The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1867-01-29
oar ceansnts Rsviswsa.

| SoNEwuElE, Jan. 70, 1t67s
| sEsIsoR GATE ClrY:-I gsSe do bed e
your comments on my note, in last 1hufsda0's
GArE Clrr, against Agricultural Fairs In .
graceful and manly style you combss my
views, and labor 70 convert me and the class
assume 70 represent, to the utility of Fairs,
so called, though il is missones. Your
self.imposed task viii be like the itinerancy
of Jordan. however, . hard -oad to travel.
Experience keeps dear school, butt makes
sure work, and and they think and speak
from its teachings, fool or no fool. The the
DRY Of given thing is its poetry; the practies
and its results are its prose, and herein ex>
| lists the difference between you and me in our
present relation. base my Judgment upon
! the practice and results in FAirs; and yoa upi
on the theory, and naturally enough We ara
divergent. Your eomparison Of Agricultural
Fairs with prayers, Sunday services, good
roads, moonli, nights, &c, de-, i very pref.
ty, but delusive. These things may be placed
in the catalogue Of absolute necessities, adj
dressed directly To our wants in time and in
eternity. While Agricultural Fairs, hold,
are mere unhealthy excrescences upon pleth.
DRY itself, which latter, like dress, many ape
to their financial ruin, or disadvantage, At
least. In proof Of this statement, | have
few cases in my minds eye to bolster 1t.
Rugged thinkers fall into no such snare.
have no disposition to coutravene yonr other
remarks concerning the good that has result>
ed to the human family, by tho estAblishment
Of societies for the promotion Of the arts and
sciences, in civilized and enlightened Europe.
But cannot see that the parade Of them is .
recommendation OF Agricultural Fairs.
look upon these scientific men, in their close
and straining concentration Of mind, upon
given subject, having for its hopeful result
something like lpeace on earth and good will
to men, with reverential awe and admira>
ton But, turning thence, to look on an as
sembled Fair, the transition of thought is
quick, aud instinctively contemplates just hog
and hominy. Again, thank you for this ar
eument of yours, as | want to use it. The
counterpart Of those societies, in the direc-
ton of our subject, may be readily recog
nized in what is called the Farmers Club, in
the city of New York. 1t need not be pecul-
| lar to New York Keokuk might we'll 90
and do likewise, with its weekly, fortnightly,
or monthly meetings. Discussing in them
topics OF general and particular interest, from
the parlor, out through the dining room,
kitchen, stable, cow-pen, pigstye, hen-roost
and garden, to the ampler corn6eld. Receiv
ing and distributing, gratuitcusly or other
wise, rare seeds, plants, DC. These discuss
ions, and the sraver conclusions that would
grow ou. ofthem, appearing regularly in your
columns. would increase your subscriptlc ION
list amazingly, and, on the other hand, redHs
beneft almost without expensel q scope Of
country co-extensive with your circulation
and even beyond it, as you will be copied
without credit only toooften. This Would
recommend as cheap practical substitute
for the nuisance called Fairs. believe, al
so, in the socisblity you speak Of, but not in
Fairs, as means Of gratifying the penchAn
for it, nor for the exhibition Of rotund ba'
bes. Happily, there is no squalidity ofmeA nl
of administering to the social instincts of oul
nature. In rustic vernacular, II amt done
| but I'll quit, as begun,
"a FARMER"