gallery of one of the churches at fifty cents a year, which he earned in
over-time by forging pot-hooks. Every cent of his spending money was
earned in similar ways. Once he made six toasting-irons, and carried
them to Worcester, where he sold them for a dollar and a quarter each,
taking a book in part payment. When his sister was married he made her a
wedding present of a toasting-iron. Nor was it an easy matter for an
apprentice then to do work in over-time, for he was expected to labor in
his master's service from sunrise to sunset in the summer, and from
sunrise to nine o'clock in the winter.

On a bright day in August, 1818, his twentieth birthday, he was out of
his time, and, according to the custom of the period, he celebrated the
joyful event by a game of ball! In a few months, having saved a little
money, he went into business as a manufacturer of ploughs, in which he
had some little success. But still yearning to know more of machinery he
entered upon what we may call his third apprenticeship, in an armory
near Worcester, where he soon acquired skill enough to do the finer
parts of the work. Then he engaged in the manufacture of lead pipe, in
which he attained a moderate success.

At length, in 1831, being then thirty-three years old, he began the
business of making wire, in which he continued during the remainder of
his active life. The making of wire, especially the finer and better
kinds, is a nice operation. Until Ichabod Washburn entered into the
business, wire of good quality was not made in the United States; and
there was only one house in Great Britain that had the secret of making
the steel wire for pianos, and they had had a monopoly of the
manufacture for about eighty years.

Wire is made by drawing a rod of soft, hot iron through a hole which is
too small for it. If a still smaller sized wire is desired, it is drawn
through a smaller hole, and this process is repeated until the required
size is attained. Considerable power is needed to draw the wire through,
and the hole through which it is drawn is soon worn larger. The first
wire machine that Washburn ever saw was arranged with a pair of
self-acting pincers which drew a foot of wire and then had to let go and
take a fresh hold. By this machine a man could make fifty pounds of
coarse wire in a day. He soon improved this machine so that the pincers
drew fifteen feet without letting go; and by this improvement alone the
product of one man's labo