30 TRANSACTIONS OF THE ILLINOIS 



On motion it was ordered that the time of meeting be fixed at 

 10 A. M., 2 p. M. and 7:30 p. m. 

 Adjourned. 



TUESDAY EVENING. 



This session was devoted entirely to the young people, and that 

 they performed their part as well or better than the older ones we 

 think all will admit. 



THE CHOICE OF A VOCATION. 



4 



BY FRANK 0. RIEHL. 



Many and varied are the occupations of men; from the dude 

 who promenades the city streets, the picture of indolence and self- 

 conceit, to the statesman who, from the council chamber, rules the 

 fate of nations. All the great family of humanity moving by many 

 different roads, yet all traveling in the same direction, and each 

 striving to outstrip the other in the race to the same goal — happiness. 

 Taking together all the pursuits of men, I think we may divide 

 them into two great classes, those derived from direct communica- 

 tion with nature, and those one step removed and dependent upon 

 the first; those of the fields, and those of the city. As horticultur- 

 ists we have to do only with the former. 



There comes a time in every boy's life when he begins to think 

 of the future. In that wonderful period of transformation when 

 the toys of childhood and the careless indifference of youth are laid 

 aside forever and the boy becomes a man. Aroused from his trance 

 by the kindly injunctions of a solicitous parent, or it may be by the 

 tender power of love, he suddenly awakes to the realization that he 

 cannot always be dependent and must choose his path of life. He 

 stands, as it were, on the threshold of home, and, gazing out into 

 the great, wide world cries out: Oh! though great and mighty 

 world what has thou in store for me? Thou owest me a living; 

 which, of all thy many occupations, shall I follow the easiest to gain 

 that living ? 



Thinking that there may be some farmer boys of Illinois asking 

 that question to-day, I will attempt to answer it from a horticultural 

 standpoint. 



It is one of the fatalities of human nature to be dissatisfied with 

 its present lot and to long for something better, and the trouble with 

 this as with all other distempers of the mind is that it cannot be 



