SEWARD 358 SEWING MACHINE when, of course, the whole system breaks down. SEWARD, FREDERICK WILLIAM, an American lawyer; born in Auburn, N. Y., July 8, 1830; was graduated at Union College in 1849; admitted to the bar in 1851; and for 10 years was one of the editors and owners of the Albany "Evening Journal." He was sent to warn Abraham Lincoln of the plot to assassi- nate him in Baltimore in 1861 ; was assis- tant Secretary of State in 1861-1869 and 1877-1881; accompanied Admiral Porter on the special mission to negotiate We3t India treaties in 1867; participated in the purchase of Alaska; was a member of the New York Legislature in 1875; State Commissioner at the Yorktown Cen- tennial Celebration in 1881; and author of "Life and Letters of William H. Sew- ard"; "A West Indian Cruise"; and numerous lectures, magazine articles, etc. He died in 1915. SEWARD, WILLIAM HENRY, an American statesman; born in Florida, Orange co., N. Y., May 16, 1801. He studied for the bar, and began practicing in Auburn in 1823, but gradually drifted into politics, and in 1830 was elected a member of the New York Senate. Dis- playing marked abilities as a politician, he was in 1838 and 1840 chosen governor of his native State, and in 1849 was elected to the United States Senate. He was the friend and adviser of President Taylor, and distinguished himself by his firm resistance to the extension of slavery. In 1860 he was a candidate for the presi- dency, but being defeated in the conven- tion by Abraham Lincoln he exerted him- self to secure Lincoln's election. Lincoln afterward appointed Seward Secretary of State, in which post he discharged his duties with great ability, showing notable tact in dealing with Great Britain in the "Trent Affair," inducing France to with- draw her troops from Mexico, and effect- ing the cession to the United States by Russia of Alaska (1867). He was dan- gerously wounded in April, 1865, when President Lincoln was assassinated, but recovered and filled the same office under Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson. He resigned his post on the accession of President Grant in 1869. He wrote a "Life of John Quincy Adams"; his "Speeches, Correspondence, etc.," ap- peared in 1869 ; and an "Autobiography," with continuation, in 1877. He died in Auburn, Cayuga co., N. Y., Oct. 10, 1872. SEWARD, MOUNT, a mountain in Franklin co., N. Y. ; is a summit of the Adirondacks, 14 miles W. of Mount Marcy, and was named for William H. Seward; height, 4,384 feet. SEWARD PENINSULA, the most western part of Alaska. It has an area of about 22,700 square miles. The coast is low, but there are hills in the interior which are covered with forests of spruce. It includes an important gold mining re- gion, including Nome, Anvil Creek, and Ophir Creek. The gold is obtained almost entirely from placer mining and over $70,000,000 worth has been taken from the district. The production in 1919 was near $6,000,000. The peninsula is divided into five mining districts, Nome, Council, Kougarok, Fairhaven, and Port Clarence. In recent years gold lodes have been dis- covered, and placer mining is being super- ceded. Tin is found in the Cape York region. Coal also exists but has not yet been mined. Nome is the chief settlement. Others are Candle, Deering, Teller, Wales, and Sinuk. SEWELLEL, the Haplodon rufus, a small rodent from the W. coast of Amer- ica. It is about a foot long, with a tail of an inch or an inch and a half, brownish above, lighter below. Its habits are ap- proximately those of the Prairie Dog (q. v.). It constitutes the genus Anis onyx of Rannesque, Aplodontia of Richardson, and Haplodon or Haploodon of later writers. Lilleborg makes it the type of a family Haploddontidx. SEWING MACHINE, a machine fot sewing or stitching cloth, leather, etc. The various forms of this now well-known and almost universally used machine are all of quite recent introduction. The in- vention of the double-pointed needle with an eye in the center, in the year 1755, marked a distinct advance toward the invention of the sewing machine, and it was itself used in a form of machine for producing the "shoemaker's stitch." In the eye of the double-pointed needle the sewing thread was fastened, and by a pair of grippers or mechanical fingers the needle was pushed and pulled alter- nately from the opposite sides of two folds of the material to be sewed. In 1830 Barthelemy Thimonier, a Frenchman, obtained in his native coun- try a patent for a form of sewing machine which was for some time successfully worked, and which was in effect the par- ent of the single-thread machines now in use. In Thimonier's apparatus, which was constructed largely of wood, the thread carrier was placed under the table whereon the fabric to be sewed was laid. The needle was in the form of a crochet hook, and having a descending and ascend- ing motion, it passed through the cloth, brought up a loop of thread, which was caught and retained by a nipple till the hooked needle brought up a second loop. The second loop passed through loop No.
