San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-01-19
Farmers Festivals.

Farmers, leading a more isolated life
than any other class of men, and hence
needing the benefits of social organiza-
ton more than any, seem the least in
clined to project such organizations.
Whether this arises from ignorance OF
their benefits, or from the hermit-like
habits which the isolation of farm life is
wont to form, we do not know, but
whether from one or the other. .or both,
we should like to see higher apprecia-
ton of social culture among them.
Fairs, cattle shows, and poultry exhibit
tons are good in their place, but they
are not substitutes for the festive board
around which are assembled men and
women, dressed in their holiday suits,
and uttering polished words, accom-
panied with polished manners. Neither
will the old fashioned tea-drinking suf-
flee for the social culture of farmers.
These tea-drinkings answered a good
purpose in theirday--and we trust their
day is long to contiaue-but the circles
assembled around the tea-table are apt
to be composed Of little cliques, either
denomin ational Or family, SO that they
partake too much of the character OF
rural rings to ruin the purpose OF broad
catholic culture. I)+'t bga l''sS
q We have been led to call the atten-
ton of farmers to this subject from hay
ing recently attended the fourteenth an
niversary of the Berkshire County
(Mass.) Farmers Festival Association,
and perhaps we can't do the agriculture
of the country a better. service than by
giving a brief history Of this association,
its makeup, management, and benefits.
On bleak November day in 1863, a
solitary, but well-to-do farmer, in one
of our hill towns, was sitting before his
Franklin stove and wishing he conld
meet some of his peers whose farms he
had visited during the summer while
officially inspecting them as to their
premium virtues. He knew it was use
less to attempt a gathering in his own
home, large and famous for hospitality
as it was, for his friends would fear be-
ing snow-bound on the hills. So he
proposed a meeting at some large and
central hotel, and, after consulting
with a few prominent farmers
in different parts of the country,
he determined to issue an invitation to
a hundred or more to meet, with their
wives, during Christmas week, at Curtis
Hotel, in Lenox, have a good dinner,
get acquainted, talk over moral affairs
in general, drive dull care away, and
make merry. All receiving the invita-
ton were requested to respond, so that
the landlord might know how many
turkeys to kill and how many oysters to
purchase. The response came back
much more favorably than the protector
had anticipated. At the time appointed,
though the weather was unpropitious,
about 100 assembled, and the feast was
one of fat things. The roast-beef and
plum-pudding were unexceptionably
good, but the real feast came in the
after-dinner speeches and the parlor
talks, which were extended late into the
evening, and were closed by simple
country dance. u.. ,n.r...r .
All felt that the pleasure of the meet
ing had been too great not to be repeat
ed. Acquaintance had been made
which none were willing should not be
kept up, Accordingly a simple organi-
cation was effected, with only three Off
cers-a President, Vice-President, and
Secretary, the latter to act also as Treas
urer, and the three to constitute an ex-
ecutive committee with full power to
make arrangements for future meetings.
From that year to this the Berkshire
farmers have not failed to meet and
dine together in the most social and
friendly manner, and the meetings have
been profitable every way. They have
been schools not only of manners and
social culture generally, but hav devel-
oped thought and manhood. Those in
have learned to respect them
selves and their calling, and some of the
after-dinner speeches have surprised the
hearers, and possibly the speakers,
for their excellence. At the recent fes-
tival, which was held in Stockbridge,
reporter for one of the papers said to a
farmer, " Your speech was the best one
made at the table," The speaker
the reporter was jesting, as he