52 ILLINOIS DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



distinction on account of race or previous condition of servitude to silver; 

 and mind is the standard of the man, and character the measure of his ap- 

 preciation. All such associations operate as a mental stimulant, bring men 

 together on terms of equality and good fellowship, enlarge their sympathies 

 and induce them to forget for a time that their neighbor is rich and they are 

 not, or vice versa, neither of which is worth remembering as a dividing line. 

 In this, the youngest among the nations, born on a wild, unbroken conti- 

 nent, its character formed largely by the intensely practical problems ac- 

 companying its growth, it is to be expected that the value of everything will 

 be estimated by its power to further or promote material interests. Hence, 

 perhaps, come the oft-repeated inquiries, " What's the good of it ? " " Will it 

 help me in my business ? " "Is there any money in it ? " 



But as the vital issues and intricate problems interwoven with its early 

 life become settled, the young nation, with a big " N " may be expected to 

 reach out after a greater maturity of thought, and to recognize more fully 

 the value of the inner man, which lives not by bread alone. The fellowship 

 and social influences, the enlargement of the scope of our sympathies, and 

 in a broad sense the cultivation of the sentiment of unity and the spirit of 

 brotherhood, arising from these conventions, must not be ignored, because 

 these results cannot be weighed or measured by any utilitarian standard, 

 nor by their influence on the balance of the bank account. It is probable 

 that many men have decided that they could not attend these conventions 

 without neglecting business interests ; but it is reasonably certain that no 

 one ever regretted that, after counting the cost, he shook off the harness of 

 business which, if constantly worn, cramps the growth of the man, and in- 

 dulged for a time the other half of his nature. He is more likely to rejoice 

 in the gratification of his social instincts, which expand on being released 

 from pressure, and while so doing becomes convinced that his internal gain 

 more than balanced his external loss. 



The securing of a competency is a laudable ambition; but success in that 

 direction frequently costs more than it is worth. Nature exacts the full 

 penalty for the infraction of her laws, and when her most perfect work, the 

 complex being man, in gaining wealth, represses his social instincts, narrows 

 his sympathies and lives only for money-producing enterprises, his success 

 is a disaster. In connection with some reflection on the subordination of 

 the nobler powers to ignoble ends, the frequent sacrifice of the higher aims 

 to secure superficial success, a profound American thinker asks the follow- 

 ing portentious question: " Must a man be a failure in order to be a suc- 

 cess ? " 



This pithy paradox might well form the text of a practical sermon on the 

 conduct of life. But it is submitted in this connection only as a suggestion 

 that, in the absorbing pursuit of material interests, there is danger of a 

 dwarfed development which places the man out of balance and makes suc- 

 cess a failure. Many a man is a phenomenal success, as an acquisitive being, 

 and a stupendous failure as a man. Any instrumentality, therefore, which 

 brings men together in large or small bodies, for the protection or promotion 

 of proper objects, takes them out of the little circles of selfish action, culti- 

 vates the spirit of brotherhood and enlarges the entire man. A quaint old 

 writer, reviewing the lessons of his life, sums up his reflections on the line 



