SOLON ROBINSON, 1845 511 



some of the others — close shaving — she has rubbed hard 

 several times, but does not stick. The river is falling. 

 I hope to see you soon, and then I have more to say. 

 Till then I remain your old friend 



Solon Robinson. 



New York State Agricultural Show at Uttca 



[Daily Cincinnati Gazette, Sep. 27, 1845] 



Utica, N. Y., Sept. 17, 1845. 

 Editors of the Cincinnati Gazette: 



I have not written as I promised. My excuse is a good 

 one — I have been very sick — cholera morbus — nearly six 

 weeks of a short and fleeting life lost to labor, but not 

 to thought. A sick bed is a favorable place to think ; but 

 far from pleasant to think we are perhaps on a death 

 bed, far from home, alone and uncared for, among 

 strangers. Reader! let me conjure you, as you love life 

 and the Great Author of it, let no opportunity pass away 

 into the ocean of time lost, neglecting to be a "good 

 Samaritan" "to the (sick) stranger within thy gates." 

 But this is not what I write for. 'Tis a homily instead 

 of a note from the New York State Agricultural Show at 

 Utica. 1 



This is the morning of the second day — yesterday was 

 principally devoted to getting ready. — Many of the great 

 "stock trains" arrived Monday, and since then there has 

 been a continued influx, not only of horned but "human 

 cattle," until the opportunity for accommodations is not 

 much better for one than for the other. Even when I 

 arrived on Monday evening at "Bagg's Hotel," the great 

 mastadon of Utica taverns, every room was engaged and 

 I thought myself exceedingly fortunate to get, not a 

 "single room," but a single bed in a room with only six 

 companions. Where the thousands have been stowed 

 away that have arrived since, passeth my understanding. 



'The Cultivator, n. s. 2:313-15 (October, 1845) contains a full 

 account of the fair. 



