• FOURTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK — PART XI. 671 



The State fairs give opportunities for farmers to meet with old 

 friends, friends they have not seen for many years, old soldiers to meet 

 with their comrades, young folks to meet with their cousins and have 

 a first-class outing. We do not know of anything that really equals the 

 advantages afforded by a first-class State fair such as are being held 

 each year in all the Western states. Where farmers can not 

 attend, by all means let them send their boys and girls. Do 

 not be afraid for these young folks. They will not get hurt on the 

 cars. They will not do anything out of the way unless there is some 

 bad blood in them for which the parents are responsible. We have a 

 very vivid recollection of attending our first fair, now half a century 

 ago. It was a great revelation to us. It showed us how big a world there 

 was outside of the farm. The live stock, the machinery, the agricultural 

 and horticultural exhibits, all these are wonderful educators. 



The boys have had a hard summer's work; the girls have probably 

 worked just as well if not as hard as the boys, and it is time now for 

 them to have an outing. Let them have it. Do not stint the expense. 

 Do not me uneasy about them. Let them see what a great, big world 

 this is, and what a great, big State their State is. Let them size up the 

 •other boys and girls there from country and town. Let them see some- 

 thing of the people who live in towns and get some idea of town life. 

 It will do them all good. They will go home tired, hungry perhaps for 

 some of mother's cooking, but they will be all the better for it. It will 

 give them something to think about for years to come. 



The Iowa State fair, to be held August 21-29, gives every promise 

 of being one of the finest fairs the State has ever held. The facilities 

 for observation are better this year than ever before. The boys who 

 are interested in the live stock will have an excellent opportunity to 

 see the judging and to pass judgment themselves. The girls will be 

 interested in the horticultural, the poultry and the dairy exhibits, and 

 both will be ablet o measure themselves with other boys and girls 

 and to measure the character of the people among whom they are likely to 

 live the rest of their days. 



Speaking of the Iowa State fair, we think the finest exhibit on the 

 grounds is always the people, for man is greater than any of his works; 

 the farmer is far more than the live stock he breeds. The grains grown 

 on his farm are the measure of his manhood. The women of the State 

 are always far superior to their handiwork as exhibited at the fair. Each 

 State is largely what the people of the State have made it; therefore, 

 the attendance at the fair is nearly always more interesting than the 

 fair itself. 



