34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



games of the same sort. Visitors do not expect them there. I 

 once knew a bo}' who spent his whole three days looking at a wind- 

 mill, and in two years after, this same boy exhibited a windmill at 

 a certain fair in the "West, constructed with his own hands, far 

 superior to the one that engaged his attention two years before. 

 And to-da}' he is doing a thriving business, and is setting up his 

 windmill in many a farmer's dooryard in the State of Wisconsin. 

 Now, who ever knew a boy who gained a livelihood bj- shooting at 

 a target, and paying five cents for each shot, and only hitting it 

 once in one hundred times, and receiving as compensation a cigar 

 worth nothing. To be sure we need a variety of attractions, but 

 we do not need the kind mentioned. We want a clean fair — clean 

 from vices, clean from games that rob and deceive the public. Far 

 better have no fair at all, than a gambling establishment sanctified 

 b}' agriculture. The managers should bar them all out. 



In order to meet with the demands of the enlightened public, our 

 fairs should become schools of inquiry and information to the young 

 and the old The gathering together the best of the land in every 

 kind of produce gives a confidence and an inspiration to thousands 

 of farmers. It stimulates them to be able to do another year's work 

 and to try and do it better. The sons gain an idea of ways and 

 means outside of home, and at the same time retain a pride for home 

 accomplishments. Wives and daughters who compete with each 

 other in domestic arts go home happy and ambitious in the fact 

 that so much ccm be done to beautify and make homelike the house 

 they live in. This costs efl!^ort beyond what is received in immediate 

 cash. But few receive enough to make them whole in premiums 

 for the time and trouble in attending the fair, and if the money they 

 receive was the only object in view, there would be less fairs. The 

 public is enlightened to the lact that a good clean, orderly fair, well 

 managed, tends to build up the countr}', stimulates thrift, increases 

 comfort, and enlightens the community in what the world is doing. 

 It makes men of mark and women of influence in their ever}' day's 

 work of life. It encourages the boys and girls, and gives them the 

 idea of the competition of life. It pa^s, as almost no other expen- 

 diture can, in the uplifting of the people who share in it, and are 

 properl}' interested in it. 



Now, my friends, I simply wish to say that the managers may be 

 honest ; they may try ever so hard ' the}' may work with a will and 

 a determination to succeed ; they may make ever}' effort in order to 



