

Mr. Hoe, now fifty-eight years of age, is still as vigorous and active
as many a younger man. Besides being one of the most prominent and
distinguished inventors and manufacturers in the country, he is justly
esteemed for his many virtues and his commanding business talents. He is
still the active head of the house which he has carried to such a
brilliant success, and is the possessor of an ample fortune, which his
genius and industry have secured to him. He is courteous and obliging to
all, and very liberal to those whose needs commend them to his
benevolence.

The ten-cylinder press costs fifty thousand dollars, and is regarded as
cheap at that immense sum. It is one of the most interesting inventions
ever made. Those who have seen it working in the subterranean
press-rooms of the journals of the great metropolis will not soon forget
the wonderful sight. The ear is deafened with the incessant clashing of
the machinery; the printed sheets issue from the sides of the huge
engine in an unceasing stream; the eye is bewildered with the mass of
lines and bands; and it seems hard to realize that one single mind could
ever have adjusted all the various parts to work harmoniously.

The following is a description of the ten-cylinder steam printing-press
now used in the office of the New York _World_. It is one of the best
specimens of its kind to be seen in the great city:

The dimensions of the press are as follows: Entire length, 40 feet;
width, 15 feet; height, 16 feet. The large horizontal cylinder in the
center is about 4-1/2 feet in diameter, and on it are placed the "forms" of
type for the four pages of one side of the paper. Each of these
constitutes a segment of a circle, and the whole four occupy a segment
of only about one-fourth of the surface of the cylinder, the other
three-fourths being used as an ink-distributing surface. Around this
main cylinder, and parallel with it, are ten smaller impression
cylinders, according to the number of which a press is termed a four,
six, or ten-cylinder press. The large cylinder being set in revolution,
the form of types is carried successively to all the impression
cylinders, at each of which a sheet is introduced and receives the
impression of the types as the form passes. Thus as many sheets are
printed at each revolution of the main cylinder as there are impression
cylinders around it. One person is required at each impression cylinder
to supply the sheets of paper, which are taken at the proper moment by
fingers or grippers, and after being printed are conveyed out by tapes
and laid in heaps by means of self-acting flyers, thereby dispensing
with the hands required in ordinary machines to receive and pile the
sheets. The grippers hold the sheet securely, so that the thinnest
newspaper can be printed without waste.

The ink is contained in a fountain placed beneath the main cylinder, and
is conveyed by means of distributing rollers to the distributing surface
on the main cylinder. This surface being lower or less in diameter than
the form of types, passes by the impression cylinders without touching
them. For each impression there are two inking rollers, which receive
their supply of ink from the distributing surface of the main cylinder,
and raise and ink the form as it passes under them, after which they
again fall to the distributing surface.

Each page of the paper is locked up on a detached segment of the large
cylinder, called by the compositors a "turtle," and this constitutes its
bed and chase. The column-rules run parallel with the shaft of the
cylinder, and are consequently straight, while the head, advertising,
and dash-rules are in the form of segments of a circle. The column-rules
are in the form of a wedge, with the thin part directed toward the axis
of the cylinder, so as to bind the type securely, and at the same time
to keep the ink from collecting between the types and the rules. They
are held down to the bed by tongues projecting at intervals along their
length, which slide into rebated grooves, cut crosswise in the face of
the bed. The spaces in the grooves between the column-rules are
accurately fitted with sliding blocks of metal even with the surface of
the bed, the ends of the blocks being cut away underneath to receive a
projection on the sides of the tongues of the column-rules. The form of
type is locked up in the bed by means of screws at the foot and sides,
by which the type is held as securely as in the ordinary manner upon a
flat bed, if not even more so. The speed of the machine is limited only
by the ability of the feeders to supply the sheets. Twenty-five hundred
is about as many as a man can supply in an hour, and multiplying this by
ten--one man being at each cylinder--we have 25,000 sheets an hour as
the capacity of the press.




CHAPTER XIX.

SAMUEL COLT.


Samuel Colt was born at Hartford, Connecticut, on the 19th of July,
1814. He was descended from one of the original settlers of that city,
and his father, who possessed some means, was a man of great energy,
intelligence, and enterprise. The senior Colt began life as a merchant,
and afterward became a manufacturer of woolen, cotton, and silk goods.
The mother of our hero was the daughter of Major John Caldwell, a
prominent banker of Hartford, and is said to have been a woman of
superior character and fine mental attainments.

