ELI WHITNEY
(1765-1825).
175. The name cut on a door.--Near Westboro', Massachusetts,[1]
there is an old farm-house which was built before the war of the
Revolution. Close to the house is a small wooden building; on the
door you can read a boy's name, just as he cut it with his pocket-knife
more than a hundred years ago.[2] Here is the door with the name.
If the boy had added the date of his birth, he would have cut the
figures 1765; but perhaps, just as he got to that point, his father
appeared and said rather sharply: Eli, don't be cutting that door.
No, sir, said Eli, with a start; and shutting his knife up with a
snap, he hurried off to get the cows or to do his chores.[3]
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