294 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



father succeeded by son in the live stock business, as is done in 

 Great Britain and other countries. I say, then, interest your son 

 in breeding pure bred stock for various reasons: First, to keep 

 him on the farm ; next, that he may be your successor in the busi- 

 ness. It would be a fortunate thing, indeed, if we had a law — not 

 such a law as they used to have in Great Britain, by which the in- 

 heritance descended to the first born, but a law by which the 

 energy, the zeal, and the skill of the father should descend, not to 

 the first born alone, but to every son that he might have, and that 

 this should descend to the third and fourth generations, so that 

 there should, indeed, be a succession of great men in the business, 

 just as we find a succession of great men in other countries, the 

 son following along in the footsteps of the father. I want to say 

 to the young men before me : Take up the work which your father 

 has established ; do not throw away the work he has accomplished, 

 but step into his footsteps. Take the benefit, the advantage of the 

 work he leaves in your hands and carry this work forward to a 

 greater success. It seems to me there is a splendid opening for 

 any young man to engage in the breeding of pure-bred live stock. 

 It seems to me it ought to be his ambition to take his father's 

 herd and hand it down to his own son better and stronger 

 than when he received it. That ought to be the ambition of 

 every live stock man. It was the ambition of Professor San- 

 born, who took hold of an old worn-out, run down farm, made it 

 to yield better returns, and will hand it down to succeeding genera- 

 tions far better than when it came to him. I say that ought to 

 be the ambition of any young man on the farm who has the oppor- 

 tunity to succeed his father. 



And now I want to close with some words which may not be 

 appropriate, but it seems to me they ought to be appropriate to any 

 business. The words are these: 



"He who 11 ess °s is blessed 



And God and man shall own his worth 

 Who dares to leave as his bequest 



An added beauty to the earth." 



