FIFTY^YEAES OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



of having had to study the question from the 

 opposite side, thus enabling one to judge the 

 position from the other man's standpoint. 



Up to this point these reminiscences have been 

 derived from my association, lasting from 1867 

 to 1882, with the Oxfordshire Agricultural Society. 

 The last-named year saw an enlargement of the 

 area of my work and a change of environment. 

 In the autumn of. 1882 was announced the pending 

 retirement of the secretary of the Bath and West 

 and Southern Counties Society, and I joined the 

 ranks of the many aspirants to one of the most 

 coveted positions in the agricultural hemisphere. 

 Of the 1072 candidates who applied in the first 

 instance, 342 stayed over the whole course. After 

 a very careful consideration of the qualifications 

 of all these, the committee of selection, of which 

 the late Sir John Duckworth was chairman, by 

 a gradual process of elimination, brought the 

 number down to the lowest possible denominator, 

 submitting one name only to the Governing 

 body, with whom the final choice rested. The 

 Society's Council unanimously endorsed the Com- 

 mittee's recommendation, and thus I became the 

 secretary of one of the oldest and most important 

 of agricultural organizations. Stranger as I was 

 to the West, I owed my success mainly to the 

 generous testimony borne on my behalf by those 

 whom I had previously served, from the Lord- 

 Lieutenant of my native county downwards. I 

 may add after fifty years' close intimacy with 

 those of whom I speak that no section of the 

 community are more staunch in their friendships, 

 more faithful in their attachments, or more loyal 



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