the First Reaper and Obed Hussey; now I can say that the
name of Obed Hussey called to my mind the best friend of my
boyhood days, as he was in the habit of keeping me supplied with
pennies when I was short, and taught me how to put iron on a wood
sled, and helped me to make my first wagon as he turned the wheel
for me. You are right with regard to the date of the fingers and
shaped cutters for Reapers, as I saw and handled it, to my sorrow
in 1833 or '34 before the machine was finished and nearly cut my
fingers off. I have the whole thing photographed in my mind and
can show the spot or within 10 feet of it where I lay on the
floor. It was not possible to try it in Maryland, owing to the
hilly nature of the ground, and was afterwards taken to Ohio for
trial and was rebuilt there, or at least a part of it, but of that
part (the rebuilding) I do not know for a certainty, but the bars,
fingers and knives I do most positively remember, as I was a lad
of some eight or nine years old with a mechanical turn of mind and
was looking into what seemed strange to me, hence I cut my finger
so bad that I carried the scar for a number of years. I very
distinctly remember the incomplete reaper made by my old friend,
Obed Hussey, as it was made in my grandfather's shop in Baltimore,
Maryland, who was at that time the leading plow-maker of the U. S.
and that it was made either in 1833 or '34, as I would not have
had a chance to see it if later than '34 as I was not at home
until '38, when it had been sent, as I was told, to Ohio for trial
and some parts had to be rebuilt.

"Please excuse the liberty I have taken in writing to you, but I
could not resist the temptation to give my tribute to my old
friend, O. Hussey.

"Very respectfully yours,

(Signed) "W. H. CHENOWETH."

The machine referred to was, no doubt, the reaper completed and tested
near Cincinnati in the harvest of 1833.

[Sidenote: The First Reaper]

It is not known when Mr. Hussey left the Chenoweth factory, but during
the winter of 1832-33 he was at Cincinnati working upon the reaper that,
more than else, won him lasting fame during the harvest of 1833. The
"Mechanics Magazine" for April, 1834, contains an illustration of
"Hussey's Grain Cutter." The picture does not represent the model
deposited in the Patent Office with his application, for it differs