THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN 365 
lor at these meetings, a large one in the beneficiary line, 
as it makes itself forcibly felt in personal social inter¬ 
course, freiiuently creating strong friendships. When 
you return to your desk and have occasion to commun¬ 
icate with others in your line of business, you find it very 
much easier to write to a person that you have met and 
feel acquainted with, than to one that you have never 
met. There is a sort of good fellowship that one gets to 
feel for a member of the same organization which is very 
I believe that the efforts of the Southern Nurserymen’s 
Association are bearing good fruit and that this associa¬ 
tion has reason to look forward with much encourage¬ 
ment. 
You will doubtless all agree that it is a great privilege 
to meet at so pleasant a place as this. Who could ask for 
a more delightful spot at wliich to rest awhile; so con¬ 
veniently near the heart of an enterprising young city, 
rich in historic association and with an exceptionally 
Members of the Southern Nurserymen’s Association, visiting the Chase Nursery Co., Chase, Ala. 
different from the feeling toward an outsider; there is a 
more generous giving of good will, confidence and con¬ 
sideration. 
The benefits derived from active membership are far 
greater than those enjoyed by members who pay their 
dues but cannot make it convenient to attend the meet¬ 
ings. It is well worth the sacrifice of time and money to 
be present, better still, to take part, for the results to the 
association are dependent upon the active interest shown. 
beautiful environment, a spot so far removed from the 
city’s din and dust—a veritable aerie with its clear, 
health-giving atmosphere, and a constant exquisite charm 
of scenic beauty, a most inviting retreat for every lover of 
nature. Our coming together here will assuredly help to 
broaden our vision, whet our ambition for the higher and 
better things of life and leave with us veiy happy mem¬ 
ories. 
WHY ARE WE HERE? 
By E. W. Chattin. Read at the Southern Nurserymen’s Convention. 
T HIS question has been asked by every inmate of 
every jail and penitentiary in the United States. 
It has been asked by every inquiring man who 
has at heart the betterment of mankind. Socrates asked 
this question 2500 years ago and it was repeated by 
Darwin and Huxley when they began to dig into the 
“Origin of Species” and the “Descent of Man. It was 
repeated by such men as Buckle and I roude and Guisot. 
Adam and Eve first asked the question in the Garden of 
Eden, and as a result, man has been earning his living 
ever since by “the sweat ol his brow.” 
Ever since man’s fall we have been looking for some¬ 
thing higher and nobler in God’s creation, and man has 
been striving to reach something higher and nobler in 
life, and we have been taught from man’s fall that we 
should ever try to retrieve that fall. 
Scientists say that this earth was created ages and 
ages ago, and that through the “survival of the fittest,” 
man has reached the development in civilization that we 
enjoy to-day. Writers on the history of civilization say 
that each man is a mere atom in the great plan of the 
universe, and that each of us is put here to do our little 
towards the elevation of mankind, and that, after all, if 
one man accumulates a lot of money and does a lot of 
things for his own selfish end, he has accomplished 
nothing, and that only the things which he does for hu¬ 
manity in general are what count. Philosophers teach us 
this doctrine, and they say that by looking over the his- 
