1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



503 



able quantity, and included excellent samples of 

 each. We were especially pleased with the taste 

 and appearance of the butter. 



Perhaps we have never seen at this Show a 

 finer show of Vegetables. The collection present- 

 ed by JoUN B. Moore, of Concord, included 

 many kinds, and would be worth going far to see. 



The iZozfse/ioM articles, presented by the ladies, 

 were numerous, indicating industry, excellent 

 taste and practical usefulness. 



There were 15 entries of Orain, and 34 of 

 Flowers, the latter greatly adorning the tables, 

 and attracting the attention of all. 



The Plowing Match was well attended, and the 

 •work admirably performed — several ox and horse 

 teams engaging in the contest. The Trial of 

 Working Oxen took place on the grounds, where 

 ample evidence was afforded that Middlesex men 

 understand how to discipline their teams. 



The two hours at the Dinner Table were filled 

 to their utmost capacity with most pleasant gas- 

 tronomical and mental exercises. The Address, 

 by Gov. Washburn, was an excellent one. He 

 gave a glowing contrast between the ownership 

 of lands and the condition of agricultural labor- 

 ers of this country and Great Britain, closing 

 with a burst of enthusiasm which thrilled every 

 heart, and made the hall ring with rounds of ap- 

 plause. He was followed by Mr. Davis, a dele- 

 gate from the State Board of Agriculture and 

 President of the Plymouth Society, Mr. Clement, 

 of Dracut, from the North Society, Wm. G. Lew- 

 is, of Framingham, of the South Society, Major 

 Phinney, of the Barnstable Patriot, President 

 Felton, of Harvard College, Mr. Train, M. C, 

 and Mr. Buckminster, of the Ploughman. The 

 dinner was one of Smith's best, so all that the 

 exercises at the table were of a vastly agreeable 

 character, and tended to make every body good- 

 natured, "war or no war," "premium or no pre- 

 mium." 



A little later, the Society elected the following 

 officers for the next year, and then the business 

 of the Sixty -seventh Anniversary of the Old Mid- 

 dlesex Society was over : 



E. W. Bull, Concord, President ; W. W. 

 Chenery, Belmont, Asa Clement, Dracut, Vice 

 Presidents; John B. Moore, Concord, Secretary ; 

 Richard Barrett, Concord, Treasurer. 



LOOK ON THE BKIQHT SIDB. 



Look on the bright side of things. It is the 

 right side. The times may be hard, but it will 

 make them no easier by wearing a gloomy and 

 sad countenance. It is the sunshine, not the 

 cloud, that makes the flower. Full one half our 

 ills are only so in imagination. There is always 

 that before or around us which should cheer and 

 fill the heart with warmth. 



The sky is blue ten times where it is black 



once. You have troubles, it may be. So have 

 others ; none are free from them. Perhaps it is 

 as well that none should be. They give sinew 

 and tone to life ; fortitude and courage to the 

 man. That would be a dull sea, and the sailor 

 would never get skill, where there was nothing to 

 disturb the surface of the ocean. 



It is the duty of every one to extract all the 

 happiness and enjoyment he can without and 

 within him ; and above all, look on the bright 

 side. What though things do look a little dark ? 

 The lane will turn and the night end in broad 

 day. In the long run, and very often in the 

 short, the great balance rights itself. What is ill 

 becomes well ; what is wrong, right. 



Men were not made to hang down their heads 

 or their lips, and those who do, only show that 

 they are departing from the path of common 

 sense and right. There is more virtue in one sun- 

 beam than in a whole hemisphere of cloud and 

 gloom. Therefore, we repeat, look only on the 

 bright side of things. Not the cold, repulsive, 

 dark and morose. 



MAKE FAKM LABOR FASHIONABLE. 



At the base of the prosperity of any people lies 

 this great principle — make farm labor fashiona- 

 ble at home. Educate, instruct, encourage ; and 

 offer all the incentives you can offer, to give in- 

 terest and dignity to labor at home. Enlist the 

 heart and the intellect of the family in the sup- 

 port of a domestic system that v.-ill make labor 

 attractive at the homestead. By means of the 

 powerful influences of early home education, en- 

 deavor to invest practical labor with an interest 

 that will cheer the heart of each member of the 

 family, and thereby you will give to your house- 

 hold the grace, peace, refinement and attraction 

 which God designed a home should possess. 



The truth is, we must talk more, think more, 

 work more and act more, in reference to ques- 

 tions relating to home. 



The training and improvement of the physical, 

 intellectual, social and moral powers and senti- 

 ments of the youth of our coimtry, require some- 

 thing more than the school-house, academy, col- 

 lege and university. The young mind should re- 

 ceive judicious training in the field, in the gar- 

 den, in the barn, in the workshop, in the parlor, 

 in the kitchen — in a word around the hearth- 

 stone at home. 



Whatever intellectual attainments your son 

 may have acquired, he is unfit to go forth into 

 society if he has not had thrown around him the 

 genial and purifying influences of parents, sisters, 

 brothers, and tihe man-saving influence of the 

 family government. The nation must look for 

 virtue, wisdom and strength, to the education that 

 controls and shapes the home policy of the fam- 

 ily circle. There can be no love of country where 

 there is no love of home. Patriotism, true and 

 genuine, the only kind worthy of the name, de- 

 rives its mighty strength from fountains that 

 gush out around the hearthstone ; and those wh(j 

 forget to cherish the household interests will soon 

 learn to look with indifference upon the interests 

 of their common country. 



We must cultivate roots — not tops. We must 

 make the family government, the school, the 

 agricultural fairs, the laboratories of our future 



