TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING. 167 



per men in consequence of the circulation of their pubHca- 

 tions. We all know "The Rural New Yorker," and I take 

 great pleasure in introducing to you its editor, whom you 

 all know and love, ]\Ir. Collingwood of "The Rural New 

 Yorker." 



I\Ir. H. W. Collingwood : Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies 

 and Gentlemen : I have been coming over here for nine- 

 teen years, I think. I think the Society is twenty-one years 

 old, and I have been coming here for nineteen years, skip- 

 ping one or two years here and there. I have seen you grow 

 from a handful to a houseful. I have seen your young men 

 grow up to be grandfathers. So I think I may be classed 

 as an old friend of your Society, and you will probably take 

 things from me that you would not take from a new friend. 

 I hope so, at least, because you will have to. (Applause.) 



When a man starts in to preach, as a rule, he does two 

 things. He brings out the old ideal from the closet, shakes 

 the dust out of his coat, and holds it up to view. He also 

 talks about the truth. Those are the two standards for the 

 man who wants to preach. Hence, what about this ideal? 

 I do not know whether there is a clergyman here or not, but 

 let us suppose there was a preacher here. He has his ideals. 

 He will stand up in his pulpit and tell you exactly how you 

 should live. Follow that man home. Let him find his wife 

 with a headache the children all crying, and no fire in the 

 stove. I want to see how the preacher under those circum- 

 stances will practice what he preaches. That is the test. Is 

 there a doctor here? If there is I want to see him. I want 

 to see the physician stand up and say that he will take the 

 dose of medicine that he mixes for somebody else. Is there 

 a dentist here? If so, I want to know if he will take his for- 

 ceps and pull one of his own teeth just as gladly as he would 

 take hold of one of mine. We have all got our ideals, and 

 I think the state of Connecticut has worked up to that pretty 

 well, because the Baldwin apple is a prime article here, and 

 you have even gone so far as to put a Baldwin into the Gov- 

 ernor's chair. (Laughter.) The fact is, my friends, if one 



