The big walnut door of the blacksmith shop was open. "Maybe Papa is working on something new," said Cyrus Hall McCormick as he hurried to the shop. "I hope he is working on his reaper."

The blacksmith shop at Walnut Grove Plantation, in Rockbridge County, Virginia, was a sturdy building of stone and wood. It stood against the side of a hill near the mill and the barn.

To young Cyrus McCormick the blacksmith shop was the most interesting spot on the plantation. He loved to watch his father, Robert McCormick, work there, making many of the tools and iron products that he needed on the plantation.

Cyrus was especially interested in a new reaper that his father had started to make. The machine was standing in one corner of the blacksmith shop, until his father could find time to complete it.

Even as a small boy, Cyrus understood how important a reaper could be. He knew that harvesting grain with old-fashioned cradles was extremely hard and slow. Someday he hoped that his father could find time to finish the reaper.

Like his father, Cyrus was an excellent mechanic and craftsman. During his boyhood he made many things to take some of the drudgery out of everyday work. He was also an excellent pupil in school. His favorite subjects there were mathematics and surveying. In the endeavors and studies of these years, without knowing it, young Cyrus was laying a foundation for his future accomplishments as a manufacturer.

Cyrus had many difficult times on the way to success. Perfecting the reaper was only one step in his career. Once he had completed it, he struggled hard to make it available to farmers. Hence his efforts to build a great business in Chicago.

Cyrus Hall McCormick was a typical American boy who grew up to achieve success. Children will be delighted to find that, like almost any boy, he found time to fish, play marbles, and make collections.

This story about Cyrus Hall McCormick has been written by Lavinia Dobler. As a notable writer of social studies materials, she is admirably suited to writing a book of this type. She portrays vividly how an humble American boy grew up to make an everlasting contribution to the farmers of America and the world.

From the dust jacket