Fairs of the Pioneers 191 



THE FIRST MEEEY-GO-BOUND 



I do not pretend to know who invented the 

 merry-go-round or when it first came into use. 

 Perhaps the ancients may have had it. The first 

 merry-go-round I ever saw was at a Fall Fair 

 and it was a very crude contrivance. Eight or 

 ten wooden beams fastened with an iron pin to 

 the top of a large post set in the ground, and the 

 motive power was a couple of strong men who 

 shoved the contraption around. At the end of each 

 beam was a seat. There was no orchestrion frac- 

 turing the atmosphere with such airs as "Buy a 

 Broom," "Linger Longer, Lou," or "When You 

 and I Were Young, Maggie." You paid your 

 nickel and experienced a sense of motion and diz- 

 ziness for a minute or two. It was in keeping with 

 the wooden or ox-team age, was that first merry- 

 go-round. 



They tell a story of a country young couple who 

 were scheduled to start off on a short honeymoon 

 tour by rail, but fell victims to the lure of the 

 merry-go-round. They were married on Fair Day 

 and before train time they visited the Fair. They 

 were so enamoured with the merry-go-round that 

 the groom, of course, with the bride's consent, 

 spent all the intended railway fare money on this 

 roundabout pleasure — they rode 'round and 'round 

 all afternoon and then went back home and, 

 well as the storybooks say— lived happy ever 

 after. 



