ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 7 



to a land of wealth as the term is coinmonh' used, but certainly to a 

 land of plent}'. You have but to look around to be convinced of 

 this. I do not say this as a boast, but rather in a spirit of gratitude. 

 The earth has been good to us, and has given ns bountifully of her 

 fruits in reward for our faithful toil. Though the spring time seemed 

 cold and backward, and some whose faith was weak began to be 

 filled with gloomy forebodings, yet in the hope of a coming harvest 

 we buried the seed in the soil and the slender promise of tlie spring 

 was renewed and increased bj' the genial warmth of the advancing 

 summer and has been far more than realized in a most glorious 

 harvest. Our mows are piled high and broad with the most ample 

 crop of ha}' ever stored in this region. Our broad fields of potatoes 

 whose exuberance of foliage the beetle, that pest of other sections, 

 has vainly tried to devour, and has about given up the task in 

 despair, contain hidden beneath their surface mines of honest wealth 

 for the producer and stores of healthful food for the toilers with hand 

 and brain in other localities. The drouth of the latter summer which 

 so parched and dried other sections of the State has not visited ns 

 here, but our meadows are clothed in the thick verdure of Jime and 

 our flocks and herds are literall}' living in clover. Ride where you 

 may through all this region, and upon every hillside and in every 

 valley, skirting the highways and stretching far away over the land- 

 scape, broad acres of rich j'ellow wheat will meet j-our e^'e, in some 

 places already- cut and stood in large and close-adjoining shocks 

 waiting the song of the " harvest home," while in others the smooth 

 rich glistening stalks stand thick and strong, ripe already for the 

 harvest, and their heavy golden heads bow gracefully before the 

 passing breeze, and kissing each other tenderly in the mellow sun- 

 light speak of peace, plenty and prosperity. No plague or pesti- 

 lence has visited ns, no blight or frost has troubled us. No howling 

 tempest with destructive breath has swept over us to devastate our 

 fields. The early and the latter rain have generously descended 

 upon our crops and meadows. Nature has certainly been unsparing 

 in her gifts to us and as we look around upon the land in which our 

 lot is cast we can truly sav " it is ver^' good." Have I overdrawn 

 the picture? Well let those who are disposed find the dark side if 

 they will, but to me it seems the pai't of wisdom, and of true phil- 

 osopln- to look ever upon the bright side, and not strive continually 

 to discover tlie dark and gloomy places which will appear to those 

 who seek for them in anv condition of life however favorable. 



