102 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
great was the pressure for space on the part of the various 
competing companies that at one time it looked as though we 
might have to build anew or abandon the main building 
wholly to their use. Having filled the wing, they were allowed 
to flow over into the art hall, filing right and left, until they 
pretty well lined the' east side of it. Sixteen different com¬ 
panies were represented, each company exhibiting several 
different styles and operating their machines by a number of 
agents, from which it will be evident to those not present that, 
for once, there was click and clatter and buzz enough to 
satisfy the most intense lover of that sort of domestic music. 
In concluding my report, I venture to urge again the impor¬ 
tance of this department, and to urge upon the society the 
necessity for an entire division of the articles which have 
usually been assigned to it. Without such division, it is im¬ 
possible to do justice to either class. The plainer articles of 
use are apt to receive less attention on the one hand; while on 
the other, the show of fine paintings and marble statuary in a 
rude building, ill-lighted and in no way constructed for such 
purposes, to say nothing of the incongruity of placing such 
works in the midst of millinery, fancy soaps, bedquilts and 
wax candles, is a thing that artists and connoisseurs may sub¬ 
mit to once, but never willingly the second time. 
These exhibitions of art may be made to exert an excellent 
influence upon the taste and general culture of the people who 
annually witness them, many of whom have no other oppor¬ 
tunity to enjoy and study such productions, and the society 
must not disregard their claims to consideration. 
