The Boyhood of an Inventor - Early Television Foundation

Self-binder for harvesting wheat
Of course he was lauded
for his attainment, though
perhaps undeservedly, for
the born inventor is en
titled to little praise for
what he does. Like the
great painter and the great
sculptor, his is a natural
gift, and accomplishments
are for him too easy to de
serve unusual mention.
The boy's ability to
quickly locate trouble in
machinery amounted to an
almost uncanny intuition.
His father took him into the meadow one day to
discover why the mower had stopped. The farm
hand reported he could see nothing wrong but "it
wouldn't go." The boy quickly located the trouble,
a hot bearing. He poured water from the drinking
jug onto the bearing until it cooled off; then, flooding
it with oil, it was ready to go again.
Perhaps the boy showed contempt because no
one else saw the cause of
the trouble, for the father
reproved him, saying:
"That is
thy gift, and to
thee it is no great credit,"
a remark never forgotten.
It was after the visit of
Barnum's Circus to the
nearby town that the boy
started in to teach his colt
to stand on a tub as he
had seen the ponies do in
the show. The schooling
was progressing well, when
suddenly the boards laid
across the tub spread and
48
Largest grapevine known