It was within the power of the parents of Samuel Colt to give him a
thorough education, and this they were anxious to do; but he was always
so full of restless energy that he greatly preferred working in the
factory to going to school. He loved to be where he could hear the busy
looms at work, and see the play of the intricate machinery in the great
building. In order to gratify him, his father placed him in his factory
at the age of ten years, and there he remained for about three years,
leaving it only at rare intervals and for short periods of time, which
he passed in attendance upon school and working on a farm. When he was
thirteen his father declared that he would not permit him to grow up
without an education, and sent him to a boarding-school at Amherst,
Massachusetts. He did not remain there long, for the spirit of adventure
came over him with such force that he could not resist it. He ran away
from school and shipped as a boy before the mast on a vessel bound for
the East Indies. The ship was called the Coroo, and was commanded by
Captain Spaulding.

[Illustration: THE BOY COLT INVENTING THE REVOLVER.]

The voyage was long, and the lad was subjected to great hardships, which
soon convinced him that running away to sea was not as romantic in real
life as in the books he had read, but his experience, though
uncomfortable enough, failed to conquer his restless spirit. While at
sea in the Coroo he had an abundance of leisure time for reflection, but
instead of devoting it to meditating upon the folly of his course, he
spent it in inventing a revolving pistol, a rough model of which he cut
in wood with his jack-knife. This was the germ of the invention which
afterward gave him such fame, and it is not a little singular that the
conception of such a weapon should have come to a boy of fourteen.

Returning home, he became an apprentice in his father's factory at
Ware, Massachusetts. He was put into the dyeing and bleaching
department, and was thoroughly trained in it by Mr. William T. Smith, a
scientific man, and one of the best practical chemists in New England.
Young Holt manifested a remarkable aptitude for chemistry, and when but
a mere boy was known as one of the most successful and dexterous
manipulators in New England.

When he had reached his eighteenth year, the old spirit of restlessness
came over him again, and he embarked in an unusually bold undertaking
for one so young, in which, however, he was much favored by the
circumstance that he was very much older in appearance than in reality,
commonly passing for a full-grown man. Assuming the name of Dr. Coult,
he traveled throughout the Union and British America, visiting nearly
every town of two thousand inhabitants and over, lecturing upon
chemistry, and illustrating his lectures with a series of skillful and
highly popular experiments. His tour was entirely successful, and he
realized in the two years over which it extended quite a handsome sum.
The use which he made of the money thus acquired was characteristic of
the man.

He had never abandoned the design of a revolving pistol which he had
conceived on board the Coroo, and he now set to work to perfect it,
using the proceeds of his lectures to enable him to take out patents in
this country and in Europe. He spent two years in working on his model,
making improvements in it at every step, and by 1835 had brought it to
such a state of excellence that he was enabled to apply for a patent in
the United States. His application was successful. Before it was
decided, however, he visited England and France, and patented his
invention in those countries. Though now only twenty-one years old, he
had given seven years of study and labor to his "revolver," and had
brought it to a state of perfection which was far in advance of his
early hopes.

"At this time, and, indeed, for several years after, he was not aware
that any person before himself had ever conceived the idea of a fire-arm
with a rotating chambered breech. On a subsequent visit to Europe, while
exploring the collection of fire-arms in the Tower of London and other
repositories of weapons of war in England and on the continent, he found
several guns having the chambered breech, but all were so constructed as
to be of little practical value, being far more liable to explode
prematurely and destroy the man who should use them than the objects at
which they might be aimed. Unwilling, however, to seem to claim that
which had been previously invented, he read before the Institution of
Civil Engineers in England (of which he was the only American
associate), in 1851, an elaborate paper on the subject, in which he
described and illustrated, with appropriate drawings, the various early
inventions of revolving fire-arms, and demonstrated the principles on
which his were constructed."

