Famous Days in the Century of Invention. M. Grace Fickett
and sight-seeing.
"We'll do the shopping first," decided Mrs. Wheeler. "Here's an advertisement of ready-made clothing." And she read aloud what was, for those days, a rather startling advertisement, beginning:
PERPETUAL FAIR
AT
QUINCY HALL
OVER QUINCY HALL MARKET
BOSTON
"Let's go there," advised Uncle William. "Quincy Market isn't far from here." So the Wheelers' first stopping place that morning was Mr. Simmons's establishment at Quincy Market.
"Has thee any linen trousers for this little boy to wear with the dark blue jacket he has on?" inquired Mrs. Wheeler of the young man who came forward to serve them.
"We have, madam, I am sure." And deftly the polite young man picked out a pair of dark blue and white striped linen trousers from the middle of a neat pile of garments. Sure enough, the trousers were of the right size; and, to the Wheelers' astonishment, the price was less than they had expected to pay.
"There must be some profit, madam, you see," explained the clerk; "but if we could make these garments by machine, as a young man in the next room says he can, we could afford to sell them for almost nothing."
"We have heard of that young man and his machine. Will it be possible for us to watch him sew with it?" replied Mrs. Wheeler.
Howe's First Sewing Machine
"Certainly, madam. Just step this way, if you please." And he ushered the Wheelers into an adjoining workshop, well filled with men and women, many of the men, as Jonathan found out later, being dealers in ready-made clothing in the larger towns near Boston.
"Oh, mother, there he is!" whispered Jonathan excitedly, and he hurried forward to see better.
A kindly-faced young man, not more than twenty-five years old, sat at a table before what seemed to Jonathan a sort of little engine without wheels. With one hand he was turning a crank and with the other he was guiding a seam on a pair of overalls. A bright needle flashed in and out of the blue cloth till it reached the end of the seam. Then the sewer stopped the machine, cut the thread, and handed the garment about for inspection.
"That took just one minute, Mr. Howe," announced a man who stood near, watch in hand.
"One minute!" echoed a woman standing beside Jonathan. "I could not sew that seam in fifteen minutes."
"How long would it take thee, mother?" whispered Jonathan, aside.
"I'm not sure, little boy," his mother whispered back. "I think I could do it in ten minutes."
"An experienced seamstress could not sew that seam in less than five minutes," then spoke Mr. Howe, as if in answer to a question.
"I don't quite believe that," objected one man.
"Well, why not have a race?" challenged Mr. Howe. "Mr. Simmons," he continued, addressing the proprietor, "will you let five of your best sewers run a race with me? I'll take five seams to sew while each of them does one. Are you willing?"
"Agreed!" said Mr. Simmons. And it was but the work of a moment to select an umpire and prepare the seams. Then the umpire gave the command to start and the race began.
It was an exciting contest. The girls sewed "as fast as they could, much faster than they were in the habit of sewing." Mr. Howe worked steadily but carefully.
"If he wins, how many times as fast as each girl is he sewing?" asked Jonathan's uncle suddenly, of the little fellow. Jonathan was too bright to be caught and answered quickly, "More than five, isn't he?"
"That's right, Jonathan. And he really is sewing more than five times as fast. Look!"
It was true. Mr. Howe held up his finished seam. Every girl was still at work. "The machine has beaten," announced the umpire. "And moreover," he added after careful inspection, "the work on the machine is the neatest and strongest."
"Now, gentlemen," said Mr. Howe, "may I not have your orders for a sewing machine? See what a money-saver it will be! I can make you one for seven hundred dollars. It will pay for itself in a few months, and it will last for years."
Jonathan expected to hear many of the tailors present order a machine at once. But he was witnessing, although he did not know it till years afterward, "the pain that usually accompanies a new idea." The invention which was to make the greatest change of the century in the manufacturing world lay for several years unused and scorned by the public. The short-sighted tailors over Quincy Hall Market made one objection after another.
"It does not make the whole garment."
"My journeymen would be furious."
"Truly, it would beggar all handsewers."
Faneuil Hall, Boston, Adjoining Quincy Market
"The Cradle of Liberty."
"We are doing well enough as we are."
"It costs too much."
"Why, Mr. Howe, I should need ten machines. I should never get my money back."
Jonathan was sorry for Mr. Howe. "I'll buy a machine some day," he announced.
"Thank you, little boy," answered Mr. Howe. "I've no doubt you will."
But the tailors laughed and shook their heads.
Before they left the workshop, Jonathan's party had a long talk with Mr. Howe.
"We are from the country," they said, "with no money to buy a machine of this sort. But we are interested in it, and we believe it has a future. Will thee tell us more about it?"
"Gladly," said Mr. Howe. "I've been at work on the machine most of the time for the last five years—ever since I was twenty-one, in fact. I was born up in Worcester County, in Spencer. When I was eleven, I was bound out to a farmer, but I liked machinery better. I went to Lowell as soon as my parents were willing, and worked a while in a cotton mill. But I did not like that very well, it was so monotonous, and I came down here to work for Mr. Davis in Cornhill. One day a man who was trying to construct a knitting machine came in to see if Mr. Davis could make him a suggestion. But Davis really made the suggestion to me. 'Why don't you make a sewing machine?' he asked.
"'I wish I could,' the man answered, 'but it can't be done.'
"'Oh, yes,' cried Davis, 'I could make one myself.'
"'Well,' was the rejoinder, 'you do it, Davis, and I'll insure you an independent fortune.'
Lock Stitch (above) and Chain Stitch (below)
The lock stitch is made with two threads, and the chain stitch with one.
"Now I don't know that Davis or the other man has thought of the matter since. As for me, I've thought of little else. A year ago last October I had planned out the chief parts of the machine—the two threads, the curved, eye-pointed needle, and the shuttle. A rough model that I made convinced me that such a machine would work; and last December I prevailed upon my friend, Mr. Fisher of Cambridgeport, to let me, with my wife and children, live at his house and construct my machine in his garret. He gave me five hundred dollars besides for material. In return for those favors, I've agreed to give Fisher half my profits. But," he added rather gloomily, "so far it's been a bad bargain for Fisher."
"Is the machine patented?" inquired Uncle William.
"Not yet," answered Mr. Howe. "I need some money first, for, you know, I shall have to make a model to deposit