5S0 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 
The exposition building contained so much of real interest it really 
seemed a pity so much space should be devoted to fakirs, cheap jewelry, 
and cheaper souvenir stands. There were the same knives, with a pocket- 
book thrown in, positively w^orth a dollar, yours for the sum of twenty- 
five cents; there were shells, cheap bracelets and beads, glassware marked 
free, fortune tellers, and all the popular fakes known. And sandwiched 
in between all these were exquisite displays of hand-painted china, case 
after case of finest needlework, embracing almost every known stitch in 
embroidery, drawn work, all kinds of fancy work, knitting, crocheting; 
a variety of pieced quilts, elaborate in design and finely quilted; sofa 
pillows, beautiful fancy ones to look at, simple ones that appealed to 
one's sense of harmony and restfulness; exquisite hand wrought under- 
wear and children's clothing, in which any woman's heart would delight; 
all these, and much more, you found by dodging cheap souvenir stands. 
Many of our local merchants maintained stands in exposition hall, also, 
and visitors could judge from the beauty of their goods displayed there 
the pleasure a visit to their stores in the city would afford. 
One-half of the east wing of the exposition hall was devoted to a model 
cottage, presented for public inspection by the domestic science depart- 
ment of the Iowa State College, Ames. The decorations and furnishings 
were by local firms, under the supervision of the college instructors. 
There were four rooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and bed room. 
The wall decorations of the first named, wood brown, with ceiling of a 
warm yellow tint, harmonized with the plain, substantial mission furnish- 
ing. The curtains also were yellow, with inner curtains of thin white 
Swiss. In the dining room also mission furniture was used, the mural 
decoration being in shades of green. Plate rails are tabooed as unsightly 
and dust-gatherers besides. The bed room furnishings were blue and 
white, simple and dainty and cool looking. The kitchen I own, was a 
disappointment to me. There was nothing to mark it a model kitchen, 
no new ideas to be carried home by interesed hosewives. The whole aim 
of the model cottage was simplicity, durability, harmonious arrangement, 
and the questions asked and the interest shown proved that the average 
woman visitor to the great Iowa fair is, above all else, a home-maker. 
In a corner of the little cottage formerly known as the secretary's 
office, where the Iowa State College made good its claim as a great agri- 
cultural institution, the domestic science department devoted a tiny por- 
tion of wall space to an exhibit used in extension w^ork, bottles showing 
relative food values, and the like. Then there was a case in which wo- 
men were especially interested. The domestic science teachers have 
simplified the infant's first wardrobe to the plainest articles possible, yet 
very daintily made, easy laundering being one of the main considerations, 
and the outfit, displayed in a glass show case, was taken out many times 
each day for closer inspection by interested mothers. The soft flannels 
were hand-finished, the seams cat-stitched in silk or bound with silk tape. 
