The Farmers' Picnic

The farmers of Washtenaw, Wayne, Oakland and Livingston counties held their ninth annual picnic at Whitmore Lake, last Saturday. Early in the morning all of the roads leading to this popular resort were lined with vehicles of every description carrying people to this animal gathering, and by noon 10,000 souls were on the grounds. The first one of these picnics was held nine years ago and with each succeeding year the number in attendance has ncreased. By the time the people began to assemble, innumerable stands had been erected to gather in the few shekels those in attendance feit disposed to part with. The crooks were also present plying their nefarious vocations. The wiley owners"of the wheel of fortune, rings and rack of canes, and many other devices peculiar to suoh occasions were on hand to fleece the unsophisticated. The forenoon was spent in a sociable way and many were the persons who met who only see each other on su:h occasions. From 11:30 a. m. to 12:30 p. m., was the I time allotted for satifying the cravings of the inner man. There they were, 10,000 people, made up of the farmer and his wife, the country lad and lassie, with a goodly number from surrounding villages and cities, all seated on the ground in the shade of the rugged oak or the fruit ladened apple tree, and a prettier or more unique sight one could not wish to see. THE BUSINESS MEETING. At 1:30 President Ball ascended the platform in the grove and called the picnicers to order. The first thing in order was the eleotion of offlcers Lor the ensuing year, which resulted in the choice of the following gentlemen : President, C. M. Wood, of Livingston. Secretary, L. 1). Lovel, of South Lyon. Treasurér, H. Larrawfty. Executive commlttee: E.C. Beevea, DexttrN. C. Carpenter, Y'psilami ; Isaac Terry, Webstjr ; S. T. Gridley, Ypsilanti ; E. R. Anus, South Lyon ; Geo. Eenwick, South Lyou ; N. E. Sutton, Northfield; H. Pinckney. Hamburg; Geo. C. Page jr, Dexter ; T. DeForrest, Ann Arbor ; Geo. McDeuga] , H. F. Horner, H. D. Platt, Ypsilanti ; Giles Lee Brighton ; Chas. Fisnbeck, Howell ; H. B. Thayer, Chas. Durfee, Plymouth ; P. H. Murray, Salem ; Geo. Clark, Northfield; J. B.Gaundry Derton; W. D. Smith. E. A. Nordan, Dexter; W.'H. Landon Ypsilanti; Geo. Merrill, Webster; and C. H. Wines, Chelsea. President Ball stated that ïïon. C. H. Richmond, of Ann Arbor, was present and would make some remarks in regard to effecting an organization. Mr. Richmond on being introduced stated that in his judgment the farmer9 of the four counties, who annually meet for a picnic, should organize themselves into an association. "It is clear," said the speaker, "that the people desire these meetings by the est they take in them. Two years ago there were not one-quarter as many present as there are to-day. I would like to see an organization formed, and land of our own purchased where we could meet in peace, keep out questionable people, and have a large pavillion ereoted where the exercises could be held in case of bad weather. Here we find a lare number of farmers assembled for pleasure and recreation, and by their thus meeting and exchanging ideas they profit by it. I would like to fee a committee of five sppointed to think the matter over and suggest a plan, if it is deemed feasible." James W. Wing moved that a committee of five be appointed by the president to consider the matter, which was supported and carried. The president held the appointment of the committee under advisement for a few days. At the conclusión of this the prngramme, proper, was commenced with music by Miss Julia Ball, of Hamburg, and Elsie Cranstoo, of Webster, who rendered a very fine selection on the piano. After prayer by Rev. S. W. Burd, of Whitmore Lake, the audience was favored with a duett by E. N. and Miss Julia Ball. of Hambnnr. President Ball delivered his address of welcorne, which was short but pointed, saying that these annual meetings were necessary froin a social standpoint, and that a day of recreation was needed after the heat of the summer had passed away, and that this year they should congratúlate themselves for being alive after the extreme drought we had just passed through. GOVERNOR LL'CE'S ADDEESS. Governor Luce, upon being intro 'uced by President Ball, gave an interesting offhand address of an hour's length, which was lislened to with close attention by his immense audience. He has a fine voice and made himseif heard distinctly by all. The following is a synopsis of his speech : "It is the birthright of Americana to particípate in picnics. I have been doing so for several days. They bring into pleasaat association8 the noble mea and fflatrons, the handsome women and pretty girls. It is a difficult matter to address 10,000 people in the open air, but I will furnish the voice if you will keep quiet and let me do the talking. He showed "ow difficult it was for some persons to heed such advice. He actually heard one young man pop the all important question to his girl behind a flag at the rear of the platform, while he was delivering an adjjres. He heard the lover teil how hia jather was going to give him the 40-acre 'ot and how nice he could care for her and Urged her to accept him. The governor said he turned and told the girl to hurry and say yes to the young man and give him a chance to talk. No