CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



HIS LIFE AND WORK 



CHAPTER I 



THE WORLD'S NEED OF A REAPER 



TH1ITHER by a very strange coincidence, or 

 - ^ as a phenomenon of the instinct of self- 

 preservation, the year 1809, which was marked 

 by famine and tragedy in almost every quarter 

 of the globe, was also a most prolific birthyear 

 for men of genius. Into this year came Poe, 

 Blackie, and Tennyson, the poet laureates of 

 America, Scotland, and England; Chopin and 

 Mendelssohn, the apostles of sweeter music; 

 Lincoln, who kept the United States united; 

 Baron Haussemann, the beautifier of Paris; 

 Proudhon, the prophet of communism; Lord 

 Houghton, who did much in science, and Darwin, 

 who did most; FitzGerald, who made known the 

 literature of Persia; Bonar, who wrote hymns; 

 Kinglake, who wrote histories; Holmes, who 