Having secured patents in the United States and in the principal
countries of Europe, Mr. Colt exerted himself to organize a company for
the manufacture of his revolver. He met with considerable opposition,
for it was commonly asserted that his pistol would never be of any
practical value. The wise ones said it was too complicated for general
use, and that its adoption would be attended by the killing or maiming
of the majority of those who used it. The inventor disregarded these
birds of ill omen, however, and, persevering in his efforts, finally
succeeded in securing the aid of some capitalists in New York. A company
was formed in 1835, called the "Patent Arms Company," with a capital of
$300,000, and an armory was established at Paterson, New Jersey. Mr.
Colt then endeavored to induce the Government of the United States to
adopt the arm in the military and naval service. Strange as it now
seems, however, the officers of the army and navy were not disposed to
regard the revolver with favor. They declared that the percussion cap
was entirely unreliable, and that no weapon requiring it could be
depended on with certainty; that there was great danger that two or more
of the charges would explode at the same time; and that the arm was
liable to get out of order very easily. They further protested that it
was much more difficult to repair than the arms then in use, and that
this alone rendered it unfit for adoption by the Government.
Notwithstanding these objections were fully met by Mr. Colt, who
explained carefully the principles of his weapon, it was two years
before the Government consented to give the revolver a trial.

In 1837, the Florida war raged with great violence, and the Seminoles,
secure in their fastnesses in the Everglades, were enabled to bid
defiance to all the efforts of the army of the United States. Their
superior skill in the use of the rifle gave them an advantage which the
bravery and determination of our troops could not overcome. In this
emergency, the Government consented to make a trial of Colt's revolver.
A regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Harvey was armed with this weapon,
and its success was so marked from the first that the Government
promptly gave an order for more, and ended by making it the principal
arm of the troops in Florida. The savages were astounded and
disheartened at seeing the troops fire six or eight times without
reloading; and when the war was brought to a close, as it soon was, it
was plain to all that the revolver had played a decisive part in the
struggle. It was a great triumph for Colonel Colt, but in the end proved
a source of misfortune. The speedy termination of the war put an end to
the demand for his weapon, and his business fell off so greatly that in
1842 the Patent Arms Company was compelled to close its establishment
and wind up its affairs.

For five years none of the revolvers were manufactured, and, meanwhile,
the stock which had been put in the market was entirely exhausted by the
demand which had set in from Texas and the Indian frontier. In 1847 the
war with Mexico began, and General Taylor, who had witnessed the
performance of the revolver in Florida, was anxious to arm the Texan
Rangers with that weapon. He sent Captain Walker, the commander of the
Rangers, to Colonel Colt to purchase a supply. Walker was unsuccessful.
Colt had parted with the last one that he possessed, and had not even a
model to serve as a guide in making others. The Government now gave him
an order for one thousand, which he agreed to make for $28,000; but
there was still the difficulty caused by having no model to work by. In
this dilemma, he advertised extensively for one of his old pistols, to
serve as a model, but failing to procure one, was compelled to make a
new model. This was really a fortunate circumstance, as he made several
improvements in the weapon, which officers who had used it suggested to
him, so that his weapons were very much better than the old ones. Having
no factory of his own, Colonel Colt hired an armory at Whitneyville,
near New Haven, where he produced the first thousand pistols ordered by
the Government. These gave entire satisfaction, and further orders from
the War Department came in rapidly. Colonel Colt now hired and fitted up
larger and more complete workshops in Hartford, and began business on
his own account, supplying promptly every order that was given him. The
weapon proved most effective during the Mexican War, and the orders of
the Government were sufficiently large to allow the inventor to reap a
handsome profit from them, and lay the foundations of his subsequent
business success.

At the close of the war, Colonel Colt was apprehensive that the demand
for his weapon would again drop off, as it had done after the Florida
campaign; but he was agreeably disappointed. The success of the revolver
in Mexico had made it generally and favorably known throughout the
country, and there was now a steady and even a growing demand for it.
The discovery of gold in California, which so quickly followed the
cessation of hostilities, greatly stimulated this demand, for the most
essential part of the gold seeker's outfit was a revolver; and the
extraordinary emigration to Australia, which set in somewhat later,
still further extended the market for his weapon. Convinced by this time
that there would be no considerable falling off in his orders, Colonel
Colt began to take steps to assure the permanency of his business.

The experience of the American officers during the Mexican War enabled
them to point out many improvements to the inventor, who promptly
adopted them. This made his pistol almost a new weapon, and the most
formidable small arm then in use. He obtained a new patent for it, as
thus improved, and it was adopted by the Government as the regular arm
of the army and navy, different sizes being made for each service. The
Crimean and Indian wars, which followed soon after, brought the inventor
large orders from the British Government, and during the next few years
his weapon was formally introduced into the armies of the leading States
of Europe.

