16 



At the close of the Address, the thanks of the Society were cordially voted 

 to the Chancellor, and then the Reports and Awards of the Examining Com- 

 mittees were read to the audience. These were very numerous — nearly four 

 hundred premiums, or diplomas, having been awarded to the different compet- 

 itors. The full list will be ready for publication in a few days. 



With the award of the Premiums the Fair closed, and the crowd soon began 

 to melt away ; the exhibitors gathering together and packing up their specimens, 

 and the spectators dispersing to their several homes. Long ere nightfall the 

 grounds were cleared, and nothing but the Tent, the sheds, and the exterior 

 fence remained to mark the spot where the first State Fair in Wisconsin had 

 been held. The number present during the last day is variously estimated at 

 from seven to ten thousand. Nearly four thousand shilling tickets were sold at 

 the gates, in addition to about four hundred members' tickets. There were, in 

 all, four hundred and sixty-one entries, some of them covering thirty or forty 

 articles ; and this too, though none of the Western Counties had any specimens 

 on the ground, and the Northern Counties but few. Rock County, of course, 

 was there in all her strength, and made a fine show, as well of men and women, 

 as of the products of the Farm and of the Work Shop. Dane County was very 

 numerously and respectably represented — the delegation, two or three hundred 

 strong, coming into Janes\ille, in procession, with a fine band of music at their 

 head, early on the first day. Kexosha, Racine, Walworth, and Milwaukee 

 also had numerous representatives and many handsome specimens at the Fair. 

 Waukesha, Jefferson and Dodge were creditably though not largely repre- 

 sented, 



I was very agreeably impressed with the looks and demeanor of the throng 

 on Thursday. There must have been, in the afternoon, full eight thousand per- 

 sons within the enclosure ; all orderly', well-behaved, and decently dressed people. 

 There was not a single intoxicated man in the crowd ; no riotous or disorderly 

 conduct; no gambling appliances; no liquor booths; no profanity; nothing, in 

 short, to offend the eye, or mar the general enjoyment. Janesville had put 

 on * her best bib and tucker' for the interesting occasion. Her citizens vied with 

 each other in their eftbrts to make their numerous quests comfortable durino- 

 their sojourn in this garden-spot of Wisconsin. ' The latch-string hung outside' 

 of every door.* No one had to ask twice for food, or lodging. 



This fine town has grown apace, during the three years that have elapsed 

 since my last visit here, and shows gratifying and unmistakeable evidences of 

 enterprize, progress and thrift. The beautiful Rock pours a full and steady tide 

 through the heart of the village, furnishing an abundant and very uniform 

 water-power. On either hand spreads out the lovely and fertile expanse of Rock 



