140 Missuuri Agricultural Report. 



else to correspond, and some of them had shoes that did not 111 

 them, and they had trousers that were too short, and some had 

 gone and bought calico and had trousers made for themselves, and 

 it was a great exhibition of differences of taste! Well, now, the 

 incongruous is just as incongruous when we are living in this 

 century, of simply short-cutting in our preparations for this 

 century and these opportunities that are before us. Let us 

 give to the boy the best chance we can. 



I want to say one more thing: They are beginning all over 

 the country in various widely separated spots to gather districts 

 in groups and building rural high schools. You foster that. That 

 is another interest of your boys, and if it is not your boy it is 

 your neighbor's boy — if not your girl your neighbor's girl. 

 That is a great movement, men. We can build, like they have 

 over there in Putnam county, Illinois, a fine high school away 

 out yonder, nine miles away in the country, and binding together 

 three districts, hire a superintendent and pay him fifteen 

 hundred dollars, and other teachers and pay them nine hundred 

 dollars apiece. We shall then have something magnificent for 

 the rural community. We just want to spread that sort of thing 

 all over the State of Missouri, in my judgment. It is for the boy. 



Now, with reference to the girl, the farmer's daughter: I 

 think she is the most interesting part of the subject because we 

 all like to look at her, and I think everybody will be interested in 

 what I am going to say. I am not going to speak about the 

 general things, but call your attention to two or three specific 

 things that I think the farmer needs to think about so far as the 

 girls are concerned. The first thing is on the subject of fashion. 

 Did you hear that? I am a preacher and I am telling you some- 

 thing on the subject of fashion! My name is not Worth from 

 Paris,, but I believe in fashion. What is fashion? Fashion is 

 sometimes connected with extravagances on this side and ex- 

 travagances on that side, but fashion is nevertheless the way 

 in which humanity expresses its best ideals with reference to 

 human apparel. Now there are girls that I think go a little to 

 the extreme and there are boys that I think go rather to the ex- 

 treme, too, and there are things of that sort on both sides, but 

 fashion, as long as humanity lives, will continue to be and be 

 growing with the growth of men and women. You remember 

 what your Bible says about the bride? When it wanted to 

 describe heaven coming down to earth the finest way by which 

 the Bible could describe it was to say this: "I saw the new 



