10 



CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT. 



We heard from one or two persons at our recent Fair, remarks 

 to the etFect that the children were not as well represented in 

 their Department as they usually are. If this impression was 

 made, it must have been owing mainly to the fact that our 

 space was somewhat contracted to make room for other exhibits ; 

 for in reality, there was an increase over last year, of seventeen 

 in the numbtr of contributors, aud about twenty more articles 

 were on exhibition. This is pleasing to all who take a special 

 interest in the Children's Department, no less to the children 

 themselves. A few years ago this feature of our Fair threatened 

 to become a thing of the past; but the increasing interest indi- 

 cates that this Department may regain the important place it 

 once occupied in the Fair. 



We j&nd each year less to criticise unfavorably, and we see 

 evidence in the quality and kind of work done, as well as 

 improvement in other respects, that our requests and suggestions 

 have not been wholly unheeded. 



Out of the sixty or more articles exhibited we can make men- 

 tion of only a few pieces of work, which on account of its quality, 

 or the age of the exhibitor, we think deserve special notice. 



The half-dozen rugs, most of them made by the younger 

 children, one by a little girl of five years, and another by a boy 

 of eight, drew forth our sympathy for the little workers, whose 

 patient fingers must have toiled many days, before so much 

 rough material could be made into forms of use and beauty. 



We expect nice and pretty work from the older contributors 

 to the Children's Department, as, indeed, we found in several 



