218 HAMPSHIRE, FRANKLIN, AND 



It is our good fortune to live in a part of the State where 

 nature has been so bountiful of her gifts, that much time is left 

 to our sons and daughters for mental cultivation, and leisure is 

 still afforded for the attainment of those accomplishments, which, 

 like the ornaments of the Corinthian column, add grace to the 

 structure, without impairing the solidity of the edifice. 



Delightful is the contemplation of a family group, where all 

 the members are engaged — after the imperative duties of the 

 day are fulfilled — in the different pursuits that are congenial to 

 their respective tastes ; and happy — thrice happy those who 

 have attained the conviction, that the quiet joys of home 

 infinitely transcend those artificial ones, which the thoughtless 

 seek abroad, and not unfrequently, under circumstances prejudi- 

 cial or fatal to a reputation, of which they know not the value, 

 until it is too late to retrieve it. 



It is doubtless, in a great measure, to evenings and other 

 portions of leisure, acquired and spent in the way first men- 

 tioned, that we are indebted for the production of the many 

 elegant specimens of art, we have had the privilege of behold- 

 ing. As the different articles, which it was the province of the 

 committee to inspect, passed under their review, it was pleas- 

 ing — nay, it was matter of exultation, to perceive, that while 

 there was a handsome display of those of purely domestic, or 

 household manufacture, there was an accession of others that 

 spoke highly of the inventive genius of our fellow citizens, 

 and proved most satisfactorily, that they are not behind their 

 cotemporaries in scientific or artistic advancement. 



The individual who has had the honor to be deputed by the 

 committee, to present the report, having been born and brought 

 up, or, as the western phrase is, raised, in the old country, has 

 had opportunities of comparing the domestic economy of the 

 agricultural districts there and here ; and although it will nat- 

 urally be supposed, that whatever bias he may have, is in favor 

 of his father-land, yet the paramount obligation he owes to 

 truth, compels him to admit, that he never witnessed in Eng- 

 land, such varied exhibitions of domestic thrift, nor such palpa- 

 ble manifestations, that the hours of well-earned relaxation 

 from the severer calls of duty, were happily and beneficially em- 



