The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-10-08
THE STATE FAIR "A GLANCE AT HISTORY

The State Fair, which opens October
18th, and embraces the whole week,
will be one of the biggest and best in
the history of the Fair, unless all signs
fail. The exhibits will astoniSh and
please all visitors by their size and va
rety; the entertainments will be nu-
merous and unobjectionable; the racing
will be spirited and fair; and the peo-
ple-and after all the folks make up
the best of the Fair-will be here in
great crowds. Everybody is coming.
low rates, and letters from all parts
of the State indicate that the attend
ance will be unprecedentedly large. 1T
is going to be Il great success. Let
everybody come!
In the last issue of the Elizabeth City
Economist, Father Creecy, in an edito-
rial entitled Large Oaks From Little
Acorns Grow" gives a glance at the
early history of the Fair that has timely
interest:
'The State Fair of North Carolina
has been n product of slow development.
Its organization, and resultant Agricul-
tural Fair, had its origin in a meeting.
called a convention, held in small.
room on Fayetteville street, in Raleigh
in 1854 1t was composed OF some tif-
teen or twenty earnest men, all of
xuhan, 1yara fa IN. intarnStad in
riculture. We were in Raleigh at the
time for a few days, in attendance upon
the Episcopal convention of the Dio-
cese of North Carolina that elected
Bishop Atkinson. We occasionally
dropped in upon the Agricultural convenr
ton, being engaged in agriculture and
favorable to the cause that the cOnyen-
ton had in hand, and personally ac
auainted with some of it's members.
''When we first attended the session
of the body, Richard III. Smith.
a dear friend whose memory we still
cherish with ardent affection, college
companion and quasi guardian, was on
the floor. The same manner, the gesti-
culation. the honest, kindly, and sin
cere voice, the pose of the head that
we were so familiar with at the Univer-
sity in the Phil. Society, were the
same as of old when we last parted in
1882. He was urging the organization
of an Agricultural Society and State
Fair.
"The general tone of the convention
was respondent. Some of the more
timid members were not hopeful of sue
cess and thought the movement prema-
ture. Smith was courteous, gentle and
conciliatory to those who opposed the
movement, but he did not waver in his
convictions, and he did not lose his even
balance. Another and a different leader
of the convention was DIR. Tompkins, of
Edenton, native, we think, OF some
of the upper counties or Eastern Caro-
lima, who had recently settled in Eden
ton as rival of DR.. VIM. G. Warren,
Of Edenton, that great master of men
who won all hearts by the oil and
myhhr and frankincense of his nature
and his sincere kind-heartedness. Dr.
Tompkins was not a farmer, but had
identified himself with that most num-
erous class from political and profess
sional considerations, as was said.
"He was a ready, fluent, impetuous
and apparently bold speaker, and appar-
emily thought that fear was a more
potent motion of human conduct than
reason and kindness. He went into the
fight for a State Fair and Agricultu-
raj Society without gloves. He advoca-
ted it as great boon to the farmers
and eulogised them as the most deserv-
ing of all others. He denounced by
name some of the prominet farmers then
in the city, who had taken no interest
in the deliberations of the Agricultural
Convention, as recreant 10 patriotic
duty and to their own interest"
Such was the genesis of one of the
most valuable institutions Of the State,
which every good citizen of North Car
Dina should cherish, encourage and sus-
| tain.