No. 4.] RESPONSE BY WALTON HALL. 31 



usurped our agricultural products. Go with me less than five 

 miles from here and I will show you a so-called abandoned 

 farm. It has not been cultivated for twenty-five years. 1 

 believe it can be made productive if properly conducted. 



We are proud of our industries, and of those I speak. 

 Others may tell you of our agricultural interests. We are 

 proud of our schools, we are proud of our State institutions. 

 Years and years ago, generations ago, those farmers, those 

 strong, vigorous, whole-souled men, builded better than 

 they knew when they laid the foundations of our institu- 

 tions. They saw there should be of the town's income a 

 large amount given to educational institutions. As the town 

 expanded, our educational institutions expanded. We have 

 nothing to which we point with more pride than to these 

 educational institutions. We are proud of our industries ; 

 we are proud of our farmers ; we are proud that they remain 

 to till the soil, that they have not left the farms. 



And so we welcome you, and believe there is a work for 

 you to perform in this community to-day, to aid in the 

 interests of our agricultural products. I understand from 

 one of the speakers that you met here twenty-five years ago. 

 Westfield to-day is very different from what it was then. 

 Twenty-five years ago the fields that were cultivated are 

 to-day covered with factories employing five hundred to six 

 hundred hands. But to-day we have farms to be cultivated 

 and improved ; and I welcome you, and I trust this meeting- 

 will be productive of good. 



Again, in behalf of the Board of Trade, in behalf of our 

 industries, I welcome 3^ou. The latch-string of each factory, 

 each store and school and each farm hangs out for your pull- 

 ing, and we invite you to enjoy them. 



The Chair. The response will be by Mr. Walton Hall, 

 member of the Board from the Marshfield Agricultural and 

 Horticultural Society. 



Mr. Hall. It is one of the pleasant things in a farmer's 

 life to know that, go where he will, he will find a warm spot 

 for him in the hearts of the people ; and the warmth of your 

 welcome, Mr. President, and the warmth of the welcome of 

 the good people of your thriving town were not unexpected 

 by the members of the Board of Agriculture. 



