AfiRICULTURAL FAIR. 201 



farmers, all of whom do now, or have taken a hand at the same work, and well 

 know, therefore, how to tell " the true from the sham," — all this is completed, 

 and premiums awarded, in one day. Strict compliance with well-considered 

 rules is invariably enforced. Wo plausibility of excuse is allowed to avail — no 

 degree of excellence in the animal, or article — no consideration of rank or influ- 

 ence of the owner, delinquent in a compliance with the printed rules of the So- 

 ciety, is permitted to justify a departure from them in administering the aifairs 

 of this most respectable and valuable institution ; of which it is not only a mat- 

 ter of sheer justice, but even of duty, on the part of this Journal, to note that 

 Gov. Lincoln Avas oriq-inally the most active of its founders, and is now the ofli- 

 cial head and animating spirit. How encouraging should it be to all young 

 farmers of the Commonwealth and of the country, to see this veteran in the 

 cause of agricultural improvement still entering into all the proceedings of the 

 occasion, not as in the reluctant performance of an official duty, which, with its 

 novelty, has lost its interest, but with all the cheerfulness and buoyancy of the 

 most youthful member — evincing at the same time, by all his remarks and com- 

 mentaries, explanatory of the Society's rules, and of every report and proceeding 

 under them, that his heart enters cordially into the spirit and purposes of the 

 Society, with a perfect familiarity with its regulations, and the reasons on which 

 they were based. Nor was all this any the less apparent in the tone of pleas- 

 antry, and sallies of wit, that distinguished his presidency over the dinner table. 



Where such spirits preside, none other will ever be wanting — as none other 

 were here provided — to give life and animation to these annual festivals of the 

 sun-burnt, hard-fisted yeomanry of old Worcester. If it could not be sung that 

 " the wine doth sparkle on the board," it may be truly said that good feeling 

 and pleasantry, and lively and patriotic speeches and sentiments, sparkled none 

 the less around it. 



We have already spoken of a scythe-making family in Connecticut. Here in 

 Worcester, too, some things seem to " run in families." Among the plows and 

 plowmen, it was a strange coincidence that the Avinners of the first three prizes 

 should bear the name of Carpenter ! all at the handles of their own plows and 

 teams. And here, again, in assisting and pushing forward this old model Soci- 

 ety, it was Lincoln this, and Lincoln that, and Lincoln the other — Lincoln Treas- 

 urer, Lincoln Secretary, Lincoln President — all offices of labor and of love, with- 

 out fee or reward ; from all which we may infer that there they stand, ready to 

 be linked on to any duty that may be assigned them for advancement of the ag- 

 ricultural interest. Nay more : at the very moment that we are taking liberties 

 with a name linked by so many associations to useful works and patriotic causes, 

 the eye is caught by an advertisement of " 1,000 loads of pond mud, of excel- 

 lent quality, for sale — nearly equal to barn-yard manure — at the pond on ihe LtU' 

 coin estate. Apply at 148 Main-street." Thus may hints and instruction be 

 found in almost everything ; for while, in some parts of the country, " barn-yard 

 manure," when accumulated, is itself deemed an incumbrance, here the pond 

 mud of the Lincoln estate is offered for sale I 



For reasons that will readily occur to every reader, and that need not be reit- 

 erated here, we shall forbear to give the list of premiums, and other details of 

 this exhibition. Enough has been said in stating that, at this 28th of their reg- 

 ular annual exhibitions, there was a larger concourse of people and more inter- 

 2St evinced than on any former occasion. 



Here, among these men who know that out of the ground they are to get their 



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