Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/84

 K6 WORKMEN AND HEROES " My Fritz ! my Wilhelm ! " She had only time for one long gaze, and then the agonizing pain came again. One of the doctors tried to raise her, but she sank back. " Only death can help me ; " and as all watched in breathless silence, she leaned her head against the shoulder of a faithful attendant, murmured, " Lord Jesus, shorten it 1 " and with one deep-drawn breath passed away. JAMES WATT By John Timbs, F.S.A. (1 736-1819) James Watt was born at Gree- nock, January 19, 1736. He was the fourth child in a family which, for a hundred years, had more or less professed mathemat- ics and navigation. His consti- tution was delicate, and his men- tal powers were precocious. He was distinguished from an early age by his candor and truthful- ness ; and his father, to ascertain the cause of any of his boyish quarrels, used to say, " Let James speak ; from him I always hear the truth." James also showed his constructive tastes equally early, experimenting on his play- things with a set of small carpen- ter's tools, which his father had given him. At six he was still at home. " Mr. Watt," said a friend to the father, " you ought to send that boy to school, and not let him trifle away his time at home." " Look what he is doing before you condemn him," was the reply. The visitor then observed the child had drawn mathematical lines and figures on the hearth, and was engaged in a process of calculation. On putting questions to him, he was astonished at his quickness and simplicity. " Forgive me," said he, " this child's education has not been neglected ; this is no common child." Watt's cousin, Mrs. Marian Campbell, describes his inventive capacity as a story-teller, and details an incident of his occupying himself with the steam of a tea-kettle, and by means of a cup and a spoon making an early experiment in the