BOOKS _BY GERTRUDE L. STONE AND M. GRACE FICKETT_ EVERY DAY LIFE IN THE COLONIES DAYS AND DEEDS A HUNDRED YEARS AGO FAMOUS DAYS IN THE CENTURY OF INVENTION D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS FAMOUS DAYS IN THE CENTURY OF INVENTION BY GERTRUDE L. STONE INSTRUCTOR IN THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL GORHAM, MAINE AND M. GRACE FICKETT INSTRUCTOR IN STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WESTFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY D. C. HEATH & CO. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I HOW THE SEWING MACHINE WON FAVOR 1 II LONG-DISTANCE TALKING 30 III A NEW ERA IN LIGHTING 48 IV THE TRIUMPH OF GOODYEAR 67 V THE EASIER WAY OF PRINTING 92 VI ANNA HOLMAN'S DAGUERREOTYPE 111 VII THE STORY OF THE REAPER 124 VIII GRANDMA'S INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRIC CARS 138 FAMOUS DAYS IN THE CENTURY OF INVENTION HOW THE SEWING MACHINE WON FAVOR PART I "It is! It is!" chattered the robins at half past three on an early June morning in 1845. Jonathan Wheeler sat up in bed with a start. This was the morning he had been waiting for all the spring, the morning he was to start for Boston with his father, mother, and Uncle William, and ride for the first time on a railway train. "Is it really pleasant?" was his first thought. "It is! It is!" chirped the robins again. And Jonathan's eyes by this time were open enough to see the red glow through the eastern window. In a second he was out of bed, hurrying into his best clothes that his mother had laid out for him the night before. Jonathan lived in a little town only thirty miles from Boston; but traveling was not then the easy and familiar experience of to-day. The nearest railway station was at South Acton, fifteen miles away. The Wheelers had planned to start from home in the early morning, and after dining with some friends in the railroad town, leave there for Boston on the afternoon train.