HIS LIFE AND WORK 



heart, and hammered away to make a still 

 better machine. 



This was the darkest period in the history of 

 the McCormicks from 1837 to 1840. Once 

 a constable named John Newton rode up to the 

 farm-house door with a summons, calling Cyrus 

 and his father before the County Judge on 

 account of a debt of $19.01. A teamster named 

 John Brains had brought suit. His bill had 

 been $72.00 and he had been paid more than 

 three-fourths of the money. But the constable 

 was so impressed with the honesty and industry 

 of the McCormicks, that he rode back to town 

 without having served the summons. A little 

 later, Mr. John Brains received his money; 

 and it may be said that had he accepted, in- 

 stead, a five per cent interest in the Reaper, he 

 would have become in twenty years or less one 

 of the richest men in the county. 



As it happened, not one of Cyrus McCor- 

 mick's creditors thought of such an idea as 

 seizing the Reaper, or the patent, which had 

 been secured in 1834. If the queer-looking 



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