"Most people would have given up, I think, under all these trials, but Elias has a good deal of the Howe perseverance. He immediately got a position in Boston as a journeyman machinist at weekly wages." "And where is he now?" inquired Uncle William sympathetically. "I had a letter from him the other day. Should you like to hear it?" Taking the answer for granted, Mr. Howe opened his desk and took out the letter. Then he read as follows:-- CAMBRIDGE, MASS., _June 20, 1849_ _My dear Uncle,_ You will be interested, I know, in what I have to write; and I think you will agree with me that I shall yet retrieve all my ill-luck. Any advice you may have for me I shall cheerfully receive. First look at the enclosed hand bill. And Mr. Howe interrupted the reading to pass Uncle William and Jonathan a small hand bill like this:-- A GREAT CURIOSITY!! THE YANKEE SEWING MACHINE IS NOW EXHIBITING AT THIS PLACE FROM 8 A.M. TO 5 P.M. He then went on with the reading:-- That was posted about in Ithaca, N. Y., just a few weeks after I came back from England. Some fellow made a machine from the description he heard of mine, and he has been giving exhibitions of its work in various places. He says his machine can do the work of six hands and make a pair of pantaloons in forty minutes. And I have no doubt he tells the truth. Only, Uncle Tyler, don't you see it's _my_ machine and he is infringing on _my_ patent? And more than that, right here in Boston machines have been built on my model and are in daily use. Now I know that I am without resources and that I have pretty well exhausted the patience of my friends. But surely my claims are valid. Getting money to push them is the task I dread. Still I have already raised a hundred dollars to get my machine and letters patent out of pawn in London; and I have every hope that Mr. Anson Burlingame, who is soon to sail for England, will deliver them safely to me in the fall. The next step is to see if the lawyers can find any flaws in my claims. If they can't, the suit I propose to bring is already in my favor; and I am sanguine enough to believe that the Howe sewing machine will yet be a household convenience. Yours respectfully, ELIAS HOWE, Jr.