NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 207 



am eight-hour labor laws in the fruit business or in the 

 vegetable business. When 1 first thought of going into the 

 fruit business, I went and consulted a man who had been 

 secretary of the State Board of Agriculture of Michigan for 

 a number of years. I thought that his advice would be 

 worth considerable to me. I said to him, "Mr. Monroe, 

 what do you think of a man making a success in the fruit 

 business?" "Why," he said, "if a man begins at the roots 

 of a peach tree, and examines that tree, every inch of it, 

 every particle, and everything about that tree, to see what 

 is the matter with it, if anything, there is not much fear 

 about his making a success in the fruit business, but unless 

 a man is willing to do that, he better stay out of the busi- 

 ness." Like a darkey I heard of who wanted to study medi- 

 cine, but he thought his best course was to go and be a 

 driver for a white doctor, and in that way pick up a good 

 deal about medicine. After he had been with the doctor 

 quite a time and gained his confidence, he drove into the 

 country with him where he had a very sick patient. He 

 thought he would observe the diagnosis of the case. It so 

 happened that the patient was worse that afternoon. Of 

 course, the doctor had to have some apology, and he at once 

 flew into a rage at the nurse and the people because they 

 had let his patient have some raw oysters with vinegar on 

 them. That darkey did not know how to make that out. 

 The doctor saw there was something weighing on his mind 

 when they started away, and so he said to him, "What are 

 you thinking about?" The darkey said, "I want you to tell 

 me how you knew that those people had been feeding that 

 patient oysters with vinegar on?" "Why, Jim," he says, "you 

 want to be observing and careful." "Well, what did you 

 see?" "Why, Jim, didn't you see that plate with the knife 

 and fork on it under the bed? Well, you want to notice 

 things." The next morning the doctor wanted to know how 

 the patient was, and so the colored man drove out to the 

 house, and asked how the patient was. They said the patient 



