122 Address delivered before the Ag. Society of Newcastle Co., Del. Vol. X. 



Extracts from an Address 



Delivered before the Agricultural Society 

 of New Castle County, Del., on the first 

 day of its Exhibilion, Sept. 17th, 1845, 

 by the Hon. Jonathan Roberts, of Penn- 

 sylvania. 



" Mr. President, — I have noticed the 

 successful progress of your Society and In- 

 stitute, through a long series of years. To 

 be with you on your Tenth Annual Exhibi- 

 tion is a realization I could hardly have 

 hoped for. Age may well have taught me, 

 it is too late to seek distinction for any thing 

 I may say on this occasion. I appear before 

 you with a just apprehension that I may 

 come far short of what the time and subject 

 call for. In mixing with you I have felt 

 those sentiments arise in my mind that merit 

 ever demands. I cannot be unmindful of 

 those who have preceded me, and the re- 

 sources and qualifications they brought to 

 awaken and command your attention. In 

 the discharge of the office you have been 

 pleased to assign me, I can but little hope 

 to enlighten you on arts which your Exhi- 

 bition proves you to understand and prac- 

 tice so well. 



"The plan of your Society and Institute, 

 so far as my knowledge goes, is original. 

 Nowhere else has the whole series of rural, 

 domestic and useful arts, been brought into 

 exhibition, as we have witnessed them to be 

 here. It is not a mere show of stock and 

 field culture, with a view to excite appetite 

 for high profit. Here a great variety of 

 tastes may be gratified and pleasurable feel 

 ings awakened, little connected with the 

 mere love of gain. Hard handed labour 

 can relax its vigor to mingle with that deli- 

 cacy, refinement and grace, which woman 

 can shed over every scene where her pre- 

 sence is afforded. No moral purpose can 

 reach its best result, in which her hand and 

 mind have not had participation. For what 

 end were flowers made to bloom, of every 

 form and tint, redolent with fragrance ! 

 surely not all to be wasted on the desert air. 

 Eden still blooms for those who delight in 

 the culture of the garden. It is there alone 

 flowers reach their greatest perfection. Bot- 

 any has only very lately turned its attention 

 to garden flowers, which it had before de- 

 nominated monsters: they are now held 

 justly, to be a happy display of the wisdom 

 and goodness of the Creator. The perfec- 

 tion of flowers by culture, is no more mon- 

 strous, than that, grace and beauty, which 

 are woman's embellishment. It is not to 

 gratify the senses of seeing and smelling 

 only, that divine goodness has provided; the 

 crabs and wildings of nature have become 



our delicious fruits by the art of culture. 

 Tiie grove and the shrubbery give shade 

 and invite the feathered tribes to comfort 

 and shelter, w-ho reward us with their melo- 

 dy. While labour ministers a rich repast to 

 ail our senses, it gives health to realize the 

 full fruition of enjoyment. 



" Woman in her right place, ought not to 

 be, and cannot be exempt from care and 

 labour. Within my memory, she assisted 

 in the field to gather in the harvest; it was 

 virtue then when her home was small, and 

 her furniture simple. The wealthiest farm- 

 ers then drank from wooden bowls and fed 

 oft' wooden platters. Her dwelling has now 

 become spacious, and gives her a full range 

 of employment better suited to her charac- 

 ter, and demands for her mind a higher cul- 

 ture than was called for when her task was 

 mere drudgery." 



" A taste and fondness for plants seems 

 inherent in woman : they become dear and 

 interesting, though silent " friends. They 

 can exercise the atfectiond without disturb- 

 ing the passions. Who can look upon the 

 doors and windows of the humblest cottage, 

 shaded and embellished with plants, and not 

 feel respect for those who inhabit it. Plants 

 aid to effect a great moral purpose, in soft- 

 ening the heart and soothing and tranquil- 

 izing the mind. A little care and attention, 

 compatible with every condition, will sur- 

 round us with foliage and flowers through 

 every season, and put smiles on the sternest 

 winter." 



"We have all witnessed the good effects 

 of bringing together t)ie fruits of rural labor; 

 with those of the artizan and manufacturer, 

 they are among the great pillars on which 

 rests the social fabric. They form but one 

 interest together with those wlib pursue 

 trade and commerce, distribute justice, cul- 

 tivate science, minister relief to disease, and 

 consolation to the mind. The fruits of the 

 labors of those latter classes cannot be 

 brought into exhibition, they can only bo 

 felt, not seen. No stronger ligaments of 

 interest can exist than those which run 

 through the whole people, who look to some 

 kind of employment to supply their wants 

 and comforts, or for public usefulness. They 

 may all feel brotherhood and interest here, 

 as they will find room and will be hailed 

 with warm welcome. 



"Human subsistence must be drawn from 

 the earth, while to the mechanical and use- 

 ful arts man must owe his comforts and en- 

 joyments of high convenience." 



"We may ask with gratification, what 

 changes and advances have been made in 

 less than half a century, immediately around 

 usl Our cities from Boston to Baltimore 



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