FORTY-THIRD ANNUAL CONVENTION 135 



WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 1917, 6:30 P, M. 



A very delightful banquet was held at the Elks' Building in 

 Danville, in honor of the Illinois State Dairymen's Convention. 

 Covers were laid for 200, and this meeting was presided over by 



W. W. Marple, as Toastmaster 



Several selections from the ''Danville Harmony" Quartette 

 were rendered and appreciated. 



Mr. Marple: 



''Ladies and Gentlemen : I am sure that you will all agree 

 with me that this has been a wonderful occasion. I am not un- 

 mindful of the honor conferred on me in asking me to act tonight 

 in the capacity of your toastmaster, and I am free to confess that 

 aside from the privilege of associating with friends that are dear 

 to me, the honor that has been conferred is about all there is to 

 this. I am like the man that was riding on a rail — T believe if it 

 was not for that honor T would rather walk. (Laughter). The 

 fact of the matter is that when I go to figure and calculate upon 

 the honor that has been conferred on me on this occasion and the 

 cost, I am inclined to come to the conclusion the little girl did 

 who was sick and had to be sent to the hospital for an operation, 

 and when she went her mother promised her the life-long desire 

 of the little girl, that she should have a cat, or a kitten, if she 

 would bear up bravely and take the anesthetic without crying. 

 This the little girl did and when coming out from under the in- 

 fluence of the anesthetic her lips were seen to move and the nurse 

 put her ear down to her mouth to catch the words the little girl 

 was saying, and she heard the little girl say, "That's a bum way 

 to get a cat." (Laughter.) 



I feel also on this particular occasion, in view of the fact thnt 

 it is not the first offence on the part of the Secretary of this Asso- 

 ciation that I have had this honor conferred on me, but in fact 

 several times before, I hesitated upon the same ground as the 

 man that was asked to be pallbearer on the occasion of the death 



