The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-01-18
NOBILITY OF SERVICE
ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT CYRUS
b { . Z
NORTHROP AT A BANQUET
GIVEN BY THE HORTICUL-
{ TURAL SOCIETY OF MINNIE
sofa, DEC. 3, 1908.

many assemblies OF different kinds,
and they come to me always with a
certain degree of difficulty In meeting
the requirements of the OCCASION.
think I never pondered over a coming
engagement with more apprehension
that l did last summer when I was
called upon to give an address before
the national convention of under
takers of this city. I had in my good
nature granted their request to make
them an address and consented to ap-
pear on that occasion and speak to the
convention, but I had no idea that
that convention would ever meet in
Minneapolis, or if it did that should
be here at the time; but, unfortunate
ly, I remained in the city all summer
and I went to that convention, and T
had good time, but what suffered in
anticipation can be imagined only by
gentlemen who are called upon to ad-
tunity for adequate preparation.
I am too young man to have had
any remembrance of those reminis-
cences given here tonight. I was in
the state probably about the time that
Brother Harrison was serving as an
advance guard, so to speak, of the ad-
vancing army Of civilization, and my
only regret is that he did not stay in
Minnesota instead of going to Ne
state. If he had stayed here I have
no doubt the cause of horticulture
would have been advanced more than
1t has. 1 remember the first years I
was here, how comparatively weak
the horticultural society was, and how
1 admired the fidelity Of the few men
who were putting their hearts into it;
Wyman Elliot for one, and j. S. Harris,
sWeet-natured, earnest, faithful fell
a hoo
that have followed since my first ex-
perience and as I look around upon
you tonight as representatives of this
work, and as I see what you are &C
complishing in the production of ap-
Piles in this state, I am moved to say
that [ heartily agree with the senti-
ment expressed in the evening paper.
that no body of men in Minnesota, of
the same number of men, is doing as
much for themselves and for the state
Of Minnesota as this body of horticul-
turlsts; and it is to me particularly
delightful the enthusiasm which as in
dividuals you have, as we'll as the
community of interest you feel in the
progress of your work. When a man
ploWs an infinite number of acres,
sOWs an infinite amount of seed and
reaps an infinite harvest, and goes to
the bank ultimately and deposits his
cash, 1t Is entirely commercial and
business operation; but when a man
laboriously studies the laws of life,
hybridizing, developing and creating
new species, and there comes into ex-
istence a new life, SO to speak, some
thing that never was before, why it is
almost like being partner to the
Almighty in creation, and I cannot
help feeling that these horticulturists,
as they produce one thing after an
other that is new, feel for the object
thus produced feeling almost akin
to parental love. ~,
=, Now you are doing the: state of
Minnesota a wonderful amount of
good, and you are doing it in two
or three ways. I stepped into your
meeting yesterday and I heard parts
of two addresses, one by Mr.. Rowly
and the other by Mr.. Harrison. The
one presented very strongly the COM
mercial value of your work in produc-
ing the best of apples, and the other
dealt with very, much effectiveness
upon the creation of beauty. You
are doing great things in both re-
spects; in making it possible for this
state to produce what years ago it
seemed impossible for it to produce.
You are giving a value to this state
in dollars and cents that cannot now
be measured; and the other part of
what you are doing-the garden work,
the interest in flowers, in the creation
of beauty and in creating a taste for
beauty, is to be by no means under
estimated If you men do not feel
it as much as you might, there are
those under your roofs who do feel
it; there are the wives and daugh-
tiers; not perhaps those of the more
Intelligent men Of the state like your
selves, but those whom you are trying
to raise and lift up to stand on the
platform you stand on and have the
interest you feel. There are in all of
these houses women whose souls nat
urally feed upon beauty and. who,
unless they have beauty to feed upon,
will grow dull and commonplace, and
the man VINO loves flowers and the
man who makes it possible for every
one In the state to have flowers, and
the man who multiplies the varieties
that all tastes in the state may be
gratifed, is doing a beneficent and
a noble work; and these old men
who have, grown gray in the service,
and who have put their hearts into
the little plants they were trying to
raise and into the methods of future
development of the raising of fruit,
may well rejoice at the opening of this
century that they have so far cleared
the way that the younger men COM
ing on will be able to complete what
they have intended to do; and if there
is now, any doubt whatever as to the
possibilities of our climate; if any,
one still fears that this climate is too
cold for. the permanent raising of ap-
pies, | would suggest that if our
whistling friend, Mr.. Ellis, could be
put in some of our forests during
the winter the public faith in the
climate of Minnesota would be great
ly strengthened, as all the people
would naturally suppose that entire
focks of birds had taken up their
permanent residence in Minnesota be-
cause the climate was so benign. I
have said In few words what I think
about the work of the Horticultural
society, and now come to my text:
THE Nobility of Service
1 want to say that a selfish life is
never a noble life, and I want to saw
that life of unselfish service is never
anything but, a noble life, and that
the men who are trying to do some
thing, not for themselves, but for the
good of the state and of the people
who shall live here in the years to
come; who, as they create a new
species of fruit, are not thinking Of
the dollar coming into their pocket
as the reward, but are thinking of the
good coming to the state in which
they live and to future generations Of
people, are the men who in a really
altruistic spirit are serving in a, way
that is truly noble. There is no higher
ideal for any man, there can be no
higher ideal, than Jesus Christ. and
he, leaving all the glory that he had.
came into the world, not to be min
istered unto, but to minister and to
give himself for others; and the no.