FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 69 



the tablets of memory, and time nor eternity cannot efface them 

 or make them grow dim. 



In an obscnre section of Minnesota there Hved a lonely 

 widow, struggling to maintain a home and keeping together a 

 family of children, the oldest of which was a boy whose one 

 ambition was an education that might enable him to render 

 some return to her on whose brow was a crown of glory, and 

 whose robe of righteousness was as spotless as the driven snow. 

 The story of her sacrifice and the judicious handling of the 

 product from a few cows in order that her son might obtain the 

 coveted education is a beautiful story, and a monument has been 

 erected in the hearts of Minnesota people, and on the tablets of 

 their memories has been written a story of love that will never 

 be forgotten. 



This young man ascending the Hall of Fame through scien- 

 tific research at an academy of learning, studied hard — he burn- 

 ed the midnight oil and finally graduated with honors. He stood 

 at the Head of his Class and was to deliver the Valedictory. Jt 

 was a great occasion. A representative crowd of Lawyers and 

 Merchants and Bankers and their wives were present to witness 

 the graduating exercises of their sons. Full dress suits, silk 

 dresses and diamonds were in evidence. At the close this mod- 

 est, unassuming, awkward, poorly dressed country boy present- 

 ed himself, and as he stood on that platform he electrified hi's 

 hearers with the most eloquent appeal, and covered himself with 

 glory. In the back part of that amphitheatre was a woman the 

 most interested of all that crowd. She wasn't dressed in silk — 

 the alpaca dress she wore was rusty^it wasn't cut in the latest 

 style. She w^ore a sunbonnet. Her hands were large and cal- 

 loused from honest toil. Her face was wrinkled; but radiant 

 with joy — she wore no diamonds, but there glistened on her 

 careworn cheek, tears of joy. 



When this young man had finished he was handed a beau- 

 tiful wTeath of flowers with which he was expected to crown 

 the young lady of his choice. He never wavered — he walked 

 straight back to the rear where sat the old-fashioned woman 

 upon whose face was the picture of satisfaction and content, and 



