through
the cloth, suddenly the thought flashed through his mind that another
stitch must be possible, and with almost insane devotion he worked
night and day, until he had made a rough model of wood and wire that
convinced him of ultimate success. In his mind's eye he saw his idea,
but his own funds and those of his father, who had aided him more or
less, were insufficient to embody it in a working machine. But help
came from an old schoolmate, George Fisher, a coal and wood merchant of
Cambridge. He agreed to board Elias and his family and furnish five
hundred dollars, for which he was to have one-half of the patent, if
the machine proved to be worth patenting. In May, 1845, the machine
was completed, and in July Elias Howe sewed all the seams of two suits
of woolen clothes, one for Mr. Fisher and the other for himself. The
sewing outlasted the cloth. This machine, which is still preserved,
will sew three hundred stitches a minute, and is considered more nearly
perfect than any other prominent invention at its first trial. There
is not one of the millions of sewing-machines now in use that does not
contain some of the essential principles of this first attempt.

When it was decided to try and elevate Chicago out of the mud by
raising its immense blocks up to grade, the young son of a poor
mechanic, named George M. Pullman, appeared on the scene, and put in a
bid for the great undertaking, and the contract was awarded to him. He
not only raised the blocks, but did it in such a way that business
within them was scarcely interrupted. All this time he was revolving
in his mind his pet project of building a "sleeping car" which would be
adopted on all railroads. He fitted up two old cars on the Chicago and
Alton road with berths, and soon found they would be in demand. He
then went to work on the principle that the more luxurious his cars
were, the greater would be the demand for them. After spending three
years in Colorado gold mines, he returned and built two cars which cost
$18,000 each. Everybody laughed at "Pullman's folly." But Pullman
believed that whatever relieved the tediousness of long trips would
meet with speedy approval, and he had faith enough in his idea to risk
his all in it.

Pullman was a great believer in the commercial value of beauty. The
wonderful town which he built and which bears his name, as well as his
magnificent cars, is an example of his belief in this principle. He
counts i