582 ANNUAL REPORT OP THE Off. fioc!. 



honorable, be just, and don't be afraid of work. Work is a blessing 

 that God has conferred upon us. Work is not a curse. There was 

 no curse imposed on us for the sins of our first parents. Man was 

 not cursed. The Bible says "cursed is the earth" — not man — but 

 "cursed is the earth, for thy sake." 



I leave you with the promise that I hope to see you ten years hence, 

 when some of you younger men shall have gray hair, with the thought, 

 and with the prayer: 



When comes the evening tide, 



When Life's Saturday is gone, 

 We'll cast our working dress aside 



And put our Sabbath garments on. 



THINGS WE ARE UP AGAINST. 



By J. H. HALE. 



Mr. President: I did not intend telling stories this evening, but 

 when the good brother complimented Brother Heiges about the 

 persimmon, and talked about the 'simmons beer, it was rather a 

 dangerous subject for one who has just come up from Georgia. It 

 reminded me of the colored brother addicted to gambling; he was 

 playing his favorite game with some of the other colored gentle- 

 men, and when he found he was losing pretty steadily, he said, "Let's 

 us give up what we has been a doin' and name what is good eatin', 

 and the fellow what names the best gets the pile." The others 

 agreed, and then they started, each one taking a turn, until it came 

 about the fourth man; he said, "Well, dar's 'possum, and dar's sweet 

 'taters, and dar's watermelon, and dar's 'simmons beer," and then 

 they set up a howl "for sure, dat niggah done named all de good 

 things dar is to eat." So it is with these gentlemen; they have 

 done said all the good things, until there is but little left for me 

 to say. 



Yesterday I met a horticultural friend of mine, and I told him 

 they had asked me to come over here and talk about the things we 

 are up against, and I hardly knew what to say; I asked him what 

 was the chief thing the horticulturist was up against, and he said: 

 "He is up against himself more than anything else," and I said, 

 "Amen." I think we are up against ourselves as the most serious 

 proposition to be worked out, and that reminds me of another 

 story. A young bride who had recently been married was con- 

 gratulated by all her friends on having a model husband. She felt 

 very good over this until she went home and looked in the dic- 

 tionary for the definition of "model," and found it meant "a small 

 imitation of the real thing," and that is the real proposition. We 

 are up against model orchards. 



One of the things that the average orchardist is up against is too 

 many varieties. The old stager who has been through the mill, and 

 then out of it, and the business man who starts out to go through 

 the mill all make this mistake. One of the most successful agricul- 

 tural teachers 1 ever knew turned his attention to orcharding the 

 past few years, and against his own knowledge, and the advice of 



