This is a marvellous development from the little Virginia shop of 1840,
with its output of one machine a week, and the growth means far more for
the country at large than might be inferred from these figures; the
farmers of the world owe more to the McCormick reaper than they can
repay. The whir of the American reaper is heard around the world. In
Egypt, Russia, India, Australia the machine is helping man with more
than a giant's strength. Recent American travellers through Persia have
described the singular effect produced upon them by seeing the McCormick
reaper doing its steady work in the fields over which Haroun Al Raschid
may have roamed. And this wonderful machine is followed with awe by the
more ignorant of the natives, who look upon its achievements as little
short of magical. They are not far wrong, however, for it is more
amazing than any wonder described in their "Arabian Nights."
The last years of Cyrus H. McCormick's life were such as have fallen to
few of the world's benefactors, for as a rule the pioneer who shows the
road has a hard time of it, even unto the end. Mr. McCormick had the
satisfaction of knowing not only that by his invention he had conferred
a blessing upon the workmen of the world, but that the world had
acknowledged the debt. Material prosperity, however, was not considered
any reason for luxurious idleness. To the close of his life Mr.
McCormick continued to supervise the business of his firm and to make
the reaper more perfect. No great exhibition abroad or in this country
passed without some of its honors falling to the share of the McCormick
reaper.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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