6 



however, the tradition they have at the West, tliat this illus- 

 trious Roman, instead of returning to his farm and plough, like 

 our immortal Washington, after finishing his public services, 

 emigrated to the banks of the Ohio, gave his attention to im- 

 proving the breeds of swine, and founded the city which bears 

 his name ! As the last resource of despairing genius I had 

 husbanded for this occasion the " two blades of grass where one 

 grew before ; " but on looking over the learned address of our 

 President at your first anniversary, I find that he disdained to 

 use it as being even then quite hackneyed, but expressed the 

 idea more elegantly thus : " The man who discovers a process 

 whereby a bog, a sandy plain, or a gravelly hill, may be made a 

 fruitful field or garden, is as truly a benefactor of his race, as a 

 Columbus, a Newton, a Franklin or a Fulton ! " Isn't that 

 putting it rather strong, Mr. President ? I could go as far as 

 to say of that man that he is " some pumpkins ! " and, judging 

 by the specimens we have seen to-day, that is a pretty large 

 measure of praise. But as to his being quite up to some of 

 those names, I think there may be room for an honest difference 

 of opinion ! 



But it is time that we turn to more serious reflections ; for 

 while, by precedent and usage, especially in the Old World, the 

 Farmer's Fair is a season for sport and jollity, in which young 

 and old give themselves up to ludicrous pranks and all kinds of 

 fun, it is also intended to subserve other and graver uses. It 

 is a season as you, Mr. President, have so well said, when " we 

 meet to interchange salutations, to promote industry, invention 

 and improvement, not in agriculture alone, but in all the use- 

 ful and ornamental arts of which she is the common mother ; " 

 a day " when workingmen assemble to work, to exhibit the 

 results of their labor, to explain the processes of their manufac- 

 ture or growth, to teach and to be taught how the greatest 

 amount and the best quality of the various productions of the 

 soil and the arts can be realized from the least labor and ex- 

 pense, and in the shortest space of time." Can there be an 

 occasion, then, of more varied and weighty interest, or that 

 touches the life and well-being of society at more points ? 

 Whatever lighter forms of speech it may permit as a relief to its 

 more sober thought, through its necessary relations it gathers 

 into itself all the elements of the most dignified and instructive 



