No. 7. DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 177 



aud you even have here the English modifications that are found in 

 the old Quaker stock of Eastern Pennsylvania, which we all know 

 is not bad stock, therefore you ought to be good people, bred as 

 you are, aud it is not to be v/ondered at that you have the hearty, 

 energetic, intelligent citizenship that we know resides in Clearfield 

 county. We are glad as we come here, to recognize this, and we 

 feel proud to be your guests, and glad to be here, to receive this 

 royal welcome. 



But nov\', Mr. Chairman, if you will excuse me, I must tell you 

 something about ourselves. I remember years ago to have read a 

 very amusing little anecdote of a pious Irish girl, who, on a certain 

 occasion, went to confession, aud while she was telling the priest 

 of her short-comings and her failures in life, she looked up into his 

 his face and said: "Father, I must tell you that I am engaged to 

 be married to Patrick Dolan, and Pat was to see me the other night, 

 and stayed until after twelve o'clock, and he kissed me." The priest 

 being in a rather jovial humor said, ''Now Mary, didn't Pat kiss 

 you more than once?" And quick as a flash came the reply. "Now 

 Holy Father, I came here to confess, and not to boast." And so 

 like the Irish girl, I did not come here to boast, but I want to say 

 to you, sir, that the brawny hands that we reach out to-day to re- 

 ceive the roj^al welcome extended to us, are the hands that feed the 

 world. 



Standing here in the temple of justice, I can but admire your 

 work as it relates to all the liberal professions of life. I was walk- 

 ing over your town this morning and I admired the beautiful work- 

 manship of your artists and artisans, and I heard some gentleman 

 tell of the great fortunes have been amassed by some of the people 

 here who have cut down your forests and taken your lumber to 

 market, and we admire the business skill and acumen that have 

 enabled men in the past in your midst to accumulate these great 

 fortunes. But sir, what would become of the race, if for but a 

 single year, the farmers of the country were to neglect to improve 

 the seedtime and harvest which a kind Heavenly Father has promised 

 to give through them to the children of men. Our calling is not only 

 the oldest under the sun, but it is the one calling without which 

 the world cannot survive. 



You have referred to the fact that the farmer needs to be edu- 

 cated, and we have in recent years come to understand this matter 

 as we never did before. We have come sir, to look upon our busi- 

 ness as a profession, and we have come to realize that there is no 

 industry that stands so closely associated with the great forces of 

 nature as does the industry of agriculture. W^e realize the need of 

 education, and so a beneficient government has in response to our 

 call established our agricultural colleges all over our land. We 

 have them in almost every state in the Union, but sir, we cannot 

 all attend college. Some of us are too old, and those of us who 

 are young, are under the necessity of battling with the realities of 

 life in order 'to make a livelihood, and so we cannot all go to col- 

 lege, hence we have our institutes, a means by which the college 

 comes to us and reaches out a helping hand, and here is where our 

 State Department of Agriculture takes up the work, and broadens 

 and extends the work that has been begun by our general Govern- 

 ment. Our general assembly makes an appropriation by means of 

 12—7—1906. 



