WINTER MEETING AT LEBA.NON. 197 



It is the high standard that pays in the long run. Much might be 

 said of beauty from the commercial standpoint, and to no class of peo- 

 ple might it be more fitly said than to the gathering before me. You 

 have learned by practical experience that the highest standard pays 

 best in every department of horticulture. But you have a higher mis- 

 sion to fulfill than the mere turning of the useful and beautiful into an 

 equivalent of dollars and cents. Esthetic, no less than practical, and 

 moral no less than esthetic considerations, have an important part in 

 the results of your labors. It is not enough that you incidentally render 

 life more pleasant and the world more beautiful as you go along, but 

 it should be your aim to do these things to the greatest extent within 

 your power. 



What may be called the "glacial period of beauty" in Southwest 

 Missouri is long since past. The melting influences of man's well- 

 directed labor have changed thebaren face of nature, and a new spring- 

 time of loveliness and promise is before us. Homes spring up where 

 the wilderness has held sway. The spirit of progress is abroad, and to 

 make these homes fit types of an uplifted race is one of the great aims 

 of such a society as you represent. Not only has each one his private 

 interest at heart, but the spirit of public improvement calls forth you r 

 endeavors in whatever directions may best serve the common interests 

 of all. One can scarcely estimate the power for good which such a 

 society may represent, not only to its immediate environment but to 

 the country at large, when it adds to its first duty of self-support and 

 development the broader office of lending a hand wherever utility can 

 serve or beauty adorn either the face of nature or the handiwork of 

 man. 



Music by orchestra. 



Recitation: " Shamus O'Brien," Prof. F. L. Ruby. 



Song : "'Tis time that we should part," by quartette. 



« 



COMMITTEES. 



Obituary.- -D. S. Holinan, C. I. Robards, A. Nelson. 

 Finance. — A. Ambrose, Henry Speer, W. G. Gano. 

 Fruits.— G. W. Hopkins, J. A. Durkes, C. C. Bell. 



Floivers.—J . W. Clark, Mrs. W. H.Owens, Mrs. D.R. Deffendeffer, Mrs.Wm. 

 Johnson. 



Vegetables. — E. F. flynes, J. G. Kinder, J. Kirchgraber. 

 Tratisportxtion. — J. G. Kinder, C. I. Robards, Z. T. Russell. 

 Final Resolutions. — D. S. Holinan, G. W. Hopkins. 



