278 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



sure she will appeal to the beef man and the horse man and the 

 hog man and the sheep man and the mule man and every man as 

 being meritorious in the highest degree. 



If you think the dairy cow homely, I ask you tonight to remem- 

 ber the most beautiful song that Missouri ever heard as she came at 

 eventide from across the prairie and the winding paths of the 

 forest along the banks of the historic creek, swinging her head 

 with the proud air of a prima donna, and chanting in low, solemn 

 tones an anthem of hope to Missouri mothers and Missouri chil- 

 dren and keeping time to the music of silver dollars at the ratio 

 of 16 to 1 as they dropped into the banks of Missouri to be drawn 

 on as necessary to supply the wants of a people over whose des- 

 tinies she seemed to have such wonderful control. 



Is beauty the only standard by which you are governed in 

 your consideration of friends? I answer, no. Do you know of 

 anyone whom you regarded at first sight as being so homely your 

 sympathies were aroused, and when you knew them better they 

 seemed to get better looking until you couldn't detect anything 

 homely aboqt them? We have an old horse at our house, and if 

 you will promise not to tell, I will confess to you that he hasn't a 

 beauty spot on him, and yet when my wife takes the children and 

 drives down the lake front she compares old Tom with every 

 horse she meets, and her universal verdict is that for actual beauty 

 Tom beats them all. I tell you beauty is a state of mind, and in 

 any event there is something more substantial that appeals to 

 our better natures. Usefulness is pre-eminent over, all other attri- 

 butes. Individuality is what we are impressed with. 



Abraham Lincoln was a statesman, whose equal we have no 

 knowledge of. He was a general such as the world never knew. 

 The whole nation knew him to love him, and yet he could doubtless 

 have emptied a house or dismissed an audience of his most loyal 

 admirers in three minutes had he attempted to sing a solo. Henry 

 Grady of Atlanta electrified and held spell-bound his hearers when 

 he made that memorable speech at the banquet in Boston, the in- 

 fluence of which hastened the reuniting of a divided people and 

 made us a unit with one government and one flag, and yet had he 

 prepared with his own hands that banquet, I doubt not he would 

 have been in no condition to talk, and the rest would have been 

 too sick to hear. Jenny Lind electrified the people of two conti- 

 nents with her wonderful voice, and I would not forget that she 

 got her inspiration from the vast audiences that greeted her every- 

 where and people who couldn't sing a bit. 



