496 



riculLure, and of the mechanical arts; here all strifes converge into the 

 one laudable strife for excellence in that which is honorable, in that 

 which is useful, in that which is beautiful, in that which promotes the 

 general good at the same time that it honors and enriches the individ- 

 ual possessor. Here comes the farmer bringing with him the richest 

 products of the soil ; here, too, is his wife, with the choicest from her 

 stores, and with the brightest and gayest of her flowers ; here comes 

 the maiden with her pencillings and drawings, and her fancy needle 

 work, whilst the young man is here, also, with the prancing steeds and 

 the beautiful flocks ; here, too, comes the worker in brass and in iron, 

 the cunning artificer, and such also as play on the stringed instruments, 

 all may meet in this one annual festival ; all may thus form or renew 

 old acquaintances and friendships. Thus the social natures of all may 

 be materially benefitted, whilst the bond of unity is greatly strengthened. 

 The heart will accordingly beat more strongly ; the extremities will feel 

 the pulsations more sensibly. 



Again : An Agricultural Society was demanded, as a means of ad- 

 vancing the agricultural and mechanical interests of the county. It 

 scarcely need be repeated the 999th time, that the present is emphati- 

 cally an age of improvement; of improvement in the arts and scien- 

 ces ; of improvement in the means of cultivating the soil, and in the 

 rearing of stock. But improvements in these several departments are 

 no more to be looked for without appropriate instrumentalities, than 

 light and heat without the shining of the sun. Now the tendency of 

 an agricultural society, with a well managed Annual Fair, as all expe- 

 rience in other counties and other States abundantly testifies, is to beget 

 a spirit of laudable emulation between the several townships of the 

 county, as well as between individuals of the same. Even in this 

 money loving age, the mind needs exciting and waking up to action by 

 something foreign to itself. Emphatically is this true in a county so 

 inland and so isolated from the great centres and thoroughfares of busi- 

 ness, as is ours. So long have very many of our citizens been secluded 

 from the stirring, sterling activities of the busy world, that in many re- 

 spects there seems to have been a kind of retrograde movement : a 

 carelessness in the oversight of the farm, and the care of the stock ; a 

 laying aside, or neglect of those mechanical aids which in many places 