His success was so rapid that, as early as 1851, it became necessary to
provide still more ample accommodations for his manufactory. The next
year he began the execution of a plan, the magnitude of which caused
many of his friends to tremble for his future prosperity. He resolved to
build the largest and most perfect armory in the world, one which should
enable him to manufacture his weapons with greater rapidity and nicety
than had ever yet been possible.

Just to the south of the Little or Mill River there was a piece of
meadow land, about two hundred and fifty acres in extent, generally
regarded as useless, in consequence of its being submerged every spring
by the freshets in the river. Colonel Colt bought this meadow for a
nominal sum, and, to the astonishment of the good people of Hartford,
proceeded to surround it with a strong dike, or embankment. This
embankment was two miles in length, one hundred and fifty feet wide at
the base, from thirty to sixty feet wide at the top, and from ten to
twenty-five feet high. Its strength was further increased by planting
willows along the sides; and it was thoroughly tested just after its
completion by a freshet of unusual severity. Having drained the meadow,
Colonel Colt began the erection of his armory upon the land inclosed by
the embankment. It was constructed of Portland stone, and consisted of
three buildings--two long edifices, with a third connecting them in the
center, the whole being in the form of the letter H. The front parallel
was five hundred by sixty feet, the rear parallel five hundred by forty
feet, and the central building two hundred and fifty by fifty feet--the
front parallel and central building being three stories in height.
Connected with these buildings were other smaller edifices for offices,
warerooms, watchmen's houses, etc.

In 1861, the demand for the arms had become so enormous that the armory
was doubled in size, the new buildings being similar in style to the
old. "In this establishment there is ample accommodation for the
manufacture of one thousand fire-arms per day," which is more than the
arsenals at Harper's Ferry and Springfield combined could turn out in
the same time previous to the war. In 1861, Colt's armory turned out
about one hundred and twenty thousand stand of arms, and in 1860, the
two armories before mentioned made about thirty-five thousand between
them. A portion of the armory at Hartford is devoted to the fabrication
of the machinery invented by Colonel Colt for the manufacture of his
pistols. This machinery is usually sold to all parties purchasing the
right to manufacture the revolver. Colonel Colt supplied in this way a
large part of the machinery used in the Government manufactory at
Enfield, in England, and all of that used in the Imperial armory at
Tulin, in Russia. Near the armory, and in the area inclosed by the dike,
Colonel Colt erected a number of tasteful cottages for his workmen, and
warehouses for other kinds of business. His entire expenditure upon his
land and buildings here amounted to more than two million five hundred
thousand dollars.

"Among his other cares, the intellectual and social welfare of his
numerous employes were not forgotten. Few mechanics are favored with as
convenient residences as those he has erected for them; and a public
hall, a library, courses of lectures, concerts, the organization of a
fine band of music, formed entirely from his own workmen, to whom he
presented a superb set of musical instruments, and of a military company
of his operatives, provided by him with a tasteful uniform, and
otherwise treated by him with great liberality, were among the methods
by which he demonstrated his sympathy with the sons of toil."

The Hartford armory is the largest and most complete in the world, in
extent and perfection of machinery. All the articles needed with the
revolver, such as the powder flask, balls, lubricator, bullet molds,
cartridges, etc., are made here on a large scale. The establishment is a
noble monument to the inventive genius and business capacity of its
founder.

In addition to his inventions of fire-arms, Colonel Colt invented a
submarine battery, which was thoroughly tested by the officers of the
United States Navy, and is said to be one of the most formidable engines
for harbor defense ever known. He also invented a submarine telegraph
cable, which he laid and operated with perfect success, in 1843, from
Coney Island and Fire Island to the city of New York, and from the
Merchants Exchange to the mouth of the harbor. His insulating material
consisted of a combination of cotton yarn with asphaltum and beeswax;
the whole was inclosed in a lead pipe. This was one of the most
successful experiments of the early days of submarine telegraphy, and
entitles Colonel Colt to a conspicuous place in the list of those who
brought that science to perfection.

