48 TiiiRTY-SiXTii Annual Report of the 



Mrs. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : — It gives me pleas- 

 ure to represent Vermont before the Woman's Auxiliary tonight 

 and to address you. We convene here this evening in the Queen 

 City of Vermont, I might say of New England, in one of the 

 best dairy sections of the world, under the auspices of the 

 Woman's Auxiliary to discuss matters pertaining to their inter- 

 ests in the work of the Dairymen's Association. 



I well remember the first time that I attended a meeting 

 of this Association. There was not a woman in the audience. 

 The Free Press remarked the next day that one of the officers 

 of the Dairymen's Association had brought his wife to the city 

 with him. Things are changed in this respect, and this change 

 has come about partly through the increased interest in and 

 partly because of modifications in the conduct of dairying opera- 

 tions. The wife no longer skims the milk and makes the butter ; 

 this is done at the creamery or by machinery other than her 

 hands ; and so she has a little time to attend the Dairymen's meet- 

 ings, to hear of better methods, to get acquainted with the neigh- 

 bors, and to learn how butter is made up in Franklin County or 

 down in Windham County or elsewhere. 



Whatever Vermont does, she does well, in agriculture and 

 in other kinds of work. We have the proud record of leading 

 New England in the dairy business. We are somewhat clan- 

 nish, as we ought to be, because we come pretty near being born 

 in the Garden of Eden. Those who go out from us remember 

 Vermont. They go into all parts of the world, and in the large 

 cities form Vermont Associations. The longer they live away 

 from Vermont, the more they love her, and hope in years to 

 come, when their business life is over, to return to her. perhaps 

 to the old homestead, to spend the remainder of their days in 

 comfort and happiness. 



While we are here tonight, considering these matters, let 

 us think about the boys and girls. The men and women of 

 today have tried to sustain the proud record of Vermont, and 

 the boy and girl of today should feel the responsibility that will 

 come to them as the years go by to maintain that record. The 

 old district school, the little red school house on the hill, is of 

 the past. What it is now is a little uncertain and its future 

 is yet more doubtful. It is impossible even for the best of 

 teachers to have a real interesting school with a few scholars. 

 Now, is it not possible to centralize our schools in many of 

 our towns, to have one grand school, good enough for boys 

 and girls to be graduated from into college? They are at home 

 during their leisure hours, under home influences, home training ; 

 that influence and training, that discipline, that self-denial that 

 needs to come to all boys and girls to make them grow stronger 



