WHEN YOU WENT TO THE FAIR 
does now, no doubt, when that cry falls 
from the sky, for it was really springtime in 
your heart. 
When you drove up through the far- 
famed county capital to the fair grounds, 
you probably became a little flustered. 
There were so many strange faces, and the 
paved streets and big brick mansions 
seemed so much “‘tonier” than the dusty 
roads and plain dwelling-places of the 

“Which colt will you have?” 
country. Then, too, the fine surroundings 
of courthouse square made you stare so. 
At the grounds you “put up” your team 
as best you could with the hundreds of 
others scattered about, and joined the folks 
from your part to see the sights. 
All the fakers that ever lived, it seems now, 
followed the fairs. You and all the other 
farmers were caught time and again, but 
what did it matter if you bought brass for 
gold, or pictures that would fade, at the fair ? 
The trinkets and cheap mementoes had 
some other value besides that measured in 
mere money. What a marvelously rare rose 
came to the cheeks of your companion, for 
instance, when you sat for your picture 
together in that old rickety tent! And what 
a smile of elation and approval she. be- 
stowed upon you when you happened to win 
205 
some worthless prize in a game of chance or 
something! 
The “kids,” too, had the time of their 
lives. The products of the farm were com- 
mon enough to all, but placed as they were 
at the fair, they were shown to better advan- 
tage than in some commonplace garden or 
backwoods field. Why, even a big stalk of 
corn made every one stare in open-mouthed 
wonder. The young people paid less atten- 
ths sy ee > te ee oe Se ae ‘ 
Was there ever more stinging trony to bear than that? 
tion to these things, however, than to the 
peanuts and ice cream, while, of course, the 
“stuck-up” swains stopped at every lemon- 
ade stand if only to show they had the coin. 
“Eats ’Em Alive” was a strange spectacle, 
and to this day do you remember the wild 
lady that then made such an impression 
upon you? To the girls in their rainbow- 
hued calicoes, every attraction was “simply 
grand.” 
The baseball game that was played that 
morning between the county-seat team and 
that from a neighboring town was much 
better than the big leagues play nowadays, 
even though the former were several years 
behind the rules. Think of those long 
throws and almost impossible catches and 
stops! And the lusty cheering when a home 
run “came in.’’ Most everybody “knew” 
