Robert Fulton

								




                   CHAPTER XIV



    FIRST VOYAGE OF THE CLERMONT             138



                   CHAPTER XV



    STEAMBOATS AND SUBMARINES                  155



                   CHAPTER XVI



    FERRY-BOATS AND RIVER-BOATS                172



                  CHAPTER XVII



    FULTON’S HOME AND FULTON’S HONORS          183

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

    ROBERT FULTON                                      Frontispiece



                                                         FACING PAGE



    ROBERT FULTON’S BIRTHPLACE                                     8



    THE BUILDING FORMERLY OCCUPIED BY CALEB JOHNSON’S SCHOOL      34



    THE WASHWOMAN; FULTON’S EARLIEST KNOWN DRAWING                54



    THE FULTON MEDAL                                             134



    THE WIFE AND TWO OF THE CHILDREN OF ROBERT FULTON            184

    A child of Lancaster, upon this land

        Here was he born by Conowingo’s shade;

        Along these banks our youthful Fulton strayed

        Dreaming of Art. Then Science touched his hand,

    Leading him onward, when, beneath her wand,

        Wonders appeared that never more shall fade:

        He triumphed o’er the Winds and swiftly made

        The giant, Steam, subservient to command.



    How soft the sunlight lies upon the lea

        Around his home, where boyhood days were sped!

        These checkered shadows on the fading grass

    Symbol his fortunes, as they fleeting pass:

        “He did mankind a service,”—could there be

        A tribute more ennobling to the dead!



                                             LLOYD MIFFLIN.

ROBERT FULTON

CHAPTER I
AN OLD-TIME FOURTH OF JULY

American Independence was young in 1778,—only two years old. The
patriotism awakened by the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was active as
this second anniversary of our nation’s birth approached, and sturdy
Pennsylvanians, glad of our country’s freedom from English rule, planned
a Fourth of July celebration.
In Lancaster, less than seventy miles from Philadelphia, the wise men
of the town council foresaw waste and tumult if the young patriots
carried out the programme they had arranged. Upon the first day of July
the Council discussed the matter and passed this resolution, which they
publicly posted:



    “The Excessive Heat of the Weather, the Present Scarcity of

    Candles, and Other Considerations, Induce the Council to

    Recommend to the Inhabitants to Forbear Illuminating the City

    on Saturday Evening Next, July 4th.



                               “By Order,



                                     “TIMOTHY MATLACK, Secretary.”
We can imagine the disappointment of the Lancaster boys when they
read this notice. Angry groups around the sign-board evinced their
displeasure, and some of the bolder ones declared that they would light
their candles anyway!
But one conscientious thirteen-year-old boy tried to think of some