He knew that it meant hard work.
He was industrious and pains-taking.
He had many friends.
Benjamin Franklin was one of his friends.
Soon he did very nice work.
In the four years after he was seventeen, he not only took care of himself, but sent money to his mother and sisters.
He spent his twenty-first birthday at home.
He had then earned enough money to buy a small farm for his mother.
For this farm he paid four hundred dollars.
He helped his family to get nicely settled in their new home.
Then he went back to Philadelphia.
At this time Mr. Fulton, as we must now call him, was not well.
Partly for this reason he decided to take a voyage to Europe.
He carried letters from many well-known Americans.
He found friends in Europe.
Benjamin West was kind to him there.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A Ca.n.a.l SCENE.]
He soon had plenty of work to do.
One of his friends was an English gentleman, who was called the Earl of Stanhope.
The Earl was much interested in ca.n.a.ls.
Ca.n.a.ls, you probably know, are artificial rivers.
Boats are drawn on them by horses, which walk along a path on the sh.o.r.e.
The path is called the tow-path.
Railways were almost unknown then.
So ca.n.a.ls were very useful in carrying goods across the country.
They had been in use in Europe and Asia for hundreds of years.
Mr. Fulton invented a double inclined-plane.
This could be used in raising and lowering ca.n.a.l boats without disturbing their cargoes.
The British government gave Mr. Fulton a patent upon it.
Mr. Fulton wrote a book about ca.n.a.ls and the ways in which they help a country.
He sent copies of this book to the President of the United States, and other men in high offices.
He thought ca.n.a.ls would help America.
But it was ten years before he could get people to think much about it.
Then Mr. Fulton helped in planning the Erie Ca.n.a.l.
This was very successful.
You can see this ca.n.a.l now.
It is in the State of New York and is still used.
Mr. Fulton planned a cast-iron aqueduct which was built in Scotland.
An aqueduct is often made to carry water to cities.
He invented a mill for sawing marble, a machine for spinning flax, another for scooping out earth, called a dredging machine, and several kinds of ca.n.a.l boats.
You will wonder before reaching the end of this story how one man could do so many things.
But you must remember that he was never lazy as a boy, and so learned to make good use of every moment.
In 1797, Mr. Fulton went to the greatest city in France, called Paris.
There he made a new friend.
This was Joel Barlow, an American and a poet.
Mr. Fulton thought that all ships should have the freedom of the ocean.
He thought it would take hundreds of years to get all nations to consent to this.
He believed that he could find a quicker way.
He thought it would be best to blow up all warships.
He made a little sub-marine boat.