Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-02-04
sanitary Fairs.

the SOlulefs, ana raised tne sum OF S3O
600. Cincinnati followed and raise
3200,000; Boston raised 100000; an
New York proposes a metropolitan
fair; and as it must needs eclipse a,
others, it will be satisfied with nothin
short of halfa million. 1t Is also pro
posed to celebrate Washington's brit
day, by holding fair in the capitol 0
the nation Vermont, New Hampshire
and some other rural districts" con
tent themselves with playing SECOND
fiddle, and in so doing they show theil
good sense, Fairs are good, and so is
the prohibitory liquor law, but they dc
not constitute the chief end of man
Those who rely upon any one instru.
mentality to promote a good object. to
the neglect of all others, will in due
time find they are running their favorite
into the ground. If these fairs should
have the effect to stop the regular con-
tributions which have been constantly
flowing into the Sanitary Commission,
Tor the last few years, they would event
ually be productive of evil rather than
good. 1t is the constant running of the
little springs that make up the great
river. A great freshet is not unfrequent.
ly followed by great drought.
1t Is Furthermore worthy of conside-
ration that these fairs are local, rather
than general. The money thus obtained
is mostly used by the local commissions
in relieving the wants of soldiers in
their own immediate neighborhoods. and
very little reaches the General Treasury
This is all very well, but it is vastly i'm
portant that the General Commission
should always be prepared to relieve
Immediately any great and pressing wants
that may come to their knowledge. Let
the fairs go on and prosper; bat let not
individuals forget to do good and COM
municate as heretofore
There is some discussion and COM
ment now, as there always has been. on
the subject of lotteries, ratiies and grab
bags, at the fairs. Such practices are
declared by some to be very immoral
and wicked, but we have to confess that
we are unable to see it in that light. 1t
Is said man is known by the company
he keeps. II we were to find ourselves
In the company of professional gamblers,
and sporting gentlemen" we should
Immediately suspect we had got into the
wrong pew, whatever might seem to be
the business in hand. Now we are not
aware that this class of community are
accustomed to resort in great numbers
to these fairs. We have never supposed
that money getting, or swindling CON
stituted the leading motive of those who
attended. The main objects, so far as
we have seen, were to have good time,
and to promote a praiseworty object.
What they might draw or grab was
quite secondary consideration. Some
Of those who spend their time in squint-
Ing at the notes in these fairs might
possibly be as well employed in Olsen
gaging the formidable rafters from the
windows of their own souls. We have
heard men, who are in the habit of bar
gaining for grain, -four and coal to be
delivered at specified time in the dis
tant future-men who make the subject
of luck and chance study, who are con
stantly watching for opportunities to
buy low and sell high, who would not
scruple to cheat a man out of his eyes, so |
to speak, in horse trade, pirate sancti- !
about the sinfulness of rafiles |
and grab-bags. 1t is quite common at |
the present day to mingle the sweet with
the useful-amusement with instruction
and benevolence. 1t may not on the one
hand be strictly puritanical, neither does
1t clearly appear on the other, that those
who engage in it, are sinners above all
the Galileans. While the wants of our
sick and wounded soldiers are constant
Iy pressed upon our attention, it would
seem to be in bad taste at least for those
who are constantly disposing of full
grown camels, to be straining at infnit-
lssimal gnats.
You will all please to get your arti-
cles ready for the Metropolitan or the
Capitoline Fair.
. x