.SOCIETY OF .NOHTHEHN ILLINOIS. 243 



ADAPTATION. 



-BY GEORUK .1. KELLOGG. JANESVILLE. WIS. 



Mr. F resident. Ladies and Gentlemen : 



Without iidaptiitioii what are we good for? With the ther- 

 mometer at 85° beh)w zero, liow would yf>u like to exchanj^je your 

 comiortul)k' rolje.s for Adam and Eve's light morning dress of fig 

 leaves? Time, place, and surroundings make all the ditferenee. If 

 we had all lived in the garden of Eden what a good time we should 

 have had. But with fruit hanging on every tree, the orchard all 

 ])lanted for us. the garden hringing forth lettuce, radishes, beets, 

 onions, asparagus, cauliflower, celery, acres and acres of cabbage, all 

 kinds of potatoes excei)t Early Rose, all kinds of strawberries except 

 Crescent. Vick. and Pii)er, all kinds of raspberries except (Juthbert. 

 Shaffer's, and Gregg, all kinds of grapes but Prentiss and Pockling- 

 ton; in fact, what indui-emeuts would there have been to work. 

 There was no Eourth of .Tuly: no need of any s])endiiig money: no 

 taxes, no coal bills; no groceries where you could get trusted, and no 

 need of any dry goods, new bonnets, lioots or shoes. Well, if we 

 had all staid in the first garden till now. what a big garden it would 

 have been' 1)V this time: but here we are amid the rigors of the nor- 

 thern winter, compelled to hop around lively or freeze to death. 



Compare the indolence of the South with the enterprise of the 

 North, and what the difference except adaptation to surroundings? 



Adaptation is the key note to all success. Some minds can learn 

 any trade, Init seldom excel. Usually the mind that becomes profi- 

 cient knows nothing else excei)t in his chosen profession. A musi- 

 cian is seldom good for anything else. I have known instances 

 where ])ersons have tried all kinds of business, was too lazy to suc- 

 ceed, and finally went to preaching. A smart blacksmith might 

 make a good lawyer, but there are multitudes of lawyers too lazy to 

 make good blacksiuiths. T have known men too lazy for anything 

 but teaching, aiul thougiit they were overworked then with six 

 hours a day and five days per week. This reminds me of the old lady 

 who thought the ways of this world very iinef/naL She sat watching 

 those lazy fellows in the meadow, who just made the scythes go 

 "swing, swang," and there she "sat rdrkin;/ Iter bones hnittinr/."' 



1 have often thought T have mistaken my calling. VVHiat it 

 could have been I cannot tell. The (piestion im])ortant for most of 

 us is. what are our children best (tdiipfed for? in what business will 

 they be most successful? How many years of patient toil, watching 

 and preparation before some trait will develope to form their destiny. 



In the horticultural necessities surrounding us adai)tation is 

 evervthing. How many jtrecious years have we fooled away to learn 

 this one thing, and how little do we now know. After the experi- 



