State Agricultural Society. 205 



are about as real existences as was Barnum's mermaid, or Mrs. Tom 

 Thumb's baby. 



If we talk horse we may make England, and not America, our theme. 

 While the truth is, that in our country good horses, like good education, 

 are common among the people, and not, as in Europe, confined to princes 

 and nobles. Here, every man. old and young, with his thousand a year, 

 must have his fast nag. And yet where is the man that really knows 

 how to manage a horse properly after he is broken and bitted? 



And yet genuine, refined horsemanship needs cultivating in our midst, 

 until our youth, both male and female, can 



" Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury, 

 And vault with such case into the saddle 

 As if an angel dropp'd down from the clouds 

 To turn and wind a liery Pegasus, 

 And witch the world with noble horsemanship." 



Instead of this it seems the hight of our ambition to so train our horse 

 as to reach the greatest speed and bottom, without reference to such 

 manner as will secure ease to his reinsman or backer and economy of 

 power to himself. How seldom do we meet a buyer who looks for edu- 

 cation in his purchase — a mouth that feels and yields to a feathers 

 weight on the rein, and the right toot foremost in the lope — an elevated 

 crest, and a chin to his chest. And how few would find it if they did 

 seek it, and fewer still would know it when they found it. 



A pure blooded, well educated horse, in the hands of an accomplished 

 horseman, whether in the harness or the saddle, or the plow or the 

 wagon, on the road or on the track (aside from "the human form 

 divine ") is the finest, grandest, noblest creation of the earth. 



To raise and train and prove a horse of purest blood and vast 

 endurance is one of the noblest occupations of man. To hold the reins 

 and see him go, and mark his time, is one of the most exhilarating 

 recreations. 



I tender to you a hearty welcome to our Fair, and congratulate you — 

 yea, I congratulate the whole people — on the auspicious opening of this 

 Fair. May every day of its continuance be full of joy to all, and its 

 close a season of mutual regrets that we could not bathe in its waters, 

 and bask in its sunlight, and recline in its bowers forever. 



