EARLY MANHOOD IN THE MIDDLE WEST 173 



session, I received a telegram informing me of my 

 appointment to the position of Assistant Professor 

 of Agriculture at Cornell University with a full 

 professor's salary and the promise that no full 

 professor should be placed over me. I showed 

 the message to my old friend, Trustee Buchanan, 

 and with it in his hand he preceded me to the 

 supper table and introduced me to the Board and 

 the company as the Professor of Agriculture at 

 Cornell University. I believe that was one of the 

 happiest moments of his life. It was he who had 

 secured my appointment at the I. A. C. when I 

 was not competent to fill it that is, he had taken 

 me on trust and he had stood by me and seen 

 me grow. Now came the fulfilled joy of having 

 his judgment of this " diamond in the rough " 

 justified. 



The appointment pleased me, as it might any 

 ambitious young man, for it was a testimonial to 

 my growth and ability, and yet I hesitated to ac- 

 cept it. I was in a discouraged frame of mind 

 partly from over-work and partly from a lack of 

 appreciation on the part of those whom my work 

 had been designed to benefit as well as by an in- 

 creasing sense of the difficulties that would have to 

 be met at Cornell. I had begun to lose faith in the 



