EXPERIENCE WITH ORGANIZATIONS 249 



To my astonishment I found myself far in ad- 

 vance of my audience in these ideas. When this 

 last statement was made the president of the as- 

 sociation rose and remarked sarcastically that the 

 University must have a " steam-boiler breed of 

 cows." Then a leading dairyman jumped up and 

 asked whether the professor had ever plowed! 

 With such comments and questions they all but 

 hissed me off the stage and utterly discredited my 

 propositions. 



In the evening the Association was elaborately 

 fed in the basement of the Baptist Church. I went 

 to the banquet a little late and finding the distin- 

 guished members all seated at the head of the table 

 and not being invited to join them, I took a seat at 

 the foot apparently the proper place for a 

 " hayseed " professor. When the speaking came on 

 I was toasted in hot water in an elaborate and 

 witty fashion. That night was one of the most 

 miserable of my life as I sleeplessly tossed, won- 

 dering what would be the result of my being so 

 completely u frozen out " by so important an 

 organization. 



I was much surprised therefore to receive an 

 invitation to address them again the next year, but 

 of course I accepted for these were the very people 



