Still, he declared that, in spite of
this poor rate of compensation, he was enabled to save enough to make a
partial payment on a small dwelling for himself. It required a constant
struggle, however, to live at this rate, and in the winter of 1816,
being out of work, and having a payment on his house to meet in the
spring, he determined to go to Baltimore to seek work during the winter.
He was on the eve of starting, when he learned that Mr. Eli Terry, the
inventor of the wooden clocks which were so popular fifty years ago, was
about to open a large factory for them in an adjoining town. He walked
to the town, and made his application to Mr. Terry, who at once engaged
him at liberal wages. Mr. Terry's factory was then the largest in the
country, and, as he used wooden instead of metal works, he was able to
manufacture his best clocks at fifteen dollars, and other grades in
proportion. This reduction in price largely increased the sale of his
clocks, and in a comparatively short time after opening his factory, Mr.
Terry made and sold about six thousand clocks a year.
Jerome was determined that he would spare no pains to make himself
master of every detail of clock-making, and applied himself to the
business with so much intelligence and energy, that by the spring of
1817 he felt himself competent to undertake their manufacture on his own
account.
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