The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-10-30
AGRIcULTURAL FAIRS.

Our thanks are due to Major Suther-
lin, President of the Border Agricultu-
raj Society, for an autograph letter of
invitation to the late Fair held in DAN
vile. Alsoto Jacob Fuller, Esq, Presi-
dent of the Rockbridge Agricultural
and Mechanical Society, for an invita-
ton to the Fair which meets in Lex
ington on the 4th of November. In adj
dition to his kind letter, Mr.. Fuller
sends a ticket of life membership in his
Society,--a compliment rendered, he is
pleased to say, "i0 consideration of the |
interest you take IN, and the valuable
aid you are rendering to develope the
material welfare of our people,"
We are grateful for these favors and
regret very much that the 'cares OF Of
fice,r the herculean labor of collecting
a small amount of money, and ill health
combined, make it impossible to ac-
cept the invitations so courteously
given. In hippier days to come, we
hope to avail ourselves Of these invita-
tions and to manifest the lively interest
we feel in whatever pertains to the real
prosperity of Virginia. We must say,
agriculture and Beyond mechanics, to
which we look with lIvelier interest
than to all things else. The nature and
extent Of that interest, We propose to
make the subject of an extended article
at some suitable time.
The Danvilles Fair, we are glad to
hear, was great success. In Stann-
ton. the Fair promises to lie a still great
or success; nor is there any reason to
doubt the issue Of the Fair in Rock
bridge. What is the purport of these
successesp The failure, we fear, for
many years to come, OF those great Ag-
ricultural Fairs in Richmond, to which
the people throughout the State were
wont, in better days, to look forward
with so much delight. 1t will be long
time before the general prosperity will
be such as to.enab,e the farmers of Vir-
ginia to revive their great annual Fairs
at the State Capital. Meanwhile the
local Fairs will continue to prosper. and
the probability is that they will eventu-
ally supercede the State Fair entirely.
This is to be regretted. But the time
for vain regrets has passed. We must
buckle to the work right ii, front of us
with true Virginia pluck. 1t is an i'll
wind that blows nobody any good, and
what will be lost in the centre may be
moro than gained at various points on
she circumference.
In conclusion, we must repeat what
we have so often, and apparently to ne
purpose, said, and that is, that Gordon
sville is beyond question one Of the bes
places in the whole State tor Fair
Shall the Border have It's Fair, the Val
ley two Fairs, and the beautiful and fer
tile Piedmont district lie dormant ant
almost dead forever? We answer NO
thrice no.
hJs The Dispatch is down upon Rus
KIN because of his proposition tn It gov
ernments should own all the railroad
and because he contends that no maj
should be allowed to own more than
certain amount of property. 1t is tn
province of common sense, blessed b
its nane shade OF Sir WIN. HAMILTo
forgive us) thus to combat the vagarie
OF the visionary. But has the editor c
the Dispatch ever read carefully Rus
KIN's letter, to DIXON, the cork-cutter c
Sunderland? Has he ever reflected VIII
free society is so great and so terrible
failure? Yea; but all hope of huma
betterment must be killed by The mad
dog cry of utopia" Read, then, tn
book Adam Smith wrote before he per
ned the Wealth of n Nations.
:CP"There is something not altogetf
er unpleasant in the msfortunes of OF
best friends" said the French cync.-
For our part we are secretly please
that SO many Virginians are turned OF
ofoffice. Office-seeking has never bee
esteemed high calling. What, the
shall be said of office holding? Force
10 exert his talents, the Virginian hi
always proved himself equal co any ta'
however hard. Wepity families and v
1 pity men too old to begin life anew, b
we have thousands of terra2ins wi
need precisely this coal of fire-want
ofIice-on their broad, lazy backs.
would be no bad thing barring carpe
bag isgovernment-it the mass of vi
ginians could be kept out of office f
twenty years to come.
tP Governor Seymour BIS take
the field and is making a noble fig
for the party aud cause whose cham
ion he is. Whether it will rally G.
broken ranks of our party, and tn
the tide OF battle into victory renal
to be seen. If he does not, constitutIo
al liberty, as written by our fathers
gone for long time in this countr.
and as Genera, Blair has said, we fe
we shall not see mother President
election. But We will soon see wi
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