Mr. Chickering now decided to continue the business without a partner.  His friends supposed that in assuming the management of the concern, in addition to the direction of the mechanical department, and the constant mental labor to which he subjected himself in his efforts to improve the piano, he was undertaking more than he was capable of performing.  They feared his health would break down under it.  Besides, it was generally believed that, in spite of Mr. Chickering’s undoubted skill in his own department, he was not much of a business man.  He was confident of his own ability, however, and did not hesitate to assume the new responsibility.

The business of which he now became the owner was very heavy and extensive.  Soon after the beginning of his connection with Captain Mackay, the firm erected a large factory for the purpose of carrying on their business.  One hundred hands were employed in it when opened, but in a few years it was necessary to employ more than twice that number, so rapidly did the business increase.  The supply of materials needed was ample and of the very best quality, for Mr. Chickering never allowed an inferior article to be used.  The warerooms were large and handsomely fitted up, and were filled with instruments ranging in price from a thousand dollars downward.  It was generally believed that while Mr. Chickering’s genius had created the demand for the pianos, it was Captain Mackay’s business knowledge and experience that had placed affairs on their present footing, and when Mr. Chickering proposed to buy Captain Mackay’s interest from his heirs, which was valued at several hundred thousand dollars, there was a very general belief, which found expression, that he was incurring certain ruin.  The condition of the sale was that the purchase-money should be divided into installments, for each of which Mr. Chickering should give his note, secured by a mortgage on the premises.  At Mr. Chickering’s request each note was made payable “on or before” a given day.  The lawyer who conducted the transaction smiled skeptically as he inserted this clause, and asked the purchaser if he ever expected to pay the notes at all.

“If I did not expect to pay them promptly, I should not give them,” was the simple reply.  He was as good as his word.  The notes were met promptly, and although Captain Mackay’s family requested that they might stand as an investment for them, Mr. Chickering took up the last one at its maturity.

With the business in his own hands, Mr. Chickering continued its operations, displaying an ease in his mercantile transactions which astonished and delighted his friends.  The business prospered to a greater degree than before, and all the while Mr. Chickering continued his labors for the improvement of his instruments with still greater success than in former years.  His pianos were universally regarded as the best in the market, and his competitors were unable to excel him.  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.