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ANNUAL ADDRESS. 
BY HON. ABEAM LINCOLN, OB ILLINOIS. 
DELIVEBED AT MILWAUKEE, SEPT. 30, 1859 
Members of the Agricultural Society and Citizens of Wis¬ 
consin : 
Agricultural Fairs are becoming an institution of the coun¬ 
try ; they are useful in more ways than one; they bring us to¬ 
gether, and thereby make us better acquainted, and better 
friends than we otherwise would be. From the first appearance 
of man upon the earth, down to very recent times, the words 
“ stranger ” and “ enemy ” were quite or almost synonymous. 
Long after civilized nations had defined robbery and murder as 
high crimes, and had affixed severe punishments to them, wdien 
practiced among and upon their own people respectively, it 
was deemed no offence, but even meritorious, to rob, and mur¬ 
der, and enslave strangers , whether as nations or as individuals. 
Even yet, this has not totally disappeared. The man of the 
highest moral cultivation, in spite of all which abstract princi¬ 
ple can do, likes him whom he does know, much better than 
him whom he does not know. To correct the evils, great and 
small, which spring from want of sympathy, and from positive 
enmity, among strangers , as nations, or as individuals, is one 
of the highest functions of civilization. To this end our Agri¬ 
cultural Fairs contribute in no small degree. They render more 
pleasant, and more strong, and more durable, the bond of social 
and political union among us. Again, if, as Pope declares, 
“ happiness is our being’s end and aim,” our Fairs contribute 
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