had quite a number of free men to work on various branches of the work, nice parts, engraving, etc. I found that I was equal to any of them except engraving. Could not at the end of six months do as nice engraving as the older hands, but soon after could compete with any of them. At the end of six months from beginning was put in charge of the shop, much to the dislike of the older hands, but I carried the work along without any trouble, to the satisfaction of all. The foreman of each shop by the rules of the prison acted as turnkey, so I had one section of prisoners to lock up. I worked out my two years engagement.... In 1840 I again entered into the employ of N. Kendall & Co., wages $1.08 per day and board.... I continued work at the Prison. This was in 1842. During this year the Co. gave up the gun business. I then engaged with the State as foreman in the carriage department, continued in this position for about one and one-half years, then in company with N. Kendall, hired a shop in Windsor Village on Mill River and started the Custom Gun Works and Jobbing. Carried on the business for about one year, done a fair business. One day in the winter of 1844 Mr. S. E. Robbins came into the shop and spoke of the Government asking for bids for Rifles. We talked the business over and decided to put in a bid for 10,000 U. S. Rifles. Mr. Robbins, with a friend Price, went on to Washington to put in a bid for the Rifles at $10.90 each, appendages extra. This was 10¢ below any other bid. The contract was awarded to Robbins, Kendall & Lawrence. This was in the time of the Mexican War and the Government was very much in want of Rifles. We made the contract to finish the job in three years. Guns were not made at this day very fast. We had nothing to start with--buildings or capital. We had much opposition from all the Government Gun Contractors. They said we could never do the work. We had nerve and pluck and were determined to carry out the contract. The real work fell upon myself, Robbins not being a mechanic and Kendall not exactly calculated for such nice work, made it hard for me. We went to work with a will--bought land, built factories, bought and made machinery with determined will. We started the business in good shape. Soon after finishing the Rifles, Robbins and myself bought out Kendall. Robbins then said to me, “Lawrence, if it were not for you as a mechanic and by your attention to business we could never go along with the heavy outlay (debts) on our hands.” We finished the contract 18 months inside of the time. Made a nice thing out of the job. Went on to Washington. The Ordinance Board (Gen. Talcott) told us that ours was the only Gun Contract ever finished within the contract time. He said, “What do you want now? You have done well and finished.” We said, “We want another contract for Rifles.” He said, “Come with me over to