SUMMER MEETING AT BROOKFIELD. 33 



ways. Aside from any benefit to be derived from an increased know- 

 ledge in regard to horticulture, they are beneficial socially. It has been 

 said, and no doubt truthfully, that no people have so few holidays as do 

 Americans. The universal Yankee nation, in the pursuit of the al- 

 mighty dollar (whether it be the 80-odd cents worth of silver that does 

 duty for the "big round dollar of our daddies," or whether it be Uncle 

 Sam's engraved promise to pay), hasn't time to stop long enough for a 

 little of rest or of recreation. Of course, with the balance of the 

 world we have Christmas and New Years and Thanksgiving — days of 

 rejoicing for us and of mourning for the poultry ; days of over-eating 

 during the day-time and of troubled dreams at night. We have the 4th 

 of July, when we perspire freely in patriotic memory of the days of '76 

 and the Declaration of Independence, which our noble but injudicious 

 sires adopted at the very hottest season of the year, when, in mercy to 

 their patriotic posterety, they might just as well have delayed the matter 

 until cooler weather, and then settled matters with King George with the 

 same glorious result. We go to a political meeting occasionally, where 

 we come to the amiable and cheerful conclusion that one-half our fellow- 

 citizens are hardened criminals, because they do not bow down to the 

 same political idols that we worship. These are our holidays, and the 

 balance of the time with our farmers, at least, is spent at work. An 

 occasional day given to a horticultural society would be some improve- 

 ment, at least, on this state of affairs. 



From a social standpoint it would be well for all of us to meet and 

 spend a few hours in social intercourse, at least once a month, and this 

 is more particularly true of our Missouri people, who come from all parts 

 of the Union. It would be well that they should get together, and by 

 the contact of social intercourse wear off the rough angles of peculari- 

 ties and habits of different communities and of different states, thus 

 forming a harmonious whole a class of people not to be improved upon 

 anywhere. What little loss of time this might cause would be far 

 more than balanced by the increased vigor with which the home duties 

 and home work would be resumed ; and if there were no other advan- 

 tages to be derived from the organization of such societies, this alone 

 would richly repay its members for the little time so spent. The chief 

 benefit, however, to be derived from such organizations will arise from 

 the interchange of thought and ideas among their members. The 

 theory of one will be tried by the practice of another, different and 

 differing methods will be compared, tested, and the best adopted. The 

 doctrine of the survival of the fittest will prevail here, if nowhere else. 



However much knowledge a man may possess in regard to horti- 

 culture or any subject, he never ceases to learn, or at least never should 

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