EARLY IMPRESSIONS CONCERNING GUM-ELASTIC. 99 



things considered, he determined to make a profession of inven- 

 tion. So completely was he hemmed in by the difficulties here 

 stated, that he could not hope to recover himself by any or- 

 dinary business, in competition with others ; he therefore sought 

 some new field of enterprise suited to his capacity, and congenial 

 to his wishes. 



He was sanguine that if he could find one in which he could 

 turn to account his past experience, he might retrieve his for- 

 tunes. Having been compelled to relinquish a business that 

 was profitable and agreeable, and which was not subject to 

 the evils and annoyances arising from all business exposed to 

 competition, he was desirous, if possible, in making another 

 choice, to select something that would restore him to his former 

 position. 



From what has been related, it would appear that, although 

 the business in which he was about to engage was new to him, 

 and very different from that of hardware, he was no novice in 

 relation to improvements. In boyhood he had been inured to 

 labor, and subsequently had been disciplined in adversity ; and, 

 considering his indebtedness to others, and the dependence of a 

 family upon his efforts, he was prepared with a stout heart to 

 enter upon any enterprise where he could reasonably anticipate 

 success. What directly influenced him in the choice of gum- 

 elastic, may be inferred from the following particulars. 



When yet a school-boy, the wonderful and mysterious proper- 

 ties of this substance attracted his attention, and made a 

 strong impression on his mind. A thin scale, peeled from a 

 bottle or a shoe, sometime afterwards attracted his atten- 

 tion, and suggested to him that it would be very useful as 

 a fabric, if it could be made uniformly so thin, and could be so 

 prepared as to prevent it adhering together and becoming a 

 solid mass, as it soon did from the warmth and pressure of his 

 hand. 



About the year 1831 or 1832, the manufacture of gum-elastic 

 was begun in the United States, though not in the immediate 

 vicinity where he then was. He observed all that he heard or 



