EARLY MANHOOD IN THE MIDDLE WEST 159 



was just one of those fortunate little things which 

 come to us sometimes from following a friendly 

 suggestion. 



My purpose in relating these details is not so 

 much to adorn my tale as to point a moral : little 

 duties well performed often lead to larger things. 

 For, when the Board of Trustees convened in the 

 late fall of 1869, the first resolution they passed 

 made me Professor of Agriculture. That widened 

 road where the log pile had been, that burned 

 rubbish from the campus and that beautiful green 

 lowland pasture had won their confidence. I was 

 certainly most fortunate; here was the livestock 

 farm which I had longed for so many years and 

 a great farm it was, although much of it was still 

 in virgin prairie. There was on the place about a 

 hundred head of cattle ; two small flocks of sheep, 

 one long-wooled and one selected fine-wooled; the 

 possibilities of rearing a hundred Berkshire pigs 

 yearly; and six hundred acres of prairie and wood- 

 land, to which was added later two hundred acres 

 more. It will be seen that the I. A. C. started out 

 on purely agricultural lines and it is because it has 

 adhered rather closely to them that it has risen to 

 first rank among those of its kind. 



While enjoying the practical work of the farm I 

 found here another opportunity for self-education. 



