Although conducting a business which required the constant exercise of
the highest mercantile talent, he did not relax his energy in the
mechanical department. To the end of his life, long after he had become
a wealthy and prominent man, he had his own little working-cabinet, with
an exquisite set of tools, with which he himself put the finishing touch
to each of his splendid instruments, a touch he would not intrust to any
other hands.
His competitors did all in their power to equal him, but he distanced
them all. One of them adopted a most startling expedient. He obtained
permission from the Legislature of Massachusetts to change his name to
_Chickering_, and at once sent out his instruments marked with his new
name, his object of course being to deceive the public, and Jonas
Chickering had the mortification of seeing the inferior instruments of
another maker mistaken for his own. He promptly laid before the
Legislature a petition for redress, setting forth the facts of the case
and the motives of his rival. The result was that the Legislature
reconsidered its action, and compelled the bogus Chickering to resume
his original name.
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