524 [Assembly 



Who can tell the amount of pride and exultation felt by exhibit* 

 ors within this hall? Who can tell the amount of laudable ambition 

 engendered by the complimentary observations of the multitudes 

 gatheiing heret Who can tell the renovating power of these exhi- 

 bitions upon public opinion? 



I have seen the halls of diversion jfllled with the buoyant and gay; 

 I have seen the political rostrum thronged with gazing thousands, 

 and have heard them disperse with plaudits of apnrobation and 

 marks of enthusiasm; but when, on the close of the Fair, I behold 

 the condensed masses of competitors surrounding the premium stand, 

 and with upturned heads and anxious looks listening for hours to the 

 awards of merit, and then, with transports of victorious triumph, 

 quietly disperse over this wide extended country, and return to their 

 several homes, there to receive the congratulations of friends and 

 fellow-citizens, and to impart to them a thirst for the honors which 

 they have so nobly won, I yield the preference to this occasion, and 

 behold in it the elements of natiogal greatness, and the appropriate 

 work of patriots and philanthropists. 



These Fairs are the grand Exchange of the ingenious and enter- 

 prising operatives of the country; here they are brought together, 

 and here is an interchange of sentiment by thousands of the inge- 

 nious who otherwise would never have met; here they can examine 

 each other's article^!, and impart and receive suggestions; here they 

 can mingle the achievements of each for the benefit of all; and here 

 are novelties from each department of industry, and spectators, too, 

 from the same di'partments, qualified to scrutinize and appreciate 

 them. Here are many treasures in the principles of machines, the 

 process of manufacture, and the growth of vegetables', of great value 

 and of the highest interest to those understanding them; but which 

 the careless or hurried glan(;e of the visitor never detects, and which 

 he never appreciates. Visitors at these Fairs frequently mistake the 

 general appearance of the exhibition for the same articles which 

 have been before exhibited, and every year the remark is made by 

 some, that the Fair is about the same as it was the preceding year, 

 not m\ifh alterfition, &c., as if sameness consisted in repeating the 

 exhibition of cloths, silks, machines and agricultural implements. 



It should be borne in mind, that there may be cloth, but of a 

 diflTerent manufacture; there may be machines' and agricultural im- 

 plements of the same kind, but much improved; and there may be 

 vegetables the same in collective appearance, but not in qunlity or 



