HIS LIFE AND WORK 



a religious weekly of the highest rank. These 

 two the college and the paper were his 

 pride and delight. He fathered them in the 



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most affectionate way. No matter what crisis 

 might be impending in the war of business, he 

 always had time to talk to his editors and his 

 professors. So, though McCormick had received 

 much from his religious inheritance, it is also 

 true that he gave back much. His last public 

 speech, which was read for him by his son Cyrus 

 because he was too weak to deliver it himself, 

 w r as given at the laying of the corner-stone of a 

 new building which he had given to the college. 

 Its last sentence was typical of McCormick 

 full of hope and optimism: "I never doubted 

 that success would ultimately reward our ef- 

 forts," he said; "and now, on this occasion, we 

 may fairly say that the night has given place to 

 the dawn of a brighter day than any which has 

 hitherto shone upon us." 



McCormick went into politics, too, with the 

 same conscientious abandon with which he 

 plunged into business and religion. He was a 

 Democrat of the Jeffersonian type. One of his 



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