everywhere, and so shed
little light on the question. The pages of this magazine will be open to
any one who can give the desired information.

The season of agricultural fairs, "cattle-shows" and the like, is about
over. There is scarcely a county in New England, scarcely a State in the
Union, but has had a fair of some sort or other. Most of them report
better exhibits and larger attendance than ever before. Some few report
a falling off in attendance. That all these fairs have done exhibitors
much good is doubtful; that they have benefited the thinking portion of
their attendants is unquestionable. Unfortunately, the thinking portion
of a farming community is lamentably small. Most people go to a
"cattle-show" to be amused; a few go to learn. The few that derive
benefit from seeing the wonders of the earth collected in pens and on
tables are helped just as a teacher gets benefit from a teacher's
institute--both get food for thought. At the cattle-show the farmer
_may_ learn of new methods and see their results. The trouble is that
the ordinary farmer goes to the fair for the same reason that the
average citizen buys a ticket to the menagerie--to see the circus. There
are more clowns at a cattle-show than the sawdust ever saw. The horses
may not be so pretty or gaudy, but they go faster. One man defended
himself very frankly at the dinner of a county fair in this State when
he said: "The Lord made horses to go, and I like to see them do it."
This question of trotting or no trotting at the fair is not a new one;
but with age it seems to acquire toughness,--like chickens, for
instance.

But passing by the horse question, we come to the question of clowns,
which is really a very serious one. It may be irreverent to compare
"cattle-show" orators to circus clowns, but really the temptation is
irresistible; and then they are the only features of the respective
exhibitions that have speaking parts. Joking aside, there are important
lessons which the speaking and the speakers at the recent fairs may
teach us. We find that the candidate for office has become a great
attraction, one which the fair-managers bid high for. They draw well,
too.

This calls to mind this year's Salisbury Beach Festival, a time-honored
institution which has degenerated into a money-making affair in these
later days. This year there was, to be sure, a large crowd present, but
yet the attendance was smaller than in any year for a long time. The
numb