New-York tribune., 1874-09-22
scious Importance, futter OF unwonted hnery
which shows the day comes but once year.
Farmers wives descend from their buggies or

scious Importance, a futter Of unwOnted hnery
which shows the day comes but once a year.
Farmers wives descend from their buggies or
Jersey wagons and 90 with solemn counte-
nances to the Floral Hall-One Of the brightly
painted open sheds in the Fair grounds. They
ask flrtively after each others neuralgia, or
the baby's measles; but they cannot enter fully
into these subjects, for they are Judges, and
weighted down with the responsibility OF
Office. It is their duty to pronounce upon the
cases of worked sacques for babies, the tables
of crOchet-work, the miraculous silk and calico
patchwork quilts which flap overhead, and the
rows of jars of lucent jellies beneath. Sewing
machines next demand their decision, over
which they argue for an hour, each giving her
verdict for the make which she has bought. Inc
agent has placed Steinway and Cmckering
piano on the stand, and Miss Black (who teaches
music) plays waltz and polka on them, ana
the country ladies, after grave debate, give
premium to one instrument and "honoraDly
mention the other. They have good deal
of trouble in giving the prizes, so that none
of their neighbors shall feel sighted that
difficulty at last adjusted, they are ANXIOUS 10
90 I'D to the dinners Of corn and chickens
and set out to find their husbands, who are
lost in the black ring about the race-course.
There is no betting there, but there is more
shouting than at Jerome Park, and the mems
faces are red with the tremendous excitement
of each moment. "There goes Wilkeson's
"mules.n "Well-done, Samw "See that three
"year-old ~ "I told Burns to buy that
Morgan "Our stock runs too much to the
" Canadian breed" etc., etc.
But the young people do not care very
greatly for Morgans, or jelly, or pigs. They
have drifted toward each other in the crowd,
drawn by that instinct which Professor
Tyndall, who explains all mysteries declared
the other day was past his finding out, and
they stand Just where they are, by pens or
pianos-the pretty little girl in her ill-fttlng
dress and faring hat, and the awkward
young lout, with an entreating, despairing
look in his eyes, which makes him for
the moment q very gentle gentleman. 90
the day grows warmer, and the horses
90 tearing round the course, and the dinners
are eaten amid plenty of good-natured jokes
and gossip, and the lovers wander about the
cattle pens as in enchanted ground, and the
music turns the air into triumphant sound.
When evening comes, and the buggies and
spring wagons and carts go winding out Ot.the
dusty turnpike into the shady country lanes,
everybody feels that a great event Is over
something to be talked OF during the Winter
evenings to come, or for the farm wife to
think Of as she goes through her round OF
baking, potatO-paring, and scrubbmg. she
knows, if the men about the farm do not,
that there are too few breaks and holidays in
hcr life, and is the happier and better tenn
pered woman for this One
These Fairs, it was claimed when they were
most popular, advanced every agricultural in
terest, which is doubtless true; but it is more
certain that they bore their part in advancing
the condition of the men and women who
supported them, and the improvement of hu-
man stock surely counts for as much as that
of horses or turnps. The disadvantages of
country life all grow out of its loneliness;
both its diseases and vices are invariably
those which are induced by solitude. The
majority of patients in our insane asylums
are, singularly enough, from the agricultural
classes, and their mania that which is pro-
duced by monotony Of ideas and lack of fric-
ton with other minds. We merely hint here
at the reasons which make the September Fair
or any other exciting occasion of intercourse
between town and country, of good Will, Jol-
lity, and innocent lOye-making, an altogether
wholesome and desirable thing. We hint at
the reasons but our country friends can en-
large and give weight to them.