Thomas Jefferson sometimes figured as an inventor himself,and there is an anecdote which vividly portrays the character ofhis mind.
Not far from Monticello,and within the bounds of hisestate,was a solitary and lofty hill,so situated as to be ex-posed to the blast of two currents of wind,coming up throughvalleys on different sides of it.
Mr.Jefferson thought this would be an admirable positionfor a wind-mill;and having recently invented a model for asaw-mill to be moved by vertical sails,he sent for an engineerand submitted it to his judgment.The man of professionalscience examined his plan,and listened with profound attentionand deference to Mr.Jefferson's explanations of it,and to hiseloquent illustration of the advantages it would secure.Hevery attentively heard him through,but made no comment uponthe plan.
“What do you think of my idea?”asked Mr.Jefferson.
“I think it is the most ingenious one,”was the reply,“anddecidedly the best plan for a saw-mill I have ever seen.”
Jefferson was delighted,and forthwith entered into a writ-ten agreement for the erection of such a mill on the neighboringheight. The work went bravely on;the inventor very frequentlymounting his horse,and riding over to see how it proceeded. |