THE CALL OF A DISTANT PAST 267 



of blood-stock breeding. The little monthly "West- 

 ern Stock Journal" thus came into being, printed 

 upon a hand-power press, and each individual copy 

 stitched with an ordinary thread and needle by the 

 members of his own household, of which I was a 

 junior with my first pair of long trousers. I couldn't 

 stitch as many copies in an hour as my seniors, but 

 I loved the little paper, and with my awkward fin- 

 gers did what I could to help get the precious little 

 messenger ready for distribution. It does not look 

 particularly imposing as I gaze upon those initial 

 issues now after the lapse of more than forty years, 

 but it "took" instantaneously in Iowa and neighbor- 

 ing states, because it satisfied a genuine demand for 

 reading matter of that description. It was the first 

 purely live-stock periodical ever issued in the world, 

 and never was enterprise launched from more dis- 

 interested or more essentially altruistic motives. 



The first purebred bull introduced into Keokuk 

 county agriculture was a Shorthorn bought by my 

 father from W. J. NEELEY, an old-time breeder at 

 Ottawa, 111., for account of T. A. MORGAN. I shall 

 never forget the first impression made by this 

 straight-lined, level-quartered red yearling as I first 

 saw him being led from the unloading chute down 

 the roadway leading out to Mr. MORGAN'S place. 



