HIS LIFE AND WORK 



and boiling of soap, and drying of herbs, and 

 stringing of apples, the McCormick home was 

 practically a school of many trades for the 

 people who lived under its roof. 



Robert McCormick was an educated man. 

 He was not at all like the poor serfs who tilled 

 the soil of Europe. He belonged to the same 

 general class as those other eminent farmers, 

 Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Webster, and 

 Clay. He was a reader of deep books and a 

 student of astronomy. Lawyers and clergymen 

 would frequently drive to his house to consult 

 with him. And in mechanical pursuits he had 

 an unusual degree of skill, having been born the 

 son of a weaver and accustomed from babyhood 

 to the use of machinery. 



He was a gentle, reflective man, with a genius 

 for self-reliance in any great or little emergency. 

 When a new stone church was built, and he 

 found that his pew was so dark that he could not 

 see to read the hymns, he promptly cut a small 

 window in the wall, a peculiarity which is still 

 pointed out to visitors. On another occasion, 

 with this same spirit of resourcefulness, he drove 



