The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-10-09
Address,.
Delivered before the Sheboygan C0un.
~ Agricultural Society lat its ann
uai Fair, at ShebOygan Falls,
SPIT 10th. 1873. by Lutte A
TAYLOR of La Crosse


uai Fair, at sheboygan Falls,
SPIT 10th. 1873. by Lutte A
TAYLOR, of La Crosse.
Mr.. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GEN
PLEMEN The Fair is the Towering time
Of tie year. 1t is the Festival of Labor.
Here Industry exhibits its reward.
displays It's triumphs, and
Art receives her crown. All the long
year the wondrous alchemy of nature has
been patient at its subtle work perfect
ing the results wLich we witness noH.
Winter SHOWS have tertllized the brown
filth and grassy sod Spring has flung
out her blossoms with prodlgal protus-
ion; Summer suns have led the spring
ing stalk to its full stature and hardened
the milky berry into golden grain and
ripened ear; Autumn with pride collects
the ripened fruit grown ruddy In Sum
mer's fiery mould.
This is the season of fruition, and the
Fair is large and generous Harvest
Home" where each, in an honorable
spirit of emulation. completes for SUI
premacy in a field where the competition
itself is of far greater value than the prize
bestowed Here is the romance of La
Dor. The best of the fild. the first of the
flock, the most skillful work of the hands
is exhibited here, and giving an added
charm to all is the social intercourse, SO
general, free and unrestricted upon every
holiday of this kind. Other festivals are
local or personal in their significance and
narrow in their scope; this 10 broad as
the necessities of man and appeals to uni
versal human nature daily needs.
1t has been said in praise OF agricul-
ture, that it was the primal occupation
OF man" According to sacred authority
this is true, but according to the same
nal success as an agriculturist. No man
ever had better start in the world than
Mr.. Adam He inherited an estate of
of unexampled extent it was furnished
with a large variety and number of stock !;
his orchard was filled with fruit of rare
excellence, which had not cost him 1.-THE
of the trouble and care which our fruit
growers experience in bringing their ia
yorites to perfection ; he had no line
fences to keep up; no highway tax to
work out no shiftless neighbors to bor-
row his tools and neglect to return them /;
no politics to distract his attention; no
corner grocery or club house to engage
his time aud capture his cash no
SPECTATORS to contend against In the way
of prices; no railroad monopolies to rob
him in transportation he was whole
Grange, with unlimited business IN man
agement-and yet he was not happy.
His farm was overrun with weeds and
thistles, and be finally lost his homestead
and was turned out bankrupt to pre-empt
on the barrens-like "poor white on
81. hn
woods of the Carolinas.
But notwithstanding this inausplclous
beginning, agriculture rallied from Its
first disgrace, and the pages OF history,
sacred ard profane, are growing with Its
praise. and poetry has ever found 1t an
inspiring theme.
Following the line of sacred story, we
find that when Capt. Noah, at the clos e
of very memorable cruise, left the sea
and walked forth upon the purified
earth, he "began to be an husband
man." He seems also to have had the
taste of horticulturist, for he PLANTED
him vineyard, and went into the man
ufacture of wine, and here we grleve to
say, that like many other men who have
since been In the same business. he par
took 10 freely of his own production.
Close following after came the days OF
Patriarchs, and the history of the world
gives US No pictures more stately and
grand than those ofthese nomadlc chiefs,
whose wealth was in hocks and herds,
and whose titles to power were their own
kIngly attributes; nor has language ever
told sweater story than that OF royal
born Rebekah filling the pitcher at the
we'll and Fastening with gracious hospl-
tally to press its GOODNESS to the stranger S
lips.
All the early history of the world is
redolent with the flavor of the fields
But passing over many characters which
stand out bold and prominent, L can
merely allude to Prince Joseph, an in
genious youth of the royal family of lsra-
ell The pet child of a wealthy father
and the envy of less favored brethren, in
his musings in the fields he formed a
character whose robust virtue delivered
him from the servitude of pleasure, and
In later life he developed a faculty for
fnanciering which enabled him to assist
his impoverished relatives and gave him
a lasting fame. He became one of the
heaviest corn brokers on record, and if
not yeritable 'bull'' in the market, he
used remarkable ''corner" greatly to
his advantage, and like many men in
later days, became immensely wealthy by
means of government contract.
Farther down the track of time we find
the touching tale of the Moabitlsh dam
sci, filial Ruth. We see her with modest
mien and downcasr eye, cleaning. the
barley stalks, and marke her pleased sur
prise a. the kindness which finds and the
love which follows her, and we love to re-
member that this poor, dutifui, early
widowed harvest girl, who shyly sat be-
side the reapers and shared their frugal
fare, became the wife of princely Boaz,
and the grandmother of that great He
brew Board and King whose songs to-
day make music in every sanctuary and
melody in every Christian heart.
The rustic of the ripened grain is heard
in Virgils verse, and almost every poet
from the dawn of letters to the present
time has paid his willing tribute to the
beauties and excellencies of pastoral life
But you will tell me that these alluring
pictures are far different from the actual
facts-the grimy labor. and toll and
WEAKNESS which the pursuit OF agricul-
ture imposes upon those who engage IN
it. | admit that sometimes the colorlEg
may be too high, but the essential out
lines are true.
Looking back through the years l can
see a picture of wondrous beauty in one
of the little valleys which is guarded by
sentinel peaks of the Green Mountain
State. 1t is early morning and the cold
stee,y color of the East begins to warm
with faint Pushes of rosy-light. The
color deepens, and spreads, and shoots
up to the zenith, and all the East is
afame with crimson and gold. and soon
the sunlight, like smile of God touches
one mountain peak, then glancss to
another, aud another, and another still,
until all are capped with shining glory,
which slowly broadens to their base, and
by and by the sun itself. rising above the
SUBMITS, fills all the valley
with rejoicing light. can see this pic
ture now more clearly than eyer before,
yet | know that when looked at it with
eyes heavy with sleep just broken, and
spirit jaded with the WEAKNESS Of exces-
slve labor, that it shone as brightly in
fact as it shines in memory now.--And
so it is with all the poetry, the beauty
and the blessing which surround the
farmers life. 1t exists In fact, and if
not revealed to him, the fault is IL his
own condition-in the apathy. indiffer.
ence, or WEAKNESS, with which he looks
upon it.
| shall not attempt to-day to instruct
any farmer in the details of his business,