HIS LIFE AND WORK 



the news came to him that he was defeated. 

 "Well," he said, "that's over. What next?" 



Usually, McCormick was at his best when 

 the situation was at its worst. His Titanic work 

 immediately after the great Chicago Fire of 1871 

 is the most striking evidence of this. He had 

 been living at the corner of Tenth Street and 

 Fifth Avenue, in New York City, for four years 

 before the Fire; but he was in Chicago during 

 the greatest of all Illinois disasters. In one day 

 of fire and terror he saw his city reduced to a 

 waste of ashes. It was no longer a city. It 

 was two thousand acres of desolation. He was 

 himself in the midst of the fire-fighting. When 

 his wife, in response to his telegraphic message, 

 came to him in Chicago two days later, he met 

 her wearing a half-burned hat and a half- 

 burned overcoat. His big factory, which was at 

 that time making about 10,000 harvesters a 

 year, was wholly destroyed. In a flash he found 

 himself without a city and without a business. 



But McCormick never flinched. The arrival 

 of a great difficulty was always his cue. First 

 he ascertained his wife's wishes. Did she wish 



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