His mechanical ingenuity bordered
on the marvelous. When he went to school, he was a general favorite
with teachers and pupils. The former loved him for his sweetness of
disposition, and his remarkable proficiency in all studies, while the
latter based their affection chiefly upon the fact that he never
refused to assist any of them at their tasks, while with the
pocket-knife which he carried he constructed toys which were their
delight. Sonia of these were so curious and amusing that, had they
been securer by letters patent, they would have brought a competency
to him and his widowed mother.
But Johnny never thought of patenting them, although the principal
support of himself and mother came from one or two patents, which his
father had secured upon inventions, not near the equal of his.
There seemed no limit to his inventive powers. He made a locomotive
and then a steamboat, perfect in every part, even to the minutest,
using nothing but his knife, hammer, and a small chisel. Ho
constructed a clock with his jack-knife, which kept perfect time, and
the articles which he made were wonderfully stared at at fairs, and in
show windows, while Johnny modestly pegged away at some new idea. He
became a master of the art of telegraphy without assistance from any
one using merely a common school philosophy with which to acquire the
alphabet.
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