47 



The President, Hon. Marshall P. AVilder, then spoke as 

 follows : — 



FUIENDS AND MeMBEHS OF THE NORKOLK AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY: — 



By the kind interposition of Ilim who crowneth our lives with loving 

 kindness and tender mercy, I am here once more to rejoice with yon in the 

 prosperity of our Association, and to participate with you in the blessings 

 and privileges of this day. (Applause.) When I last addressed you, one 

 year since, after holding the office of President ever since the organization 

 of the Society, I tendered you uiy resignation that you might fill the office 

 with one more capable to discharge its duties. But you would not have it 

 so. and here I am to-day to acknowledge your kindness and to perform 

 those duties with such ability as I have. (Applause.) It would be pleas- 

 ant to recur to that occasion, and the splendid galaxy of talent that was 

 present at the organization of this Society — to trace its progress and the 

 im]")rovenient which has taken place in agriculture and the arts in this 

 County since that time ; but the occasion would not permit. 



You are aware that after having locate<I this, your purchase, our first 

 grounds, the Society was nearly free from debt. We then added about seven 

 acres to our groumls, in the expectancy that a kind friend would bequeath 

 an amount necessary to liquidate the (lel)t incurred. Through unforseen cir- 

 cumstances, he did not, and the debt remained and has been an embarrass- 

 ment ever since (to our feelings, not to our operations) ; and as I have 

 often stated to you, if my life was spared, that debt should be paid. At our 

 last annual meeting the indebtedness of the Society was SS.-'iOO, but by 

 the kind a.ssistance of able solicitors and the generosity of friends, more 

 than S 7,000 have been collected, and, with the resources which we have on 

 hand to-day, the liabilities of this Society will not exceed Si, 200. 



It was said of a distinguished statesman that he made an after dinner 

 speech in Philadelphia once, and in alluding to the national debt, said, 

 " The national debt is an honest debt ; it must be paid ; it shall be paid; 

 I will pay it myself" (Applause.) But, Ladies and Gentlemen, after the 

 contributions which I have made already, I do not propose to pay this debt 

 myself, but I do propose, if my life is spared until another anniversary, that 

 it shall be paid. And now let me congratulate you upon the great success 

 of this exhibition, and upon the prosperity of our Society. If we have not 

 accomplished all that we could have desired, it certainly has done much to 

 develop the natural resources and talents of our Count}-, and to advance 

 Agricidture and the other industrial arts. And now that war has sheathed 

 his sword, and the rainbow of peace spans the arch of our nation, let us 

 look well to these great sources of national and individual wealth. Never 

 in the history of the world has science so concentrated her fruits, and so 

 rewarded labor ^d multiplied her blessing on the efforts of mankind. 

 Surely we live in an age of wonders ; and no enterprise, however bold, 

 vast, or adventurous, is too great for the present day, whether the building 



