HAMPDEN SOCIETY. 187 



working-day land, let them come for congratulation and enjoy- 

 ment, yes " to have a good time," let them bring each the 

 choicest results of his skill, and in a right brotherly and manly 

 way, let them magnify their crafts together. 



It is said that we need amusements : — now we may " get 

 up" amusements which will amuse nobody, because they are 

 not in accordance with the practical downright character of the 

 people. Archery clubs and the like will never do in this coun- 

 try and time of Colt's revolvers. How much better than any- 

 thing which we could painfully devise, are these almost sponta- 

 neous festivities of autumn, the occasions of so much pure and 

 profitable pleasure, affording indispensable relaxation, stimula- 

 ting the various classes of laborers to renewed efforts, and help- 

 ing, which to our mind is more than all, to shed a briglitness 

 upon agricultural and mechanic industry, and impart to it an 

 ideal beauty, and make it honorable, as in truth it should be, 

 in the eyes of the world. These occasions should be made 

 much of, until men shall realize how great a thing it is and how 

 nearly allied to creative skill, the power to take the rough, hard 

 materials, which nature has scattered profusely about us, and 

 hew, shape, mould, forge and polish them, until they wear 

 a beautiful form and are fit for the thousand uses of life. 

 What an interval, to be filled up by human toil and skill, 

 between the lump of ore in the bowels of the earth, and the 

 fine spring which is the almost living principle of the watch. 

 It is a long journey from the wool upon the sheep's back, to the 

 silk-like cloth, the rich warm shawl, to which we will gladly 

 allow the name of our good old Commonwealth. Honor be to 

 the craftsmen from Tubal Cain to Paxton ! Honor to the men 

 whom the Scripture does not hesitate to style wise-hearted, 

 treating the genius in them as a kind of inspiration, the gift of 

 Providence rather than the result of human effort, as indeed is 

 the truth, for men are born mechanics as they are born poets, 

 and the highest and nicest skill can never be acquired, though 

 it may be cultivated and increased very much when the germ 

 is once there. 



It is the grand object of these exhibitions to cherish that 

 honorable pride, and that spirit of emulation, which add so 



