HIS LIFE AND WORK 



upper lip was clean-shaven, but he had a thick, 

 well-trimmed beard, and dark, wavy hair, 

 worn fairly long. His nose was straight and 

 well-shaped, his mouth firm, and his eyes 

 brown-gray and piercing. In manner he was 

 resolute and prompt, with a rigid insistence 

 that could not be turned aside. He had won 

 the prize in the contest of reaper-inventors; 

 and he was now about to enter a second contest, 

 against overwhelming odds, with a number of 

 aggressive and competent business men who 

 had determined that, by right or by might, they 

 would manufacture McCormick Reapers and 

 sell them to the farmers. 



As McCormick had neither money nor credit, 

 it was evident to him that his first step in busi- 

 ness-building must be to secure a partner who 

 had both of these. He looked about him and 

 selected the man who was unquestionably the 

 first citizen of Chicago William B. Ogden. 

 Ogden had been the first mayor of the little city. 

 He had been from the beginning its natural 

 leader. He had built the first handsome house, 

 promoted the first canal, and was now busy in 



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