Fernando saw Robert Livingston
standing in the stern waving his handkerchief at the crowd which was now
sending up cheer after cheer. The American flag was run up on the staff,
and the steamboat continued on her course up the river to Albany, making
the distance of one hundred and sixty miles in thirty-six hours against
wind and tide; and from that time until now, navigation by steam, travel
and commerce, has been steadily increasing in volume and perfection,
until such vessels may be seen on every ocean and in almost every harbor
of the globe, even among the ice packs of the polar seas. This was the
second of the great and beneficent achievements which distinguished
American inventors at that early period of our country's struggles. The
cotton-gin, invented by Eli Whitney, was the first; an implement that
could do the work of a thousand persons in cleaning cotton wool of the
seeds. That machine has been one of the most important aids in the
accumulation of our national wealth.
[Illustration]
Fernando Stevens stood on the wharf among the assembled thousands,
watching the steamer until it disappeared far up the river. He was lost
in wonder and amazement and was first aroused from his reverie by the
young man at his side saying:
"Don't she bate the divil?"
It was his skeptical Irish friend.
Fernando turned to him and asked, "What do you think of it now?"
"Faith, she's a bird, so she is.
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