d was never
resumed. The boastful remark of the master of the shop was considered
one of his sallies of affected extravagance, as it really was, and the
response of the capitalist to it was uttered without a thought of
producing an effect. Nor did it produce any effect upon the person to
whom it was addressed, as Davis never attempted to construct a
sewing-machine.

"Among the workmen who stood by and listened to this conversation was a
young man from the country, a new hand named Elias Howe, then twenty
years old. The person whom we have named capitalist, a well-dressed and
fine looking man, somewhat consequential in his manners, was an imposing
figure in the eyes of this youth, new to city ways, and he was much
impressed with the emphatic assurance that a fortune was in store for
the man who would invent a sewing-machine. He was the more struck with
it because he had already amused himself with inventing some slight
improvements, and recently he had caught from Davis the habit of
meditating new devices. The spirit of invention, as all mechanics know,
is exceedingly contagious. One man in a shop who invents something that
proves successful will give the mania to half his companions, and the
very apprentices will be tinkering over a device after their day's work
is done."

Thus it was that the idea of a sewing-machine first entered Howe's mind.
The following is the touching story of Howe's early struggle and final
triumph as told by himself: "I commenced the invention of my
sewing-machine as early as 1841, when I was twenty-two years of age.
Being then dependent on my daily labor for the support of myself and my
family I could not devote my attention to the subject during the working
hours of the day, but I thought on it when I could, day and night. It
grew on until 1844; I felt impelled to yield my whole time to it. During
this period I worked on my invention mentally as much as I could, having
only the aid of needles and such other small devices as I could carry in
my pockets, and use at irregular intervals of daily labor at my trade. I
was poor, but with promises of aid from a friend, I thereafter devoted
myself exclusively to the construction and practical completion of my
machine. I worked alone in an upper room in my friend's house, and
finished my first machine by the middle of May, 1845.

"This was a period of intense and persistent application, of all the
powers I possessed, to the practical embodiment of my