Neither my active partner nor myself was an orator, but we had coached
the silent member of the firm to act in our behalf. The Senator was a
flowery talker, and in prefacing his remarks he delved into antiquity,
mentioning the Aryan myth wherein the drifting clouds were supposed
to be the cows of the gods, driven to and from their feeding grounds.
Coming down to a later period, he referred to cattle being figured on
Egyptian monuments raised two thousand years before the Christian era,
and to the important part they were made to play in Greek and Roman
mythology. Referring to ancient biblical times, he dwelt upon the
pastoral existence of the old patriarchs, as they peacefully led their
herds from sheltered nook to pastures green. Passing down and through
the cycles of change from ancient to modern times, he touched upon the
relation of cattle to the food supply of the world, and finally the
object of the meeting was reached. In few and concise words, an
outline of the proposed company was set forth, its objects and
limitations. A pound of beef, it was asserted, was as staple as a loaf
of bread, the production of the one was as simple as the making of the
other, and both were looked upon equally as the staff of life. Other
remarks of a general nature followed. The capital was limited to one
million dollars, though double the capitalization could have been
readily placed at the first meeting.
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