REPORTS OF COMMIITEES. 33 



drawings that were presented by the schools for exhibition this year, 

 many of which gave unmistakable evidence of originality, talent and 

 skill, and were a credit alike to the pupils and teachers. 



This seems to be prophetic of the day when every pupil edu- 

 cated in the schools of old Worcester North may become his own 

 designer, draughtsman and engineer. 



It has been but a very few years since the fine arts have had a 

 place in our agricultural fairs ; previous to which little or nothing 

 was exhibited in that line except a few specimens of needle work, 

 fancy articles and photographs, and had paintings and drawings 

 been called for by those of advanced ideas and tastes, few were the 

 hands that then had the cunning to produce them. Now even our 

 town fairs are hardly complete without pictures and designs in oil, 

 crayon, water colors and pencil by local artists, and from our com- 

 mon schools. This augurs well for the future, when the fine art 

 department may become one of the leading attractions of our fairs, 

 and a strong auxiliary to the Worcester North Agricultural Society 

 as it was shown to be to the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanics' 

 Association, at whose fair recently held in Boston, as your commit- 

 tee are informed by the chairman of the committee on fine arts, 

 there was exhibited nearly a thousand pictures, the estimated value 

 of which exceeded all the rest of the exhibits, including diamonds 

 and plate. Therefore the committee feel that they cannot too 

 highly commend the noble work that your society is doing in fos- 

 tering art, and especially industrial drawing in our common schools. 



In recapitulating, the committee would say that the art exhi- 

 bition of this year was altogether very satisfactory, and when com- 

 pared with last year (and it is remembered that most of the large 

 oil paintings and all of the chromos were contributed for exhibition 

 and to enhance the attractions of the fair of that year) , it was emi- 

 nently so, as a very much larger proportion of the exhibits of this 

 year were new and original, being studies, compositions and 

 sketches from nature, in oil, crayon, pencil and water colors, on 

 canvas, paper, wood and plaque, some of which would have done 

 credit to an experienced professional artist. 



There was a fine collection of photographs exhibited, and 

 some fancy sign painting and also lettering on glass, which the ex- 



