BLACK OAK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 29 



promised his freedom upon its completion ; the 

 promise was kept. It was a gratifying sight in 

 after time to see the old man livincr in close con- 

 tiguity to the scenes of his labor and anxieties, 

 enjoying the privileges he had won. And what 

 has bound Mr. Foxworth through the long period 

 of forty years to " Mexico," but the '' bank " ? Noth- 

 ing else. For forty years he has been building a 

 great work, and repairing and improving it ; he has 

 thought of it by day, and dreamed of it by night, 

 with the anxious solicitude that a mother feels for 

 her infant. At times he almost fainted and desisted 

 from despondency ; then again he worked with zeal 

 and enthusiasm inspired by hope. All the time he 

 labored in more or less doubt, whether the result 

 would be a blank or a prize ; and much of this time 

 he had to endure the ridicule of doubters. When- 

 ever drawbacks or disasters occurred, and he had 

 to plunge into mud and water to repair damages 

 that seemed to yawn a warning mockery of his 

 power, instead of condolence and well-wishes of 

 his neighbors and friends, he received from the 

 enemies of the great work the taunting exclama- 

 tions : "I told you so." At length the ''bank" 

 was completed, then perfected, and '' Mexico " be- 

 came the land of promises realized. The swamp 

 yielded in abundance its corn, oats, etc., and echoed 

 with the exultant bellowing of fat cattle, and the 

 once exhausted fields of high land, now devoted 



