wife, toil through. On his thirty-fifth birthday he said, "To-day
I enter the thirty-fifth year of my life, and I think I have
hardly yet done thirty-five pence worth of good in the world; but
I cannot help it."

Poor Watt! He had traveled with bleeding feet along the same
thorny path trod by the great inventors and benefactors of all
ages. But, in spite of all obstacles, he persevered; and, after
ten years of inconceivable labor and hardship, during which his
beautiful wife died, he had a glorious triumph. His perfected
steam engine was the wonder of the age. Sir James Mackintosh
placed him "at the head of all inventors in all ages and nations."
"I look upon him," said the poet Wordsworth, "considering both the
magnitude and the universality of his genius, as, perhaps, the
most extraordinary man that this country ever produced."

Wealthy beyond his desires,--for he cared not for wealth,--crowned
with the laurel wreath of fame, honored by the civilized world as
one of its greatest benefactors, the struggle over, the triumph
achieved, on August 19, 1819, he lay down to rest.





HOW THE ART OF PRINTING WAS DISCOVERED


"Look, Grandfather; see what the letters have done!" exclaimed a
delighted boy, as he picked up the piece of parchment in which