The blue-grass region of Kentucky : and other Kentucky articles . sinterval ran turbulent and stormy. Now politics,now finance, imbittered and distressed the and again, here and there, small societies re-vived the fair, but all efforts to expand it were un-availing. And yet this period must be distinguishedas the one durino- which the necessity of the fair be-came widely recognized; for it taught the Kentuck-ians that their chief interest lay in the soil, and thatphysical nature imposed upon them the agricult-ural type of life. Grass was to be their portionand their destiny. It tau
The blue-grass region of Kentucky : and other Kentucky articles . sinterval ran turbulent and stormy. Now politics,now finance, imbittered and distressed the and again, here and there, small societies re-vived the fair, but all efforts to expand it were un-availing. And yet this period must be distinguishedas the one durino- which the necessity of the fair be-came widely recognized; for it taught the Kentuck-ians that their chief interest lay in the soil, and thatphysical nature imposed upon them the agricult-ural type of life. Grass was to be their portionand their destiny. It taught them the insulationof their habitat, and the need of looking withintheir own society for the germs and laws of theirdevelopment. As soon as the people came to seethat they were to be a race of farmers, it is important to note their concern that, as such, they shouldbe hedged with respectability. They took highground about it; they would not cease to be gentle-men; they would have their class well reputed forfat pastures and comfortable homes, but honored as. PRODUCTS OF THE SOIL. well for manners and liberal intelligence. And tothis end they had recourse to an agricultural litera-ture. Thus, when the fair began to revive, withhappier auspices, near the close of the period underconsideration, they signalized it for nearly the quar- 140 KENTUCKY FAIRS ter of a century afterwards by instituting literary con-tests. Prizes and medals were offered for discov-eries and inventions which should be of interest tothe Kentucky agriculturist; and hundreds of dollarswere appropriated for the victors and the secondvictors in the writing of essays which should helpthe farmer to become a scientist and not to forgetto remain a gentleman. In addition, they some-times sat for hours in the open air while some emi-nent citizen — the Governor, if possible — deliveredan address to commemorate the opening of the fair,and to review the progress of agricultural life in thecommonwealth. But there
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1892
