Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1868-10-09
The state Fair.

interfering with the regular order Of
business, the Fair was continued un-
til Saturday night.
Taking all In all, the exhibition
was equal to that of last year, in some
departments not being equal to those
of last and in many others much bet
ter. The receipts will pay all expen-
ses. The number present on Thurs
day was estimated at 10000 people.
The first Iowa State Fair was held i'm
1854 with less than 300 entries and
receipts of only $1,000. This year
the entries were upwards of 1000 and
the receipts will be from 1000 to $40
600.
Omitting the statistics and two
thirds of President Me,endy's address
we make the following extracts:
"The gratifying results of former
efforts have induced the officers of
the society to again call you together
to enter into generous competition
for the improvement of our fiocks
herds, crops, and mechanical appli.
ances; and from what we have al
ready seen, we are confident of the
excellence Of the same increasing
prosperity and of the same great pro-
gress that has been so gratifying to
behold in former years.
"It is indeed encouraging to every
lover Of agriculture, and to every
well-wisher of the prosperity of the
Hawkeye State, to find this large
and admirable aggregation of the best
from our farms, fiocks and herds-or-
chards, gardens. workshops and
households OH exhibition.
1.-THE great interest of this state
and it is beyond the power of man to
make it otherwise-is agriculture.
The climate and soil, tenure of land,
necessities of the people, and the re-
lations of our state to other states, all
combine to stamp Iowa with the in
dellible characteristics of an agricul-
tural state.
Fortunate it Is with you, my
friends, that an all-wise Providence
has cast your lots here. for in the
pursuit of agriculture is found the
greatest share of human happiness.
The health-giving, enrolling, and
elevating influence of this employ
ment has ever been a pleasant theme
with wise and philanthropic men,
who recognize its beneficial results
in establishing the wealth, power,
and true glory of a state.
"The growth and progress of the
state of Iowa from the time of the
first settlement of its territory by
civilized man t. the present time, are
one of the most remark able phenom-
ena in the history of the human race.
That a wild country, remote from
civilization, and over run by fierce
and warlike savages, should, within
period of time SO brief, as to be
within the memory of our youngest
men, become the happy home of over
one million of the human family,
enjoying the blessings of civilization,
and the surroundings of high moral
and mental culture, governing them
selves by wise and equitable laws Of
their own establishing, is truly among
the wonderful occurrences i'm the
history of our country. And yet ag-
riculture has done all this.
"a word to the young men of Iowa.
One of the prevalent and alarming
evils of the present day, one which,
if not soon arrested, must ultimately
affect, greatly and seriously affect,
the highest and best interests of our
country, is the strong aversion so
very generally manifested by the ri
sing generation to farm labor. 1t
seems to have become an almost uni
versal and settled conviction with
the young men of the present age,
that the portals Of honor, usefulness
and distinction, are open to those on
ly who figure largely within the en-
ervating walls of a counting room,
promenade the glittering walks of
professional life, or burn the mid
night oil in the sequestered halls of
classic learning. Mistaken idea! A
sentiment so unfounded and fatally
absurd, ought to mantle with blush
the cheek of the uneducated,s barbar-
Gus, and the enlightened and intelli-
gent mind of the nineteenth century
should repel it with indignant scorn,
"Dishonorable to work on farm :?
Cant be eminent, and at the
same time farmer?" Who taught
you my young friends, such philos-
ophy? From what librarians shelf
did you read such lessons of modern
wisdom? Oh, foolish young men /;
if such are the principles with which
you set out in life, you are destined
to fail though your prospects may
! now be as bright and clear as the sill
very sky of an autumnal evening.
yet the revelations of futurity will
becloud your hopes with unexpected
misfortune. o!young men of Iowa,
harbor not for a moment such suici-
dial notions Danish such thoughts
from your mind, as you would ban
ish from your heart the ruthless as
saiiant of national liberty. Remem-
Der that you live in country in
which moral worth, and intellectual
greatness, are the highest standards
of individual excellence. 1t matters
not what your vocation may be, or
however humble, it is by these quail
tiles that you will be judged by your
country, and by no others. Let not
the false glare, and the not unfre-
quently undeserving insignia of the
more favored sons of fortune, betray
your confidence, or court your affec.
tons. OF all the vocations that have
ever yet been pursued by man, there
are none higher, more honorable or
deserving than the cultivation of the
soil. The labors of the farm have
lnnnn~nI Tho otk aT hN