had in his mind the idea of a barb of wire twisted about the main wire
of the fence, leaving two projecting points on opposite sides. He made
some of these by hand with the aid of pinchers and hammer. He strung two
wires between two trees and twisted them together with a stick placed
between them. A pair of cutting nippers was the next addition to his
"kit" of tools. His next means for twisting the two wires together was
the grindstone--attaching one end of the wire to shaft and crank, the
others being fastened to the wall of the barn. And here, as in most
things great and small in this world, woman furnished the motor power.
The strong arm of the good helpmeet, Mrs. Glidden, turned the grindstone
that twisted the first wire that made the first Glidden barb fence that
kept stock at bay in Illinois or the world. Then followed a device for
twisting and barbing, and the application of horse power. Business
expanded, and steam took the place of the horse, and inventive genius
modified and improved the entire machinery, it being estimated that at
least the sum of $1,000,000 has been expended in bringing the machinery
for barb-wire making to its present state of perfection.

* * * * *

At about the same time that Mr. Glidden was wrestling with his ideas and
devices, Mr. I.L. Ellwood was experimenting to accomplish a like result
with a thin band of metal, the barbs cut and curved outward from the
strip. In the meantime Mr. Glidden had put up a few rods of his
hand-made barb-wire along the roadside at his farm. And here again the
good genius of woman enters upon the scene. One Sunday Mr. Ellwood and
his wife were driving along this road and attracted by the wire fence
stopped to examine it. Mrs. Ellwood, much to the chagrin of her husband,
remarked: "This seems to me a better device than your own, don't it to
you?" It did not then, for the remark disappointed and angered him. But