NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



505 



only could give being to. The great question with 

 him, was, how much of the really beautiful can 

 bo made subservient to the public good? how far 

 can elegance and utility be combined? how much 

 of the spirit of the amateur can be infused into the 

 mass of the rural population? He has answered 

 these questions by his deeds. 



Mr. Downing was an American, and all his 

 thinking and acting tended toward the welfare and 

 elevation of his country. Very much of his de- 

 served popularity is owing to his ability to popu- 

 larize whatever he wrote upon. He seized upon 

 what was most needed, and upon that alone, and 

 with striking point and directness, presented it in 

 such form, that his conclusions were irresistible. 



His style of writing is unaffected and flowing, 

 and 1 11s? diction, though elegant and ornate, is nev- 

 er verbose or tiresome. Such a style grew natu- 

 rally out of his characteristics of mind and habits 

 of thought. His mind was furnished and cultiva- 

 ted, and his impulsiveness bore his thoughts by 

 the nearest way to the desired end. This brings 

 to notice that peculiar earnestness and sincerity 

 which everywhere is visible in his writings. Nei- 

 ther a philosopher or an enthusiast, he combined 

 the excellencies of both in his individuality. Above 

 all others, he was the man best fitted to mould the 

 architectural and rural taste of the country to a 

 correct model, to guide public sentiment to what- 

 ever is highest in nature and purest in art, and to 

 aid in making America wdiat heaven designed it 

 should be, the garden of the whole earth. 



Mr. Downing has closed his labors too early to 

 have shown the full maturity of his power. If his 

 youth has been thus productive, what results 

 might have crowned a longer life ! what beauty 

 might have sprung from a riper experience and an 

 enlarging capacity ! 



About two years since, Mr. Downing received 

 an invitation to visit Washington, for the purpose 

 of conferring with the President with reference to 

 the laying out the public grounds in the vicinity 

 of the capitol. For the last year and a half he has 

 been engaged in designing and perfecting his plans, 

 and in accordance with them, a park of some 1G0 

 acres is being constructed. It will afford the only 

 example of grounds to such extent, laid out by 

 the rules of art, in this country, and will undoubt- 

 edly be a most perfect work of its kind. 



In his private character, Mr. Downing was up- 

 right, manly, and enthusiastic, and he entered 

 with zeal and energy into every subject which 

 promised to elevate and refine his fellow-men. In 

 his social relations he was a gentleman in the best 

 acceptation of the term. Courteous, affable and 

 polite in the stranger ; generous, warm-hearted, 

 and confiding to his friends, he was universally re- 

 spected and loved. 



The sad circumstances of his death make us less 

 reconciled to his loss. Mr. Downing, in company 

 with his wife, and her mother, sister, and young- 

 er brother, together with a lady friend, Mrs. 

 Wadsworth, embarked on the Henry Clay, full of 

 buoyancy and joyous expectation, on their way to 

 Newport. Scarce two hours have passed, and 

 that circle is broken. Some are sleeping beneath 

 the wave, — others are weeping on the shore this 

 wreck of hope and happiness. Mr. Downing, his 

 wife's mother, Mrs. DeWint, of Fishkill, and Mrs. 

 Wadsworth, were lost — the remaining members 

 of the party were saved, — Mrs. Downing almost 



miraculously. As Mr. Downing was an excellent 

 swimmer, he must have been borne down by the 

 crowd, or perished in the attempt to save another's 

 life. 



We unite with his personal friends and the ma- 

 ny who are endeared to him by that charm which 

 his writings breathed, in tendering our heartfelt 

 sympathy to Mrs. Downing. We too can mourn 

 that a great mind has been removed from our com- 

 panionship, — that a noble heart has ceased to 

 beat, — that a life, rejoicing in such beauty and 

 promise, has gone out thus early. — Albany Culti- 

 vator. 



CATTLE SHOW AT LEBANON, N. H. 



The annual Cattle Show and Fair of the C'<.»?i- 

 ncclicut River Agricultural Society took place at 

 Lebanon, the town next south of Hanover, on 

 Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 22 and 23, 1852. 

 Preparations were made in the centre of the vil- 

 lage by enclosing the common, making a circle of 

 one-fourth of a mile, and enclosing the large town 

 hall, where the fruits, vegetables, needle-work and 

 machinery were deposited. The weather was fa- 

 vorable, and the people of Grafton County did 

 themselves great credit in all the departments of 

 the show. 



FIRST DAY nORSES, CATTLE. 



On Wednesday, the first day, there was a dis- 

 play of horses, in which the Black Hawk and Mor- 

 gan blood was obvious, and there was some pleas- 

 ant trotting ; and although none of the horses 

 were trained, several came in in about three and 

 a half minutes. There was a fine display of cattle 

 in the yoke, and among the young stock a Devon 

 bull 15 months old, the property of Norman Hib- 

 bard, of Grantham, which we thought the hand- 

 somest animal of the kind and age we ever saw. 

 There was also a good show of sheep, not imported, 

 but of the best foreign blood; some fine swine, 

 partly Suffolk, poultry, &c. Large numbers of 

 persons were present, the band discoursed sweet 

 music at their concert in the evening, and the day 

 passed off with much gratification to all. 



SECOND DAY — PLOWING MATCH, TROTTING, ADDRESS. 



Thursday morning was quite cool, sunshine and 

 clouds alternating, but without any present pros- 

 pect of rain. Mountain and vale poured out their 

 hardy sons and daughters with bounding hearts, 

 and the hill-sides rang with the rattling of car- 

 riage wheels and with the echoes of the steam 

 whistle and trains, winding along the streams like 

 streaks of light athwart the eastern sky. From 

 every quarter the living tide came on ; from the 

 sweet vales of the Connecticut and the dancing 

 White Paver, and from the Grantham Mountains, 

 came the men, women and children, to the gre^t 

 Festival of the Farmer. Gladness was upon every 

 face ; the horses were all mettle in the cool morn- 

 ing air ; old people spun their yarns in sunny cor- 

 ners, while the young men bounded about to shake 



