in countless pens and stalls, until one tarries only long enough to
sign the Poultry Fanciers’ demand for a new building and to be grateful
for the railroad congestion that has delayed many other exhibits, and
then departs, resolutely undeflected by the charms of the Midway, the
miniature railway, and the innumerable ice-cream, sausage, and popcorn
stands.
“By the second day it is a commonplace that the exhibition is the
greatest ever given; everybody begins to count it nearly half over,
and a few acknowledge that they wish it were. The cabmen complain of
trolley car competition, and a sight-seeing automobile decides that
its license is too high to allow it any profit. Lady visitors complain
that there are not enough seats on the grounds, that admission to the
grandstand is increased to fifty cents, and that the classification
of the fancy work department is years behind the vogue. The judges
of jellies and the connoisseurs of cakes are prostrated after their
investigations into the merits of the two thousand four hundred and
twenty-four and three hundred and thirty specimens to which they have
submitted their respective tastes.
“On Thursday, however, the third and, by tradition, the greatest day,
enthusiasm and optimism return under the stimulus of the largest crowds
the town has ever seen. Nobody can count the people, and estimates of
their number are as inflated and soaring as the great balloon, which
finally does its duty handsomely. Nine trolley cars are counted in the
square at one time; there are eighty passenger coaches in the railroad
yards, and one livery-stable entertains two hundred and thirty-four
visiting horses! People who did not expect them receive premiums, and
the indefatigable Poultry Fanciers have a parade and a banquet, at
which they announce their building as assured.
“On Friday, the final day, the blessing continues to brighten as it
takes its flight. The Fair Association smilingly admits about eight
thousand dollars profit, entertains itself, and its live stock and
machinery exhibitors, at luncheon, promises the Poultry Fanciers their
new building, and utters mysterious hints concerning a great aquarium
for next year. Nothing mars the growing satisfaction save that some
unknown miscreant drops a lighted match into an entrance ticket box and
burns up approximately a bushel of tickets.
“Such are some of the phenomena of the county fair,” concluded
Professor Maturin. “They promise much to any proper scientific and
literary exposition. Here, as everywhere else, we need only a little
more information and a little more intelligence to transform our
contemporary superficiality into a realization of life that is, at the
same time, strong and fine.”
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.