Exhibition of i 8 y 2 —annual addresses. 169 
The great purpose of thig Annual Fair is to stimulate skill, to 
increase and direct mental power. There is danger of taking such 
a view of practical pursuits, so called, that the man shall be re¬ 
garded as a machine, an instrument for promoting his calling. 
Wealth, material good, is not the end of labor, but manhood, a 
higher and a nobler life. We should not seek merely better 
fruits, grasses, cattle and implements of husbandry, but better 
men, more intelligent and happier homes. Numerous influences 
contribute to this end, but the most cursory discussion of them is 
out of place at the present hour. I will speak of but one of the 
many topics suggested by what we witness to-day— 
« 
THE VALUE OF MIND POWER. 
-All around us are wonderful forces. They throb in the soil of 
the hill and the valley, occasionally sending forth spontaneous 
products, yet ever challenging the skilled industry of man, and 
yielding their highest results only at the behests of science. There 
are forces in water to float navies, to drive the spindle and the 
loom, and to send freighted trains across the continent; forces in 
the air suited to vegetation, and to the development of physical 
power; forces in the sunlight to aid the processes of nature, art 
and life, and everywhere there are forces and fixed laws adapted 
to the ends of mechanism. All these can be controlled and sub¬ 
ordinated to the interests of man, but only by the power of culti¬ 
vated mind. 
In accurate and vigorous thinking, developed in action by stern 
will, we find the essentials of true growth. If we trace out the 
progress of society, we shall discover that every advance has 
been the result of earnest, logical thinking. For centuries mental 
stupor prevails, intellect seems paralyzed—at length a strange 
event breaks up the general routine, a grand idea bursts upon 
the mind of a thoughtful man, flings him out among the stars 
to solve the problem of the universe, and humanity is lifted to a 
higher plane of intellectual life. 
The geographer logically concludes that there is another con¬ 
tinent, sets his prow toward the undiscovered land, and westward 
guides the star of empire. Nations are electrified by his dis¬ 
covery ; his discovery is the result of earnest and protracted 