more disturbance came from that quarter. After thii hint as to the qaiet he wished for the governor said he WOULD TAKE NO TEXT but talk in a rambling way upon agriculture, picnics, and the farmer's life. Agriculture is of more importance to the people than any other calling. It is upon our prosperity that almost every other interest depends. He did not desire to pluck a laurel from any other vocation, but claims that this was the base upon which the nation's progress rested; and the farmers Rhould place themselves in a position to secure the best resulta oí their calling. If not for the proceeds of the farmer's industry our 6hips would rot at the wharfs and the railroad iron would rust on the track. The proflts of corn and pigs re built Chicago. OROANIZATION. The benefits of organization were then shown. We are living in a day of organization. a day of concentration of forces to benefit the condition of the various aesociations of men. Every class - the ministers, the doctors, the lawyers, and even the coffin makers - has its organizations designed by concentration of lofces and mutual intercourse to strengthen and build up each its particular class. I do not speak of these to condemn, but to commend. I would advice the farmers to go and do likewise. Up north this summer the speaker had found that even the patients sanering from hay fever had formed an association. All men understand this except the farmer. Everything is organized, and their organizations are here to stay. The wonderful progress in the use of machinery, since the speaker was a boy, was then yividly described. I Now, by machinery, the work of our men is multiplied from twenty to hundred times. When boys, we u9ed to cut our wheat with a siekle ; now we get on the reaper and drive. We used to write with a goose quill ; now we do our writing, except our love letters, by machinery. We used to talk face to face ; now by machinery and many miles apart; but the lover must not woo by machinery. The cold, soulless iron would not awaken the responsivo sentiment and tender feelings neeessary in a matter of this kind. The reason the farmer is the slowest of all classes to appreciate the advantage of organizjtion is in the very nature of the calhng. One of his disadvantages is his isolation, and yet this has its advantage, is that he and his sons and daughters are not often brought into contact with the temptations that drag down to degradation and woe. The speaker then paid a high tribute to education, in which he had believed trom his youth. We must not forget that education is to fit ourselves for usefulness in whatever calling we intend to pursue. Our education must not be dormant but put into ose and it was for this his parents struggled and economized for their six stalwart sons. But this fact is too often forgotten. Alas, in too many cases we know less at forty years of age than at twenty. Speaking fiom observation and experience, the governor believed there was no other calling known that affords more opportunities for education and improvement than that of the agriculturalist We do four days' work when we ought to do three. The farmer tills TOO MUCH LAND. We ought to have more woode, we work to muoh physically and do not work the brain enough. We should use more brain and a little 'ess mu-rcle. What the farmer should do is fertiliza his fields with brains. I know that the fertility of the ordinary Michigan farm may be continued or increased. My farm in Gilead is more fertile than it was thirty years ago, but I fertilizad it with brains, and I think I hae as many brains as I ever had. It should be our great desire and aim to gain the right kind of knowledge go we may know the best methods of cultivating and improving the farm to make it yield better crops with less hard work than before. Farmers are not all saints any more than are all other persons sinners, but they are as near saints as most people. The best moral sentiment of the land is found out under the green trees of the farmer's home. The tillers of the soil are the wealth producers of the world. It was never the farming olass who caused the ruin of their governments. Egypt, Greece, Rome, or Ireland of the present age, were not destroyed by the agriculturists, but, on the other hand, they have always been the hope and defense and friends of the land in which they lived. All down through the ages mankind has been trying to evade the divine command, man ehall eat his bread in the sweat of h;s brow, but mankind has been trying to earn his bread by the sweat of some other fellow. We are too often the viotims of the Bohemian oats swindlers, red-line wheat operator?, lightning rod agents, etc. He was told by a lawyer at Lansing last winter that there were over $100,000 of Bohemian oats notes in Ingham county alone. This bad state of aftairs would not have happenéd if the rarmers had conBulted their wives. He overheard two men telling how to manage the farmers when they wished to sell them their.wares. "You must talk and talk all the time, but for God's sake don't let the wife get in a word," was the secret of the most successful of the two. Men should take their wives in council. Take along your wife, said the speaker, if you are thinking of doing anything fishy or goosey. They have a natural intuition that shields them from the attacksof