368 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



cause it may be attributed. For it may well 

 be pinioned, even if patriotism and public 

 spirit had nothing to do with it, and no higher 

 motive than ostentation be assigned to this 

 very remarkabfe largess, that one man was 

 unwilling to yield publicly to another in so 

 useful a sacrifice, or that one county was not 

 permitted to appear backward and niggardly 

 in the presence of her profuse sisters. 



Except in a few special cases, the money 

 will all be paid in six months. In fact, it was 

 raised in many counties at their succeeding 

 courts, as in Albemarle, Caroline and Notto- 

 way, and perhaps others — and the Virginia 

 State Agricultural Society now stands upon 

 its legs. 



As a first step they have selected a Secre- 

 tary, and they are now preparing to take the 

 second. Let us hope that both may prosper 

 and lead the way to extended usefulness, and 

 let us bespeak for the Executive Committee, 

 in their new and arduous duties, the aid and 

 the indulgence which a liberal public should 

 ever extend to disinterested effort. 



On the specialties of the Exhibition we 

 have neither room nor inclination to dilate. 

 Comparisons are odious, and to single out par- 

 ticular subjects of praise when all deserve 

 commendation, might offend more than it 

 would please. Jn point of horses the Fair 

 was excellent, except that, in our judgment, 

 there was not a first rate saddle horse, either 

 gelding or stallion, on the ground— or rather, 

 we should say, if there was, we did not see 

 him. In point of sheep, of all breeds, and 

 especially of South Downs, the exhibition 

 was equally good. In the matter of hogs it 

 was also good. In cattle, though there were 

 some few splendid specimens, the exhibition, 

 though vastly superior to what we expected, 

 was, on the whole, inferior. This was attri- 

 butable partly to the desire of many to fill up, 

 as any thing was thought better than a tenant- 

 less stall, but more to the fact, that the great 

 cattle regions of the State, the South-west and 

 the North-west, the Valley and the great coun- 

 ties of Fauquier and Loudoun, are not yet ac- 

 cessible by rail road, and their premium ani- 

 mals were not present. Another year, and all 

 these places will have echoed to the whistle 

 of the locomotive, and then we shall have an 

 -array from them that will open the eyes of 



Tide Water and Southern Piedmont. To the 

 gentlemen from other States, who, like Mr. 

 Ramsay M'Henry of Maryland, sent their 

 animals to help us out, we cannot sufficiently 

 express our thanks. Of the implements and 

 the ornaments, the fruits, the flowers, the nee- 

 dle-work and the numerous miscellanies that 

 graced the exhibition, we cannot speak at 

 length, and, therefore, say nothing more than 

 that each and all of them surpassed all ex- 

 pectation. 



But what, beyond all these, most delighted 

 us was the appearance of the people, both 

 men and women. It has always been a pecu- 

 liarity of the more settled parts of the South, 

 that they "put not their faith in" raiment. 

 With a frankness and simplicity of manners 

 springing from that self-respect which pro- 

 ceeds from the inner man, they array the outer 

 in garbs which sometimes touch the verge of 

 negligence. They feel too well assured of 

 their proper standing to attempt to secure it 

 by dress, or to maintain it by haughtiness or 

 reserve. These traits were preeminent on this 

 occasion. Decently appareled, dignified in 

 their bearing, bland and kind and cordial Old 

 Virginia was indelibly stamped on every manly 

 brow, whilst woman's presence lent its attrac- 

 tions to the scene, and her tenderer graces 

 welled out from her open heart in smiles and 

 beaming looks of joy. 



It was, perhaps, in allusion to this, as much 

 as to the general excellence of the display, 

 that Mr. Rives said, that in ail he had seen — 

 and he had seen much, both at home and 

 abroad — he had never beheld such a spectacle 

 as Richmond presented on the first of Novem- 

 ber. We hope he may be spared to witness 

 many like it; and that many more than we 

 had this year will annually come to swell the 

 throng, to invigorate their energies and renew 

 their devotion to Virginia, amid so much that 

 is calculated to stir their strongest emotions. 

 It is related of the late Benj. Watkins Leigh, 

 who hugged his country even closer than his 

 prejudices, that on one occasion, when some 

 one was dilating on the superiority of another 

 State, he interrupted the collocutor with the 

 curt remark, that if any gentleman knew of 

 a State better than Virginia he would thank 

 him to keep the information to himself, as he, 

 at least, had no disposition to acquire it. The 



