MARSHALL, MINN. 
about how I got here and why. For the 
past fifteen years I have mailed out seed 
catalogs. Every year the number has in¬ 
creased until last year the number reach¬ 
es six thousand five hundred. Every year 
I have written something about my life and 
as it doesn’t change much from year to 
year, I shall have to repeat some. I hope 
you don’t remember what I wrote last year. 
I was bom in Marshall, Wisconsin, and 
moved to Marshall, Minnesota, when I was 
nineteen years old. I lived on my folk’s 
farm and batched for eight years. I really 
am a good cook but don’t let my wife hear 
this or I’ll have two jobs instead of one. 
Like all good men, I weakened and got 
myself a wife. And let me repeat that I 
have heard that she said I was the best 
man that she ever had. That’s something. 
We remained on the farm for seven years. 
I thought that I could better myself by 
moving to town and also better the farm¬ 
ers’ crops by selling them good seed. I 
began my business career by selling seed 
com. And let me here state that I am a 
very pious man for I chose the old Catholic 
church for my place of business. I also 
bought the Evangelical church parsonage 
to live in. 
I remained in the church for two years 
when I purchased the building I now oc¬ 
cupy. I soon began dealing in other farm 
seeds and every year since I have added 
something different. 
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