CYRUS HALL McCORMICK 



Even McCormick's jokes had a certain moral 

 tang a flavor of the first Psalrn and the eighth 

 chapter of Romans. They were apt to deal 

 with the troubles of the ungodly who had been 

 caught in their wickedness. There were times, 

 too, when his sense of humor and his sense of 

 justice would co-operate in odd ways. Once, 

 when a roast game bird, which had been sent 

 to him as a gift from the hunter, was left over 

 from supper, he ordered that his dainty be kept 

 and served for the next day's luncheon. At 

 luncheon the next day it did not appear. On 

 asking for the game bird, a roast chicken was 

 set before him, and he at once noticed that it 

 was not the same bird which he had ordered to 

 be kept. He questioned the butler, who pro- 

 tested that it was the same. After the meal 

 McCormick ordered that the servants involved 

 should be called into the dining-room. From 

 them, by a series of questions, he soon obtained 

 the truth and proved the butler to be the culprit. 

 The one thing that he would tolerate least was 

 a lie. As he would say at times, "A thief you 

 can watch, but I detest a liar." 



[170] 



