Music: A Blacksmith's Boy

"A century ago Jonas Chickering, then a mere lad, a blacksmith's son in New Hampshire, set to work in his own name as a maker of pianos. There were at his disposal very limited financial means and but a few simple tools, but there were also at his disposal pluck, resourcefulness, persistency, love of his work and inventive genius. With these he wrought a great and lasting American achievement. His was the brain from which sprang the conception, his was the hand that laid the foundation of the splendid American piano of...