I 



CHAPTER II 



THE McCORMICK HOME 



F we wish to solve the riddle of the Reaper, 

 to know why it was not invented in any 

 of the older nations that rose to greatness and 

 perished in so many instances for lack of bread, 

 we can find the key to the answer in the home 

 and the ancestry of the McCormicks. We 

 shall see that the family into which he was born 

 represented in the highest degree that new 

 species of farmer, self-reliant, studious, enter- 

 prising, and inventive, which was developed 

 in the pioneer period of American history. 



Robert McCormick, the father of Cyrus, was 

 in his most prosperous days the owner of four 

 farms, having in all 1,800 acres. But his acres 

 were only one-half of his interests. He owned 

 as well two grist-mills, two sawmills, a smelting- 

 furnace, a distillery, and a blacksmith-shop. 

 He did much more than till the soil. He ham- 

 mered iron and shaped wood, and did both well, 

 as those can testify who have seen an iron crane 



[13] 



