282 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



peculiar performance that is incident to our sex, and we can do it 

 without difficulty. (Applause.) 



Consequently, I looked forward to the idea of making a speech 

 to the students of Missouri State University upon what is known 

 as the "Memorial Day" in the history of this great institution. 

 Afterwards I was notified that, like a railroad time table, subject 

 to change without notice, I had been switched to the Farmers' con- 

 vention. For variety and vicissitudes in a speaking engagement 

 that is about as radical a change as I have ever experienced. I 

 find myself in a position something like a two-ring circus. I am 

 speaking both to students and to farmers, or perhaps, if I should 

 take my friend. Senator Wornall, as a type of the latter class, I 

 should say "agriculturists." 



I will say, however, that I was at a loss when I found I was 

 here in a dual capacity to know exactly what I should say or what 

 I should talk about. It is always an easy thing to promise to make 

 a speech if the date of performance is only sufficiently far remote 

 in the future. It is something like signing a note due in ten years. 

 Signing is comparatively easy, but when it comes to the matter of 

 performance, the difficulties are somewhat greater. 



In view of the presence here of you gentlemen from the coun- 

 try, I may liken my position in this regard to that of the man from 

 a metropolitan community who visited relatives in the country, and 

 when asked to lead a yearling calf down to the pasture he very 

 cheerfully attempted to comply. In performing the duty he came 

 to a fence in which there was a gate, and being inexperienced in 

 handling live stock, he proceeded to tie one end — the loose end — of 

 the rope around his leg, while he proceeded to open the gate. 

 When his solicitous friends and relatives disentangled him from 

 a pile of brush down the road, they said to him, "What in the world 

 did you do that for?" He replied, "Well, I had not gone more than 

 ten feet when I discovered my mistake." 



I wish, however, to say something that I hope will be to the 

 advantage of you both. I want to say something that is applicable 

 to both students and farmers. You are necessary, the one to the 

 other. In a certain way and in a certain sense you are the com- 

 plement, the one or the other. The practice of those things which 

 tend to upbuild intellectual and moral development is as neces- 

 sary as is the cultivation of the farm and of the field. As the 

 material prosperity of a state or country is incident to its intel- 

 lectual prosperity, so when the two are combined moral prosperity 

 is the usual accompaniment. The highest results in educational 



