FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 39 



Pcnns\lvaiiia that thereafter, upon all occasions, he talked 

 about the Johnstown tlood. In season and out of season he 

 talked about his experiences at the Johnstown flood, but 

 alwa\s. under all circumstances, he noticed one man who did 

 not seem to be interested, and who turned away with a shrug 

 of his shoulders and seemed to be bored. Perhaps he was 

 rather a heavy set, square built fellow, about such a man 

 as our friend Hale. (Laughter.) Somewhat disturbed at the 

 discourtesy, our friend from Pennsylvania went to St. Peter 

 and asked him why this old man turned away when he was 

 talking about the Johnstown flood, and he asked St. Peter 

 who he was. "Why," he said, "that is Noah. He has been 

 in a flood himself, and he thinks he knows something about 

 floods as well as you do." (Laughter.) So that I imagine 

 that perhaps Hale, and may be some of the rest of you, feel 

 the same as our Pennsylvania friend did after that, when he 

 undertook to talk about floods in the presence of Noah. You 

 can understand my embarrassment, therefore, when I under- 

 take to talk about fruits in the presence of J. H. Hale. 



Now, it may also be true that before I tell you about the 

 fruits that grow in Virginia you would like to know something 

 about the country in which that fruit is grown. I think it 

 is more than likely that some of you visited the Shenandoah 

 valley along in the sixties, and, although we gave you a very 

 warm reception at that time, my impression is that you over- 

 stayed your invitation and came very near wearing out your 

 welcome. Before your visit to us in Virginia "F. F. \ ." 

 meant "First Families of Virginia." At that time, like Hale's 

 peaches, they were all firsts, and no seconds. As the direct 

 result of your visit, and for some time after, you left us, 

 F. F. V. meant "Fight for Victuals." Nozv, F. F. V. means, 

 of course, the "Finest Fruits of A'^irginia," which in turn 

 means finest of the country, barring none. 



We have, however, not forgotten that visit of yours in the 

 sixties, and if you left us at that time with the balance a little 

 in your favor, we propose to get even with you some day, anvi 

 we believe that day is not far ofif. And this is the way we 

 propose to do it : We propose to ask you to close up your 

 cotton factories, to surrender your mill sites and move down 



