A kindly-faced young man, not more than twenty-five years old, sat at a table before what seemed to Jonathan a sort of little engine without wheels. With one hand he was turning a crank and with the other he was guiding a seam on a pair of overalls. A bright needle flashed in and out of the blue cloth till it reached the end of the seam. Then the sewer stopped the machine, cut the thread, and handed the garment about for inspection. "That took just one minute, Mr. Howe," announced a man who stood near, watch in hand. "One minute!" echoed a woman standing beside Jonathan. "I could not sew that seam in fifteen minutes." "How long would it take thee, mother?" whispered Jonathan, aside. "I'm not sure, little boy," his mother whispered back. "I think I could do it in ten minutes." "An experienced seamstress could not sew that seam in less than five minutes," then spoke Mr. Howe, as if in answer to a question. "I don't quite believe that," objected one man. "Well, why not have a race?" challenged Mr. Howe. "Mr. Simmons," he continued, addressing the proprietor, "will you let five of your best sewers run a race with me? I'll take five seams to sew while each of them does one. Are you willing?" "Agreed!" said Mr. Simmons. And it was but the work of a moment to select an umpire and prepare the seams. Then the umpire gave the command to start and the race began. It was an exciting contest. The girls sewed "as fast as they could, much faster than they were in the habit of sewing." Mr. Howe worked steadily but carefully. "If he wins, how many times as fast as each girl is he sewing?" asked Jonathan's uncle suddenly, of the little fellow. Jonathan was too bright to be caught and answered quickly, "More than five, isn't he?" "That's right, Jonathan. And he really is sewing more than five times as fast. Look!" It was true. Mr. Howe held up his finished seam. Every girl was still at work. "The machine has beaten," announced the umpire. "And moreover," he added after careful inspection, "the work on the machine is the neatest and strongest." "Now, gentlemen," said Mr. Howe, "may I not have your orders for a sewing machine? See what a money-saver it will be! I can make you one for seven hundred dollars. It will pay for itself in a few months, and it will last for years." Jonathan expected to hear many of the tailors present order a machine at once. But he was witnessing, although he did not know it till years afterward, "the pain that usually accompanies a new idea." The invention which was to make the greatest change of the century in the manufacturing world lay for several years unused and scorned by the public. The short-sighted tailors over Quincy Hall Market made one objection after another. "It does not make the whole garment." "My journeymen would be furious." "Truly, it would beggar all handsewers." [Illustration: FANEUIL HALL, BOSTON, ADJOINING QUINCY MARKET "The Cradle of Liberty."] "We are doing well enough as we are."