at his attention was first given to the
subject, a strong and abiding impression was made upon his
mind, that an object so desirable and important, and so
necessary to man's comfort, as the making of gum-elastic
available to his use, was most certainly placed within his
reach. Having this presentiment, of which he could not
divest himself under the most trying adversity, he was
stimulated with the hope of ultimately attaining this
object.

"Beyond this he would refer the whole to the great Creator,
who directs the operations of mind to the development of the
properties of matter, in his own way, at the time when they
are specially needed, influencing some mind for every work
or calling.... Were he to refrain from expressing his views
thus briefly, he would ever feel that he had done violence
to his sentiments."

This is modestly said, but his friends assure us that he felt it
earnestly and habitually. It was, indeed, this steadfast conviction of
the possibility of attaining his object, and his religious devotion to
it, that constituted his capital in his new business. He had little
knowledge of chemistry, and an aversion to complicated calculations.
He was a ruined man; for, after a long struggle with misfortune, the
firm of A. Goodyear and Sons had surrendered their all to their
creditors, and still owed thirty thousand dollars. He had a family,
and his health was not robust. Upon returning home after conversing
with the agent of the Roxbury Company, he was arrested for debt, and
compelled to reside within the prison limits. He melted his first
pound of India-rubber while he was living within those limits, and
struggling to keep out of the jail itself. Thus he began his
experiments in circumstances as little favorable as can be imagined.
There were only two things in his favor. One was his conviction that
India-rubber _could_ be subjugated, and that he was the man destined
to subjugate it. The other was, that, India-rubber having fallen to
its old price, he could continue his labors as long as he could raise
five cents and procure access to a fire. The very odium in which
business-men held India-rubber, though it long retarded his final
triumph, placed an abundance of the native gum within the means even
of an inmate of the debtor's prison, in which he often was during the
whole period of his experimenting. He was seldom out of jail a whole