EXHIBITION—SUPERINTENDENTS’ REPORTS. 165 
In concluding this report, permit me to suggest that we 
should call to our aid any and all who will in any wav increase 
the interest to the exhibitors, and attract the people to our an* 
nual gatherings. 
Let such devices and emblems, not too expensive, be pro¬ 
cured and placed at the disposal of competent judges as will 
be attractive and complimentary to those who receive them. 
Thus at each returning fair will be found new attractions, in¬ 
creased interest and enlarged receipts. 
REPORT OF THF FINE ART DEPARTMENT. 
BY J. O. EATON, SUPERINTENDENT. 
The fine arts hall, a building 45 x 100, with a wing 35 x 50 
feet, was not strictly limited in its use to works of art, but was 
filled to its fullest capacity, with an extensive variety of arti¬ 
cles, which for art, workmanship, ingenuity, beauty and use- 
fullness, could not well have been excelled. Any attempt to 
describe either singly or collectively, the numerous articles on 
exhibition, would convey but a faint idea of the many attrac¬ 
tions which met the eye of the visitor. The constant rush of 
people passing through the hall, from the opening until the 
■close of the fair, clearly indicated the attractiveness of the ex¬ 
hibition, and a corresponding appreciation on the part of the 
public. 
The society is under special obligations to Mrs. Alexander 
Mitchel, for the generous offer of her entire collection of works 
of art, for the occasion ; from which we selected a large num 
ber of fine paintings, of an aggregate value of not less than 
fifty thousand dollars,- also to Messrs. II. N. Hempstead, for 
the use of Chappel’s celebrated picture known as the “ last 
hours of President Lincoln.” This painting with its superbly 
carved black walnut frame, is said to have cost twenty thousand 
dollars, and was one of the most attractive features of the ex¬ 
hibition. 
