HIS LIFE AND WORK 



faith. They were notable men. Both ordered 

 machines, and Cyrus McCormick accepted one 

 of the orders only, as he was not satisfied with 

 the way his Reaper worked in grain that was 

 wet. It was apt to clog in the grooves that 

 held the blade. Even in this darkest and most 

 debt-ridden period of his life, McCormick was 

 much more intent, apparently, upon making 

 his Reapers work well than upon winning a 

 fortune. 



Almost breathlessly, the young inventor waited 

 for the next harvest. This was the unique 

 difficulty of his task, that he had only a few 

 weeks once a year to try out his machine and to 

 improve it. He had now sold two, so that 

 there were three Reapers clicking through the 

 grain-fields in the Summer of 1840. They 

 failed to operate evenly. Where the grain was 

 dry, they cut well; but where it was damp, 

 they clogged and at times refused to cut at all. 



Wet grain! This, after nine years of arduous 

 labor, still remained a stubborn obstacle to 

 the success of the Reaper. It was especially 

 hard to overcome, because in that primitive 



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