13 



CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT. 



About one hundred and fifty articles were entered in the 

 CJhiklren's Department by the eighty-one contributors. This 

 appears to be one of the most attractive departments of the 

 Fair, for all, parents, teachers, and other friends of the children 

 are interested in their work, and like to see what they have 

 been doing ; while the children themselves like to compare 

 their work with that of others, and we often see them lookinsr 

 eagerly over the tables, interested to know what their little 

 friends have contributed; and we often are amused at the fre- 

 quent visits to their table of the anxious-faced little ones before 

 the work of pinning the gratuity cards to their little articles is 

 completed. All this is very natural, and we children of a 

 larger growth no doubt are often seen showing a similar inter- 

 est as to the result of our contributions, all through the various 

 departments, from the contributor of the ten cent fancy article, 

 to the owner of the famous "Jersey Belle." 



We sometimes wonder what the result would be should we 

 iiold one of our annual fairs just for the benefit of the Society, 

 -offering no premiums at all in any of the departments. There 

 is little doubt that the real friends of the Society would put 

 forth extra effort to make the Fair a success, and would con- 

 tribute jnore freely than ever before. ' The suggestion is 

 probably worthless, .as the uncertainty of its proving success- 

 ful, if made practical, is too great to warrant the experiment, 

 jet this method of reducing the debt of the Society could 

 hardly be less efficient than those that have been tried here- 

 tofore. 



Sometimes, on the first morning of the Fair, we feel a little 

 anxious in regard to the " Children's Department," fearing that 

 it will not be as attractive as in years before, but as it has 



