AGRICULTURAL FAIRS AND THEIR PURPOSES. 59 



community, and to impartially, fearlessly, and constantly declare 

 that to be good which it thinks to be good. We think our lady 

 friends would sometimes suffer under this rule, and would hardly 

 be taught by prizes on bed quilts to cut up good calico that it 

 may be sewed together again in odd, fantastic and absurd shapes. 

 We have never devised but one theory on which these prepos- 

 terous, patch rose-buds could be justified, — possibly an old wo- 

 man might do worse. 



A third fatal mistake in the management of an agricultural 

 fair is to suppose that its primary end is to pay expenses and 

 make money. If it does this, very well ; and it will be all the 

 more likely to do it, in the long run, by not making it the con- 

 stant aim. It is a fault with us, in all pursuits, that we strive 

 to make money out of our business, rather than to establish a 

 valuable branch of industry for the benefit of others and our- 

 selves. If we could be brought to deal more liberally with our 

 avocations, expect less of them at once, do more for them, fur- 

 nishing the means and the time for growth, we should find our 

 returns in the end larger and more reliable. We rather, in our 

 haste and ignorance, wish to place our pail under the first 

 branch of labor we lay hold of, — as yet an unthrifty, half-grown 

 heifer, — and milk it full at once, leaving the ill-used beast after- 

 ward to care for herself. This spirit and method are not safe 

 and wholesome in any direction, and especially are they not so 

 in any enterprise which pertains to instruction and progress. A 

 church, a college, a fair, cannot be well handled with the lead- 

 ing idea of meeting expenses. There must be a more thorough 

 appreciation of the ends of improvement and a more generous 

 devotion to them than this implies. An institution which is 

 valuable is likely to be profitable, and no other is likely to be 

 for any length of time. Money that is drawn out of a business 

 leaves it pretty lean, and not prepared to yield much more. A 

 good fair invites cooperation, and pledges every strong man to 

 its support. 



The direction in which this desire for an immediate income 

 has wrought especial mischief is that of horse-racing. We say 

 nothing of its moral character one way or the other ; we simply 

 say that it has been frequently and manifestly injurious to our 

 fairs. A race in which horses are put to their speed has noth- 

 ing to do with farming ; the connection is no more direct than 