designing sharpers, and makes them their huabands' faithful allies. Tne mistake of trusting too implicity in the statements of others even though they may come through the columns of the agricultural paper to which one has pinned hls (aith from boyhood up. The neoessity of an educated mind and exercise of one'a best judgment, with aid of careful investigation, was spoken of and finally il'ustrated in his own experience. Do not accept the theories of others entirely, but investígate for yourselves. The story of a teacher who had seen fishes without eyes in the midnight depths of the Mammoth Cave of Kentuoky, was told. He theorized that if there could be fisbes without eyes, it must be because they did not need any there, and jumped to the conclusión that the forms and habits of animáis might be changed by a change of conditions in which they might be placed. Forinstance, he claimed that a breed of hens might be raised without wings, if some should persist in clipping their wings for a long time and keeping them in that condition entirely by themselves, where they would neither see nor mingle with chickens that had wings. In time they would be bom without wings. Af ter the explanation of his great theory to bis school, he told any who might wish to asked any questions to do so. But the idea was so strange and startling, and so plausible under his beautiful and convincing theorizing, that no one could find any point left to question, it all seemed so simple. But a little boy off in one corner had a thought of his own, and thrust up his hand in an iüterrogatory way. "Well, what is it?" said the learned professor. "Why are lambs bom with long taita, when they are always cut oflf?" The audience, most of whom were aware of this almost ui iversal custom among farmers, could thoroughly appreciate this apt iilustration, and their applause was long and hearty. Tne greatest burdens of society are borne by the farmers, yet they should cheerfully do their part in sustaining the churcbes, the schools of all grades, the state in all its departments, and every public enterprise of benefit to their fellow men. Their hopes and prospects are grand if they will guard well the citadel of liberty. The agriculturlists are not receiving the recognition they deserve, but it is partly their own fault. They must labor to be the power behind the throne, greater than the throne itself. Every effort must be made to elévate the basis and foundation of society. This nation will then live to bless the world. Let each one of us contribute to this end, and we shall reap the benefits. At the conclusión of the governor's speech, Mrs. Benjamin Kelley, of Ypsilanti town, read an excellent paper, in which she depicted the farmer s life, and made several very valuable suggestions which oould be followed with profit by the tillers of the soil. Longfellow's beautiful and patriotic paem, "Launching of the Ship," wssread by Miss Hary Lord, of Ypsilanti, which was well received by her multitude of hearers. The audience then listened very attentively tó a vocal solo by Miss Julia Ball. The last orator on the programme was U. M. Stark?, who was down for an address, but in his hasteinl eaving home in the morning he had forgottea his manuscript, and consequently what he had to say was said in an off-band manner. Mr. Starks is a very good speaker and a good deal of a wit, and kept his hearers in an uproar for several minutes. He not only indulged in a humorons strain, but in sober earnest made some remaks of real valué to all classes. Remarks were also made by Robert Campbell, of Pittsfield, who dissented in a few particulars from Q-ov. Luce. LITTLE PICNICS. The train was about three hours late in returning in the evening. At the Olifton house 198 tickets were sold for the dance in the evening. The Toledo and Ann Arbor railway sold 280 tickets to the Lake and return. Caspar Rinsey sold 150 big watermelons last Saturday, to go tu the farmers' picnic. Barring one or two fights the crowd was very orderly, and there was very little drunkenness. The Huron Cornet band was present and made things lively by discoursing sweet strains of music. Sheriff Walsh was the best known man on the grounds, and it is said he shook hands with 5,000 persons. Notwithstanding the detective force that was present, there were several cases of pocket-picking reported, but none of great amount. Sheriff Walsh, Nel. Sutherland, Fred Sipley, of this city, and Detective Manly, of Toledo, were on the grounds keeping a lookout for pickpockets. One poor unfortunate female found the abiding place of a quantity of liquor and imbibed too freely, causine; her to appear on the street in a very awkward positiop. J. J. Gibsou was Dresent and took several fine negativas of groups; one included our govornor, congressman, president (Wm. Ball) and several other distinguished people. The train on the T. & A. A. was so crowded going out in the morning, that no stop was made between Ann Arbor and the lake, much to the disgust of the large number who had assembled at lower town and at Leiand, who wanted to get aboard. About thirty picnicers from Pittsfield undertook the task of feeding Bro. Powers of the Ypsilantian and a representative of TnE Register. Although it required about as much as to satisf'y two elephants, they made a grand success of the effurt.