ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 33 



RESPONSE TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



MR. LOVEJOY JOHNSON, STILLMAN VALLEY. 



In behalf of the Illinois Dairymen's Association, permit 

 me to thank vou for the kind words so eloquently spoken. 



Tt is a pleasure to feel that our second visit is even more 

 welcome than the first. We accept your flattering words of 

 praise in the spirit in which they were given. 



There was genuine rejoicing among the officers and mem- 

 bers when it was known that our next meeting was to be at 

 T'our city. The old members have pleasant reminiscences of 

 our first meeting here many years ago when this society first 

 donned the garb of a genuine corporate body. 



Our younger members have heard of the large-hearted- 

 ness and intelligence of De Kalb people. Who has not heard 

 of De Kalb's Mayor — as a wire-puller? How, when he wants 

 an institution for this town he gets it. 



Your dairymen are well known. If our President will 

 allow us the privilege of getting close enough even to rub 

 against and absorb some of his knowledge, of matters per- 

 taining to the greatest industry in our land, we shall feel 

 abundanth^ paid for coming here. We accept your invitation, 

 and, with genuine "cowboy" spirit, proceed to make ourselves 

 at home. 



Should you discover any streaks of red paint about town, 

 after we have gone, please erase them, promptly and quietly. 



Many of us come from parts of the country less favored 

 than De Kalb. Some of us never saw a Normal school. We 

 know much more about a milking stool than a Professor's 

 chair. Our acquaintance with barbed wire factories is limited. 

 We know a barbed wire cut on a horse when we see it. Our 

 every day clothes, left at home, might reveal a state of poverty 

 and shiftlessness — a case of much fence and few gates. 



Your manufactured goods are indeed well and favorably 

 known through our State. I speak of these things that you 

 may be prepared for any eccentricities you may discover in us. 



While we come professedly as instructors, we do not hope 

 to be above criticism — we expect to receive as well as give. 

 Should the horizon of our knowledge be limited by county or 

 town lines, we expect an enlargement by coming here. Should 



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