THE BARRE MEETING. 13 



members from Worcester West were false prophets, and I 

 might say the same of every man on the line of the Ware 

 River Railroad. 



Yonr advent among us, has not been heralded by the steam- 

 whistle, or the rolling engine. You came here by means of 

 that domesticated power which we rejoice to see again in 

 our streets, hailed as a sick friend from his couch. Who shall 

 again say the world moves by steam ? Did you ever prize 

 the horse so much as you do to-day ? Then I beg you will for- 

 give my friend and myself for having encouraged you to be- 

 lieve that you would have a railroad ride to our very doors, 

 and be thankful that you have had another opportunity of seeing 

 our great dependence upon that power which, when he takes 

 himself to his sick stall, blocks all the channels of trade and 

 commerce, and imperils cities filled with palatial Avarehouses 

 and all the elements of life in their hisrhest state. 



The people of Barre have had a due appreciation of the 

 debt which she, as well as all the agriculturists of the State, 

 owe to those who were the first projectors of the Board of 

 Agriculture, and to all those earnest men who have been its 

 faithful and efficient members, who have labored constantly 

 to promote and improve the agricultural industry of the State. 

 Composed as it is mostly of delegates from each of the socie- 

 ties, it has brouo-ht tosrether the various methods of husban- 

 dry in all it*different localities, for the discussion of its mem- 

 bers, twice each year. These discussions, and the valuable 

 reports upon all the important branches of forming, have 

 reached us through your printed Transactions from year to 

 year ; they have cheered our hearts with an aspiration for a 

 higher and more remunerative system, and have guided our 

 hands in shaping for ourselves better ways and means for 

 accomplishing our purposes ; but it was reserved for us, till 

 the present time, to meet you face to foce and receive that 

 mental stimulus and attrition of mind upon mind without 

 which but little general advancement has ever been made in 

 any of the great pursuits of life in which a people, as a whole, 

 are carried to a higher level, and advance onward in rapid 

 strides. 



While some of the sciences and arts seem to have climbed to 

 the, topmost round of eminence, and from their outlook can 



