260 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



Just south of the exposition building is the building of the boys' and 

 girls' club. During the past year this movement has become strong in 

 the state, and at the present time many thousands of boys are in the 

 corn growing contest and many thousands of girls are in the canning 

 contest. In the building are many different things that the boys and 

 girls have made. Twice daily some of the ladies in charge of the girls' 

 canning work give demonstrations of the methods of canning corn, to- 

 matoes, fruit and meat. They describe both the method of canning in 

 tin cans and in glass jars. The few women and girls who have been 

 attending these demonstrations have been much interested. 



It is interesting to talk to some of the boy ushers. You will gen- 

 erally find that they are farm boys, and that they are camping this year 

 on the fair grounds with a number of other boys — ninety-nine altogether, 

 one from each county. They won the right to come to the fair because 

 each one of them wrote the best essay in his county on the ideal farm. 

 All their expenses are paid, but they pay back part of them by spending 

 time each day ushering. This plan has been in use for several years, 

 and seems to be giving good results. 



The American Bible Society has an excellent exhibit of Bibles in the 

 BJ^position building. They sell a complete Bible for 17 cents, and a New 

 Testament for 5 cents. They supply Bibles in English, German, French, 

 Danish and Swedish. 



Aeroplane flights by Lincoln Beachey are big attractions. The daring 

 .aviator made reckless turns and shoots which thrilled thousands. His 

 famous loop-the-loop was perhaps the most spectacular performance. He 

 played hide-and-seek with the clouds thousands of feet in the air, going 

 in and out of them with his machine under perfect control, and as un- 

 concerned himself as though he had been walking on the ground. Mr. 

 Beachey is popular, and is one of the most expensive features, his remun- 

 eration being $1,000 a day. 



An industrial exhibit of the blind showed what remarkable things can 

 be accomplished by those devoid of sight. Their method of writing is 

 an interesting demonstration. It is done by punctures in a cardboard, 

 one of which was given as a souvenir to anyone interested. The blind 

 lady in charge could write almost as fast as a person with pencil and 

 paper. The writing is read simply by pushing the fingers over the 

 perforations. 



Ninety-nine boys, whose ages range from 15 to 19, representing ninety 

 six counties, were guests of the fair association. The boys had a great 

 time, and took advantage of every available minute. Last spring every 

 boy whose age was within the limits was given an opportunity to com^ 



