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never thought of bringing to the Fair a specimen of your 

 mending. Suppose some of you try it. No doubt, nicely 

 mended rents, and patches nicely put on, would attract a full 

 share of notice and praise, and it will be no small accomplish- 

 ment when you have learned to do it well. 



To the few boys who work for this department we give due . 

 credit, and hope they will continue to do as much ; but the 

 boys have never taken hold as we would like to see them do. 

 The general complaint is that there isn't as much work that 

 they can do for the Fair as there is for girls ; perhaps not, but 

 there are many things they might do. To the fair before 

 referred to, the boys contributed scroll and jig sawing, hand- 

 work, — one boy took the prize for a wheelbarrow, — little 

 models of different kinds of farming implements, as a hand- 

 rake, a harrow, etc. There was a log-house, a weather-vane, 

 and a wooden-sawed bird-cage. There were specimens of 

 hand-writing, drawing, and collections of minerals. It has 

 before been suggested to you to bring collections of specimens 

 of our native woods, and you never have tried that yet, have 

 you? If you would make collections of woods, stones, min- 

 erals, shells from our seashore, etc., you would learn to notice 

 and observe many things that you never knew of before, and 

 you would soon begin to know more than you do now about 

 the wonderful world we live on. If the boys would take hold 

 of this in earnest, they could find so much to do for the Fair 

 that the girls might find themselves almost crowded out of the 

 department, though we think we could find room for you all. 



We hope what has been said in former reports in regard to 

 honesty and fairness in connection with work for this depart- 

 ment has not given offence nor caused discouragement, — we 

 certainly did not mean it to, — and we venture to repeat : Do 

 your work yourself, after you have learned to do it well ; make 

 something really worth bringing ; place your name ivith your 



