TWO MINUTE TALKS. 459 



advice and encouragement I am not sure but what by and by I shall 

 become a horticulturist. I may come as near it as a certain saloon- 

 keeper, who had just passed over the great divide, came to asking 

 a man to drink. Unlike most saloonkeepers this man was rather 

 stingy in his treatment of his customers. After he was gone a 

 couple of his former customers were sitting in his place and speak- 

 ing of his virtues, when Mike said to Pat, "Pat, an did ye iver hear 

 him say, 'Come up to the bar-r and hev a drink?' " Pat said, "O 

 niver did, but — " "Did ye iver hear him say thot?" asked Mike. 

 "Oi niver heerd him say 'come up an hev a drink,' but he came awful 

 near it wan marnin.' " "An' phat did he say?" asked Mike. "Well," 

 said Pat, "Oi wint intil his place, and it wuz a spittin' a little snow 

 that marnin' wid a little sprinklin' of rain, an' he said, 'Pat, phat 

 will it be' — an' before Oi had the chanst to open me hed and say 

 'whiskey,' he says, 'rain or snow ?' " (Great laughter and applause.) 



You are so generous with your store of wisdom that one cannot 

 sit through three sessions of the horticultural society without be- 

 coming a good horticulturist. I certainly enjoy these meetings, 

 and the inspiration I receive from these gray heads goes with me 

 during the whole year. This is not flattery, it is entirely true. As 

 a city farmer, living in the city, I have in mind during the whole 

 year the gray beards and heads that have done so much along the 

 lines of horticulture in Minnesota. (Applause.) I can remember 

 distinctly as a little child the impression that was made upon 

 me by the talk of my father and mother, who had come from the 

 eastern states. My father was a native of Massachusets, and my 

 mother was a native of New York. They came here in 1856 and 

 settled on the sand banks of Anoka county, and I recollect that one 

 continual source of disappointment was that they could not raise 

 apples. My venerable father, now 82 years of age, if he were here 

 today could see what has been done along the lines of horticulture. 

 I am sorry it is impossible for him to be here, but I know it would 

 be a source of great joy to him to see the advance made in this state 

 and note the successful efforts made by the veterans of this society. 



I simply want to commend two things to you for your con- 

 sideration as you go away from this place. Two things that are of 

 vital interest to us and, I believe, of vital interest to this state in the 

 future. One of these two things is the question of horticulture. 

 Have the children become acquainted with something besides a 

 smattering of dead languages and ancient history and things of that 

 sort that have no more to do with life than nothing at all. Go int9 

 the public school system of our state, insist upon it before the boards 

 of education and before the school authorities of your state that the 

 educational system of the state shall take hold of these vital ques- 

 tions. The other thing is the matter of danger that now confronts 

 the Morris bill. The forest reserve of the state is a thing in which 

 I am deeply interested, as every man who loves his country ought 

 to be interested. (Applause.) A man that would cut off the trees 

 from Copper Island in Cass Lake, a man who would do that would 

 steal the scales off his dead mother's eyes. It is the most beautiful 



