ORDER OF EXERCISES 



AT THE 

 ox THE OCCASION OF THE 



THIRTEENTH ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



NORFOLK AGllICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



AVfdnesday, September 25, 1861. 



At 12 o'clock a procession was formed on the grounds of the 

 Society under the direction of Col. Thomas, Chief Marshal, and 

 assistants. This embraced the officers and members of the Soci- 

 ety, who, with their guests at the head, proceeded, with music 

 by the Medfield Cornet Band, to the Hall, where tables had been 

 spread for eight hundred persons. 



The company being seated, the President called on the Rev. 

 Benjamin H. Bailey, of Dedham, to invoke a blessing on the oc- 

 casion. The dinner having been disposed of, the President, Hon. 

 Marshall P. "Wilder, welcomed the assemblage in an earnest 

 speech, alluding to the present national troubles, and congratu- 

 lating all upon the happy celebration of their anniversary. 



Mr. Wilder spoke at some length, and closed as follows : — 



Happy am I, my fellow-citizens, to meet you again on the return of ano- 

 ther anniversary, — happy am I in the success of the present Exhibition, 

 and most happy am I to feel that, although clouds ahd darkness now over- 

 spread the political horizon of our beloved country, old Norfolk has not for- 

 gotten that great industrial interest upon which, more than upon any other, 

 our government must rely for the support of itself and its armies. 



When we met at our last anniversary wc were rejoicitig in peace and 

 prosperity, — in the union of thirty-four sovereign, and yet all loyal States, 

 and in a government the most benign and beneficent on the face of the 

 earth. But what a contrast ! Now a pot"tion of these States are in open 

 revolt, — a revolt which threatens to subvert our beautiful form of Repub- 

 lican Government, the last and the best hope of the down-trodden and 

 oppressed millions of earth. This subject taa.y be deemed, by some, to be 



