CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



hundred people were present several politi- 

 cal leaders of local fame, farmers, professors, 

 laborers, and a group of negroes who frolicked 

 and shouted in uncomprehending joy. 



At the start, it appeared as though this new 

 contraption of a machine, which was unlike any- 

 thing else that human eyes had ever seen, was 

 to prove a grotesque failure. The field was 

 hilly, and the Reaper jolted and slewed so vio- 

 lently that John Ruff, the owner of the field, 

 made a loud protest. 



"Here! This won't do," he shouted. "Stop 

 your horses. You are rattling the heads off my 

 wheat." 



This was a hard blow to the young farmer- 

 inventor. Several laborers, who were openly 

 hostile to the machine as their rival in the labor 

 market, began to jeer with great satisfaction. 

 "It's a humbug," said one. "Give me the old 

 cradle yet, boys," said another. These men 

 w r ere hardened and bent and calloused with the 

 drudgery of harvesting. They worked twelve 

 and fourteen hours a day for less than a nickel 

 an hour. But they were as resentful toward 



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