326 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



effective study and thought, had so thoroughly grounded him in the 

 details of his art that his opinion upon any matter concerning it 

 might with much reason be called oracular. 



But Mr. Harris was not a student of nature in her manifestations 

 of fruit and flower alone ; he saw and understood her through the 

 birds and smaller animals of her creation. He loved these living 

 creations ; and he loved them wisely, not too well. If he had to 

 slay any by reason of naturally predatory habits, he did it kindly 

 and regretfully. Considerate of plant and tree, of fruit and flower, 

 of animal and bird, he could not be other than considerate of his 

 fellow beings, and so he was ! 



Our departed brother was ever influenced by a broad and en- 

 during interest in the great cause of fruit development in this lati- 

 tude. The plants and trees that he sent out for distant planting 

 must be the best as to quality and so handled in packing and shipping 

 that they would thrive abundantly, bless the planter with good har- 

 vests of fruits, and thereby encourage him to grow them more plen- 

 tifully and inspire his neighbors to do likewise. That aspiration 

 was a more potent influence with him than the making of his own 

 reputation or saving his customers a few dollars or cents. When 

 he saw inexperience, ignorance, or deceit, misleading or defrauding 

 the buyers of nursery stock, it was not the sacrificed money on the 

 one hand or the manifestation of dishonesty on the other that aroused 

 his righteous wrath, it was thought of the disastrous effect such 

 practices would have upon the fruit growing industry of this region. 



We love our brother the more truly, we cherish his memory the 

 more warmly by reason of the difficulties that ever beset the pathway 

 of his achievements. Such men as he are never rich. Though poor, 

 they are among the world's choicest philanthropists ; yet theirs is 

 a philanthropy that is not heralded in the sensational headlines of 

 newspapers. The men who cause fruits to grow where none have 

 grown before are not exalted while living, nor are cloud piercing 

 monuments erected to them when dead. These things are for those 

 who have acquired great fortunes, who have attained high official 

 position in civil life, or those who have scarred the earth with ten 

 thousand ghastly graves where no grave was seen before. Mr. Har- 

 ris knew, and you his fellow workers know, that the applause of the 

 world was not for him, nor is it for you. He wrought within the 

 limitations of humble surroundings and of scanty means. It was 

 not the world's applause that he aspired to, but his fellow's better- 

 ment. He knew that his epitaph would never be chiseled on lofty 

 shaft, nor his praises sung under vaulted roof by choir and organ. 