After the permanent establishment of his business, in 1847 and 1848,
Colonel Colt's success was rapid. He acquired a large fortune, and built
an elegant and tasteful mansion in Hartford, where he resided,
surrounded with all the luxuries of wealth and taste. In 1855, he
married Miss Elizabeth Jarvis, daughter of the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, of
Portland, Connecticut, a lady of great beauty and superior character and
accomplishments. She still survives him.

He repeatedly visited Europe after his settlement at Hartford, and as
the excellence of his weapons had made his name famous the world over,
he was the recipient of many attentions from the most distinguished
soldiers of Europe, and even from some of the monarchs of the Old World.
In 1856, being on a visit to Russia, with his family, he was invited
with them to be present at the coronation of the Emperor Alexander II.
He was decorated by nearly all the Governments of Europe, and by some of
the Asiatic sovereigns, with orders of merit, diplomas, medals, and
rings, in acknowledgment of the great services he had rendered to the
world by his invention.

He died, at his residence in Hartford, on the 10th of January, 1862, in
the forty-eighth year of his age. The community of which he was a member
lost in him one of its most enterprising and public-spirited citizens,
and the country one of the best representatives of the American
character it has ever produced.




CHAPTER XX.

SAMUEL F.B. MORSE.


Samuel Finley Breese Morse is the eldest son of the late Jedediah Morse,
one of the most distinguished Presbyterian clergymen of New England. He
was born at Charlestown, Massachusetts, on the 27th of April, 1791, was
carefully educated in the common schools of his native town, and at an
early age entered Yale College, where he graduated in 1810. He exhibited
an early fondness for art as well as studies of a scientific character,
and while a student at Yale displayed an especial aptness for chemistry
and natural philosophy. Upon leaving college he decided to adopt the
profession of an artist, and was sent abroad to study under the tuition
of West and Copley and Allston.

[Illustration: SAMUEL F.B. MORSE.]

"When Allston was painting his 'Dead Man Restored to Life,' in London,"
says Mr. Tuckerman, in his _Book of the Artists_, "he first modeled his
figure in clay, and explained to Morse, who was then his pupil, the
advantages resulting from a plan so frequently adopted by the old
masters. His young countryman was at this time meditating his first
composition--a dying Hercules--and proceeded at once to act upon this
suggestion. Having prepared a model that exhibited the upper part of the
body--which alone would be visible in the picture--he submitted it to
Allston, who recognized so much truth in the anatomy and expression that
he urgently advised its completion. After six weeks of careful labor,
the statue was finished and sent to West for inspection. That venerable
artist, upon entering the room, put on his spectacles, and as he walked
around the model, carefully examining its details and general effect, a
look of genuine satisfaction beamed from his face. He rang for an
attendant and bade him call his son. 'Look here, Raphael,' he exclaimed,
as the latter appeared; 'did I not always tell you that every painter
could be a sculptor?' We may imagine the delight of the student at such
commendation. The same day one of his fellow pupils called his attention
to a notice issued by the Adelphi Society of Arts, offering a prize for
the best single figure, to be modeled and sent to the rooms of the
association within a certain period. The time fixed would expire in
three days. Morse profited by the occasion, and placed his 'Dying
Hercules' with the thirteen other specimens already entered. He was
consequently invited to the meeting of the society on the evening when
the decision was to be announced, and received from the hands of the
Duke of Norfolk, the presiding officer, and in the presence of the
foreign ambassadors, the gold medal. Perhaps no American ever started in
the career of an artist under more flattering auspices; and we can not
wonder that a beginning so successful encouraged the young painter to
devote himself assiduously to study, with a view of returning to his own
country fully prepared to illustrate the historical department of the
art."

