270 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



itself was a great success, in a way. There were 142,000 ad- 

 missions a day during October, or about that, and although 

 there were some 20,000 deadheads a day admitted to the fair, 

 yet the grounds never seemed crowded. Such a number as 

 that, equal to the population of quite a city, would ordinarily 

 make quite a large crowd, yet no particular place upon the fair 

 ground was congested. There was room for all. 



The predominant feature of this whole fair seemed to be 

 seriousness. Not that there was no fun, for there was. That 

 was to be found upon the Pike. Let me describe to you, briefly, 

 a few of the scenes to be found upon the Pike. Hagenbach's 

 animal performance, I think, was the best in the world. I have 

 seen one similar in the Hippodrome at Paris, but it was not 

 equal to that one at St. Louis. When you first entered you 

 passed into a vast arena, in the center of which was piled up 

 rocks and earth, and, around the edges, places which formed 

 the caverns and dens of wild animals. Wild animals of every 

 kind were seen coming in and out. When I visited the place 

 I stopped and tried to think what animal I did not see, and I 

 could not. There seemed to be every class of animal known. 

 As you entered the performing arena there was an animal 

 tamer, who at one time had hyenas, jackals, leopards, and other 

 animals under his control, and yet, single-handed and alone, 

 he would make them jump through hoops of fire and obey per- 

 fectly his bidding. He seemed to work them as though they 

 were little pet dogs, that would come and go at his will. An 

 interesting incident occurred with reference to the tamer, which 

 I must relate. It was given to me by a member of the National 

 Board. This animal tamer was married, and he had a wife 

 who was anything but a pleasant companion. One Saturday 

 night, when he got through with his performance, he felt 

 immensely tired, and he thought he would not go up stairs to 

 meet his wife and have over with her the same old row. It 

 looked so peaceful in the animals' cage that he laid himself 

 down there, put his head on a lion that was asleep on its side, 

 and fell asleep himeslf. His wife missed him. She went down 

 and began to look for him, and finally found him asleep in- the 

 cage. She got a long stick and thrust it through between the 

 bars of the cage and woke him up. He sprang up, and as he 

 got up he looked out and saw his wife. She was, of course, out- 

 side of the cage. He was in there with the other wild beasts.. 



