APPENDIX. xxxvii 



Friday there was a grand cavalcade and trotting, fully employing 

 the time when the rain would permit. 



The dinner and address were given under a new and spacious tent 

 on the grounds, Col. Russell, the president, presiding. Speeches 

 were made by the president and the honorar}' president, the Hon. 

 Marshall P. Wilder, enlivened by the music of the Dedham brass 

 band, and b}' singing by the Canton quartette club. 



The Hon. Albert Fearing, your delegate, was prevented from 

 attending b}' ill-health. B}^ request, the above notes were taken by 

 a gentleman present at the exhibition. 



PLYMOUTH. 



The annual exhibition of the Plymouth County Cattle-Show was 

 held at Bridgewater on the 26th, 27th and 28th of September. 



The first day of the fair was emphatically rainy. On the morning 

 of the second, the windows of heaven were wide opened, and not- 

 withstanding the rain came down in torrents, at nine A. M. I put in 

 an appearance at the gate of the fair-grounds. I verj" unexpectedh' 

 found the entrance guarded by a man apparentl}' anxious to com- 

 mence the business of taking tickets. I showed my passports and 

 was readily admitted to the grounds, and forthwith to the hall. 

 Though the few people who were within were strangers to me, I felt 

 perfectly at home. I had ample room and time to examine in de- 

 tail the ver\ large and excellent display- which filled the room to its 

 utmost capacity. 



The hall is located on an eminence, and its windows command a 

 view of the surrounding grounds, which, on that particular morning, 

 were completely flooded. As I surveyed from the windows the 

 empty cattle-pens, the deserted track and tents, I thought of the 

 anticipated pleasures that had centered on that da}^, and the fond 

 hopes which that unpropitious day had blighted ; that cattle-shows 

 should be held on the next fair day, " if the weather prove stormy," 

 appeared to me the most reasonable thing in nature. I admired 

 the wisdom and foresight displayed in locating that hall on a hill, 

 and had no doubt but that a prophetic eye had seen that very morn- 

 ing. 



At this point my meditations were broken off by a woman who 

 stood gazing at the next window, holding a child, and singing in a 

 subdued tone, — 



" On Jordan's stormy banks I stand." 



