128 Transactions of the 



I trust you liave had no experience. I have deemed it not inai)pro- 

 priate to direct your attention to some of the topics common in 

 interest to all who labor. I have done so becau.se you of the farm, 

 the slin]t, and of every place where muscle guided by intclli<;ence is 

 found, are tiuit Ijody U[)on whose conduct depends the future of our 

 State. The worker — the country worker — is of calmer mind, of more 

 dispassionate jud.Lrmont; he is nearer the supernal light than are 

 other men. and upon him falls an increased duty. 



We come here in some sen.se as did a.ssemble the Greeks of old, to 

 celebrate the Olympian games. Friendships were formed, emulation 

 excited, the l)oauty, and the strength of the maidens and young men 

 were extolled and exalted. We too arc summoned by a cloud of 

 witnesses, and must press forward towards the prize. I often wonder 

 when, or if we too, 



" Falling by our own weight, 

 Shall bpcome a prey to time." 



Are we like the great image set up in the king's dream, our head 

 of gold, our arms and breast of brass and iron, emblems of knowl- 

 edge, beauty, and strength, while our feet are of pieces of iron and 

 potter's clay that cannot cleave together? And are we crumbling bj' 

 our own weight the discordant elements upon which we stand, to 

 fall prone, never to raise again? Let us rather hope for another 

 ending, that those who dwell here shall speak a common language 

 and have common memories, shall struggle alike to build up institu- 

 tions devoted to all development. That they will fill these moun- 

 tains and these great broad vales of peace between with plenty; that 

 instead of a fallen image with the aid of elemental forces, subjected 

 to their will, tliey may build here a temple devoted to agriculture 

 and arts, which lifting its proud dome to heaven, while you and I 

 have long passed from the realm of human though, shall commem- 

 orate in a noble way the hopes and fears which agitate us, and the 

 efforts we exert in the great work of human progress. 



