They listened with patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast of incredulity upon their countenances.

I felt the full force of the lamentation of the poet-- Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land; All fear, none aid you, and few understand.
[Illustration: "THE LOUD LAUGH ROSE AT MY EXPENSE"] "As I had occasion to pass daily to and from the building yard while my boat was in progress, I have often loitered unknown near the idle groups of strangers gathered in little circles and heard various inquiries as to the object of this new vehicle.

The language was uniformly that of scorn, or sneer, or ridicule.

The loud laugh often rose at my expense; the dry jest; the wise calculation of losses and expenditures; the dull, but endless repetition of 'the Fulton Folly.' Never did a single encouraging remark, a bright hope, or a warm wish cross my path." The boat which Fulton was building while the wiseacres wagged their heads and prophesied disaster, was named "The Clermont." She was 130 feet long, 18 feet wide, half-decked, and provided with a mast and sail.

In the undecked part were the boiler and engine, set in masonry.