26 
FLORIDA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
training for a practical man living a prac¬ 
tical life in a practical age. I do not 
mean to depreciate true culture, but what 
we need first in this and every other State, 
is an education which gets right down to 
the practical phases of everyday life; and 
the gentlemen of this distinguished So¬ 
ciety can be of the utmost service in car¬ 
rying forward that idea. - We need more 
practical education introduced into our 
common schools, into our high schools; 
and this University, your University, 
gentlemen, needs and should receive the 
co-operation and liberal support of the 
State, in its campaign for the practical 
education of the masses of the people, 
and in its earnest efforts to serve all the 
people of our common State according 
to their needs. 
RESPONSE. 
Dr. W. C. Richardson, Tampa. 
Mr. President , Ladies and Gentlemen: 
I certainly esteem it a privilege and 
an honor to address an audience in this 
great educational centre of the state. I 
am afraid, however, that what may be a 
source of pride to me may be an inflic¬ 
tion to you before we get through with 
it. If it is in the nature of an infliction, 
no one will be to blame but your Presi¬ 
dent. When I got his notification that 
I was expected to respond to these ad¬ 
dresses, I was on the eve of going to my 
groves. I returned home last Friday 
morning, but with my usual habit of pro¬ 
crastination, had put off writing my ad¬ 
dress. When I got home Friday morn¬ 
ing, the good Lord had seen fit to send 
a little grandchild to my daughter’s home 
and that upset me, naturally. So, in the 
whirl of events, I did not have any time 
to prepare my address. Then I thought 
the best thing to do was to look over the 
records of the proceedings of the last few 
years and see what had been said and 
patch up something extemporaneous from 
that. Well, when I tell you what I 
found, you will know what I was up 
against there. We had, at the last meet¬ 
ing, an address from our respected friend, 
Dr. Kerr. The meeting before that we 
had an address from our beloved friend, 
Mr. Taber, and the meeting before that 
we had an address from our revered and 
lamented Mr. McCarty. No one can 
compete in eloquence, style, fluency and 
interest with the addresses of these men. 
But I am here; it is up to me, and 
I am somewhat in the position of the hero 
in one of Bret Hart’s little poems. He 
was a preacher and a miner, and the bur¬ 
den of the refrain was “He always did 
his level best,” and that is what I am here 
to do. 
I want to say that I am particularly 
proud to come here to that which is es¬ 
sentially ours; to our University and our 
faculty. I am particularly delighted to 
have heard the head of that University 
speak as he has done. I have thought for 
years, in my conceit, that I was one 
of a few men who thought and talked 
that the only kind of an education that 
