242 
STATE AGEICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
ANNUAL ADDRESSES 
By Maj. Gen. W. T. SHERMAN, and others. 
General Sherman was first presented by the President and spoke very near¬ 
ly as follows: 
I have come to Wisconsin, not for the purpose of making a speech, or to 
address the gentlemen who could teach me all about agriculture, for I do not 
profess to know anything at all about it. It would seem to me preposterous^ 
for a plain, simple, straight forward soldier, to speak to you at all, in the 
presence of such men as Gov. Randall and Senator Doolittle, whose fame has 
extended over the whole woild, and I do not want that anything I may say 
should be construed into a speech, or as an evidence of my feelings and my 
love for the people of Wisconsin. I could not say anything that would be 
an adequate expression of the feelings I have for you, and that would fitly 
represent the gratitude I feel toward you for your acts of devotion to the 
good of this country. I feel deeply your devotion to our cause, and I am 
thankful for the expressions of good feeling which you have always given to 
me, especially at this present time. I therefore wish that you will accept my 
apology for not making anything like an address which would be calculated to 
impart information or give instruction to you, the citizens of Wisconsin— 
men^who are able and qualified to teach me on all those subjects that con¬ 
cern agriculture. [Cheers.] I assure you that it gives me pleasure to meet 
you here ; it is more pleasant to see you with your bonnets than with your 
bayonets ; but in reflecting upon the past I know that the men who now sur. 
round me are they who aided me in the ordeal through which I and they have 
passed. I know that the old soldiers who have marched with me through the 
South will turn their labor, which until now has been a labor of destruction, 
into a labor to build up and make Wisconsin what she is doomed and destined 
to be, a land noted not only for big and brave men, but for all those graces 
of life which are included in education, refinement, and luxury, and for ev¬ 
erything which makes life desirable. To the old soldiers I need say nothing. 
I have had the assurance of your Governor that you have come back from the 
war pure and untainted by the vices which afflict humanity, and that the 
men of Wisconsin have resumed their labor on the plough and in the work¬ 
shop as in the days gone by. The old despotisms of Europe will look upon 
that simple fact as a greater honor to you, and reflecting more credit upon 
