"This failure only made Goodyear redouble his efforts. He moved his family to Woburn, in Massachusetts, where he had been experimenting, and began to work night and day. People who had heard of his persistence would come to see him, and he would tell them of his discoveries and his certain hopes. Finally, one night, when he was talking to such a group, quite by accident he dropped upon a hot stove a piece of rubber that had been mixed with sulphur. To his surprise and delight, the rubber did not melt, but charred like leather. He had found the secret. And what a simple secret it was! Rubber could be cured by mixing it with sulphur and heating it very hot.
"This happened in 1839, when Goodyear was thirty-nine years old. He had practically solved his problem; but for nearly two years more no one would help him or even believe him.
"There, Lucy, I've told you the story from the beginning. I haven't finished it yet; but I want you to have a chance to say a word. Do you know what this process of curing rubber is called? We tan leather, you know. What do we do to rubber?"
"I saw you reading about the Latin gods and goddesses yesterday. Who was the god that hammered and made tools?"
"Yes; and we use that word to help name the process of curing rubber. Just add the suffix-_ize_ and what do you have?"
"That's it. And now can you tell when rubber has been vulcanized?"
"When it has been treated with sulphur and heated very hot."
"And what were the unsuccessful ways of vulcanizing that Goodyear tried?"
"He used magnesia, quicklime and water, and nitric acid."
"Good. That shows you listened and understood. Now I'll tell you the rest. It's a sad story. But Goodyear is prosperous now, you know; and I think Mr. Webster will bring justice back."
"When Goodyear dropped that piece of rubber on the hot stove, he lost no time in putting the new process to the test. He nailed the rubber outside the kitchen door in the intense cold. In the morning he brought it in, holding it up exultantly. It was as flexible as when he had put it out the night before. Then he cut a square yard of thick rubber, treated this new piece with sulphur, and with the help of his wife and children cured it in front of his bedroom fire.
