At the age of twenty-one he married. This was a rash step for him, as
his health was very delicate, and his earnings were but nine dollars per
week. Three children were born to him in quick succession, and he found
it no easy task to provide food, shelter, and clothing for his little
family. The light-heartedness for which he had formerly been noted
entirely deserted him, and he became sad and melancholy. His health did
not improve, and it was with difficulty that he could perform his daily
task. His strength was so slight that he would frequently return home
from his day's work too much exhausted to eat. He could only go to bed,
and in his agony he wished "to lie in bed forever and ever." Still he
worked faithfully and conscientiously, for his wife and children were
very dear to him; but he did so with a hopelessness which only those who
have tasted the depths of poverty can understand.
[Illustration: HOWE'S FIRST IDEA OF THE SEWING-MACHINE.]
About this time he heard it said that the great necessity of the age was
a machine for doing sewing. The immense amount of fatigue incurred and
the delay in hand-sewing were obvious, and it was conceded by all who
thought of the matter at all that the man who could invent a machine
which would remove these difficulties would make a fortune.
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