Morse spent four years in Europe in close study, and was then obliged to
return to America by lack of means to carry on his education in the Old
World. He had not indeed reached the high degree of proficiency which he
had hoped to obtain before returning home, but he was possessed of
natural talents and acquired skill, which fairly entitled him to
recognition as one of our leading artists. This recognition never came
to him, however, and his artist life in this country was a series of
sorrowful disappointments. He found no opportunity of devoting himself
to the higher branches of his art, and was obliged to confine himself
entirely to portrait painting as a means of livelihood. His artist
career is thus referred to by Mr. Tuckerman:


"Morse went abroad under the care of Allston, and was the pupil of
West and Copley. Hence he is naturally regarded by a later
generation as the connecting bond that unites the present and the
past in the brief annals of our artist history. But his claim to
such recognition does not lie altogether in the fact that he was a
pioneer; it has been worthily evidenced by his constant devotion to
the great cause itself. Younger artists speak of him with affection
and respect, because he has ever been zealous in the promotion of a
taste for, and a study of, the fine arts. Having entered the field
at too early a period to realize the promise of his youth, and
driven by circumstances from the high aims he cherished,
misanthropy was never suffered to grow out of personal
disappointment. He gazed reverently upon the goal it was not
permitted him to reach, and ardently encouraged the spirit which he
felt was only to be developed when wealth and leisure had given his
countrymen opportunities to cultivate those tastes upon the
prevalence of which the advancement of his favorite pursuit
depends. When, after the failure of one of his elaborate projects,
he resolved to establish himself in New York, he was grieved to
find that many petty dissensions kept the artists from each other.
He made it his business to heal these wounds and reconcile the
animosities that thus retarded the progress of their common object.
He sought out and won the confidence of his isolated brothers, and
one evening invited them all to his room ostensibly to eat
strawberries and cream, but really to beguile them into something
like agreeable intercourse. He had experienced the good effect of a
drawing club at Charleston, where many of the members were
amateurs; and on the occasion referred to covered his table with
prints, and scattered inviting casts around the apartment. A very
pleasant evening was the result, a mutual understanding was
established, and weekly meetings unanimously agreed upon. This
auspicious gathering was the germ of the National Academy of
Design, of which Morse became the first president, and before which
he delivered the first course of lectures on the fine arts ever
given in this country."


In 1829 Mr. Morse went abroad for the purpose of completing his art
studies. He remained in Europe for more than three years, residing in
the principal cities of the Continent. During his absence he was elected
"Professor of the Literature of the Fine" in the University of the City
of New York. He set out on his return home to accept this professorship
in the autumn of 1832, sailing from Havre on board the packet-ship
"Sully."

As has been stated, he had manifested a decided fondness for Chemistry
and Natural Philosophy while at Yale College, where he was a pupil of
Professor Silliman in the former science, and of Professor Day in the
latter, and after his departure from college he had devoted all his
leisure time to the pursuit of these studies. So great was his fondness
for them that some of his friends declared their belief that he ought to
abandon art and devote himself to science. In 1826-27 he had delivered,
at the Athenaeum in New York, the course of fine-art lectures to which
reference has been made, and on alternate nights of the same season
Professor J. Freeman Dana had lectured upon electro-magnetism,
illustrating his remarks with the first electro-magnet (on Sturgeon's
principle) ever seen in this country. Morse and Dana had been intimate
friends, and had often held long conversations upon the subject of
magnetism, and the magnet referred to had at length been given to the
former by Professor Torrey. The interest which he had thus conceived in
this instrument had never diminished, and his investigations and studies
had never ceased, so that at the time of his departure from France in
the "Sully," in 1832, he was one of the best informed men upon the
subject to be found in any country.

Among his fellow-passengers were a number of persons of intelligence and
cultivation, one of whom had but recently witnessed in Paris some highly
interesting experiments with the electro-magnet, the object of which was
to prove how readily the electric spark could be obtained from the
magnet, and the rapidity with which it could be disseminated. To most of
the passengers this relation was deeply interesting, but to all save one
it was merely the recital of a curious experiment. That one exception
was Mr. Morse. To him the development of this newly-discovered property
of electricity was more than interesting. It showed him his true mission
in life, the way to his true destiny. Art was not his proper field now,
for however great his abilities as an artist, he was possessed of genius
of a higher, more useful type, and it was henceforth his duty to employ
it. He thought long and earnestly upon the subject which the words of
his fellow-passenger had so freshly called up, pacing the deck under the
silent stars, and rocked in his wakeful berth by the ocean whose terrors
his genius was to tame, and whose vast depths his great invention was to
set at naught. He had long been convinced that electricity was to
furnish the means of rapid communication between distant points, of
which the world was so much in need; and the experiments which his new
acquaintance had witnessed in Paris removed from his mind the last doubt
of the feasibility of the scheme. Being of an eminently practical
character, he at once set to work to discover how this could be done,