430 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



POEM. 



By Me. A. F. Kercheval. 

 [Read at the opening, Tuesday evening, October 20, 1885, by Wm. A. Spalding.] 



From North and from South, from the East and the West, 



We come from all quarters arrayed in our best; 



From mesa and valley we come to the Fair 



With the flavor of hay and its seed in our hair, 



In proud independence, the equals for aye 



Of Europe's gilt sovereigns, the Kings of to-day, 



The pauper's to-morrow to flee from the scath 



Of an age-fettered, downtrodden people's red wrath. 



Lo, here are the fruits of free men and free soil ! 



Rare offerings meet, of free hands and free toil; 



The best that in tropic and temperate zone 



That God in his broadcast abundance has sown ! 



Look round you ! What wonder your wide vision greet-, 



The biggest of everything — babies and beets ! 



Potatoes, tomatoes, and cucumbers green, 



The biggest and longest that ever were seen. 



And pumpkins that Peter, as nursery rhymes tell, 



Might choose for a house for his wife very well! 



And squashes and melons and apples and pears, 



And everything earth on her broad bosom bears. 



To our land from the East send your spies if you please, 

 For the clusters of Eschol we discount with ease! 

 Of grapes we've all sizes, and colors and dyes, 

 From white to the crimson of flushed sunset skies, 

 And groves of the orange, all gleaming with gold, 

 Down burdened with beauty, and glory untold ! 

 Yea, fruits of the finest that ever were seen, 

 And more than knew Adam in Eden, I ween ! 



And stock that old Noah might rise to remark, 

 ' Far finer than any that entered the Ark ! " 

 From long-horns to short-horns, and no-horns at all, 

 We have them in endless variety all. 

 From the "mooley" that moos to the bullock that paws 

 And scoffs at the weakness of man, and his iaws: 

 The Devonshire, Ayrshire, and Alderney sleek, 

 The Holstein and Jersey, with eyes soft and meek, 

 The proud stately Durham, the lord of the grange, 

 And lastly, the "Texas," the boss of the range. 



Of horses, we boast of the fleetest and best 



Of steeds to be found in the east or the west; 



From the trotter that trots, to the Norman that draws 



With horse-power as fixed as old Gravity's laws, 



And racers, might trouble an Arab's repose, 



As witness our Baldwin, and Titus, and Rose, 



And swine that Chicago might covet to gain. 



And pine for their earthly possession in vain. 



And sheep, that old wool-seeking Jason of Greece 



Intent on such treasure, might envy the fleece! 



Of fowls we've all species, and sizes, and shapes, 

 From the turkey that struts, to the mocker that apes; 

 Hens common and lowly, hens pure and high-bred, 

 From Bantam to Brahma with high haughty head — 

 From the birdling that hums to the ostrich that kicks 

 With all the fine vigor of Sullivan's "licks." 



