52 



No merchant prince and Farmer 



Was delegated then 

 To represent the Commonwealth, 



And go frem pen to pen. 



There then were no reporters 



To write down every word, 

 No well-trained band like yours at hand 



Sweet music to afford. 



No ladies dressed in fashion 



At that for distant day, 

 Came forth like birds of Paradise 



To aid the grand disj>lay. 



'Twas harvest time in Eden, 



When rural life began, 

 And Horticulture the employ 



The Lord assigned to man. 



I said 'twas time of Harvest, 



Because I think 'twas so ; 

 With apple, plum, and peach, and pear, 



The garden was aglow. 



The grapes in purple clusters 



Abundant were and free. 

 And autunin birds were carolling 



On vine and bush and tree. 



When He who governs nature, 



And doeth all things well, 

 Oi'dained for man a cattle show — 

 ■ As ancient records tell ; 



For fowls of every feather 



And beasts to Adam came, 

 That he might see the grand display, 



And give to each a name. 



That was an exhibition 



Magnincent and rare. 

 Which God's own hand in Eden planned, 



That first grand Cattle Fair. 



But when from blooming Eden 



The guilty couple went 

 To suffer in the dreary wild 



The pangs of banishment, 



