struggle--Honorable action of North Carolina--Congress refuses to extend
the patent--Whitney abandons the cotton gin--Engages in the manufacture
of firearms--His improvements in them--Establishes an armory in
Connecticut, and makes a fortune--Death.


CHAPTER XVI.

CHAUNCEY JEROME.

The old-fashioned clocks--Their expensiveness--Condition of the clock
trade of Connecticut sixty years ago--Early history of Chauncey
Jerome--A hard life--Death of his father--Becomes a farmer's boy--Is
anxious to become a clock-maker--An over-wise guardian--Hardships of an
apprentice--How Jerome became a carpenter--Hires his winters from his
master--Becomes a dial-maker--The clock-making expedition--Jerome's
first savings--Takes a wife--A master carpenter--Poor pay and hard
work--Buys a house--A dull winter--Enters Mr. Terry's factory--The
wooden clock business--Sets up in business for himself--Industry and
energy rewarded--His first order--Sends his clocks South--Enlarges his
business--Improvements in his clocks--Losses on southern shipments from
dampness--Depression of business--Jerome's anxiety--A wakeful
night--Invention of the brass--A new era in the clock trade--Beneficial
effects of Jerome's invention--Magnitude of the Connecticut clock trade
at present--Growth of Jerome's business--Makes a fortune--Organization
of the "Jerome Clock-making Company"--Practical withdrawal of Mr.
Jerome--Difficulties of the company--Jerome a ruined man--Honest
independence--Finds employment--Becomes the manager of the Chicago
Company.