1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
667 
Women Exhibitors at Agri¬ 
cultural Fairs. 
As the season for agricultural fairs 
draws nigh it is a wise plan to think 
the matter over practically, with a view 
to making them a source of profit as 
well as pleasure. All enterprising farm¬ 
ers’ wives and daughters should make 
it a point of exhibiting specimens of 
their work at any county fairs possible, 
not only with the intention of helping 
the societies, but because it will yield 
a good revenue for the trouble and ex¬ 
pense entailed. Nor are county fairs 
the only places where a person can suc¬ 
cessfully exhibit, for frequently the dis¬ 
play of fancy work is much inferior at 
the State fairs to those of the county. 
The vegetables, fiowers and anything 
pertaining to manufactory display are 
always exceedingly fine, but the hand 
needlework, or paintings, and culinary 
display often fall short of the ordinary 
county fair, while the premiums are 
much larger. The year of the World’s 
Fair at Chicago a woman of my ac¬ 
quaintance living in New York State, in 
a small country town, paid expenses— 
somewhere in the neighborhood of $100, 
for this trip, with her premium money 
for exhibits at two adjoining county 
fairs. Another energetic young woman 
whom I know usually depends on her 
premium money for a Winter’s ward¬ 
robe, besides many other small luxuries 
which would not otherwise be indulged 
in. Still another woman devotes her 
premium money to the purchasing of 
handsome articles of tableware or fur¬ 
niture, each year getting one very nice 
article, which, she can keep as souvenirs 
of her own individual labor. Solid s.l- 
ver spoons, forks and other articles of 
like description are not to be despised 
as practical mementoes. 
The first requirement for preparing 
for a fair is to utilize common sense; 1 
frequently hear a skeptical ill-natured 
woman sarcastically remark: “There is 
no use of my entering anything at the 
county fair; I couldn’t get any prem¬ 
iums if I did. Only just a few of the 
favorites get those, and I do not belong 
to that set.’’ There are no favored few 
at any local fair I ever came in contact 
with. The officers are appointed, and 
strictly honorable, upright men aie 
chosen to fill the places, with by-laws 
and regulations governing each society, 
which are strictly and conscientiously 
carried out. The judges are appointed 
afresh each year, and usually from 
neighboring towns. As no names are 
permissible on the entry cards attached 
to each article, they know nothing 
whatever of those who own the goods, 
and favoritism is not easily indulged 
in, even if a judge felt so disposed. But 
looking into this matter and reviewing 
a list of the prize winners it is often 
found that some win many more prem¬ 
iums than others, while new exhibitors 
receive very few, or frequently none 
whatever, though their articles are far 
superior to the prize-bearing ones. This 
is literally true. Many very beautiful 
specimens of needlework will not be 
awarded a premium, when a much in¬ 
ferior article will win one. This mis¬ 
take is unjustly laid to incompetent 
judges, favoritism and anytliing but the 
rightful cause; it will invariably be 
found that the article in question was 
ubt entered in the class in whicli it be¬ 
longed, and the judges were unable to 
prevent this. 
There are always catalogues issued 
annually in advance of each county fair. 
A would-be exhibitor should procure 
one of these little books for each fair 
she contemplates exhibiting at, and fol¬ 
low out the rules there inscribed accur¬ 
ately. No trouble will follow if every 
article is properly labeled, and correct¬ 
ly entered in the class in which it be¬ 
longs, with the entry card securely fast¬ 
ened so it cannot come off. Judges are 
frequently sorely tried by several loose 
entry cards, which are often replaced 
on the wrong articles. 'This trouble 
arises in every department of the exhi¬ 
bition, not only in the domestic hall, 
which is usually devoted to needlework, 
but in the hall containing canned goods, 
cooking, etc., it is still more trying; 
there are few articles more addicted to 
losing their entry cards than cups of 
jelly, jams or preserves, and when there 
are several hundreds of these, each an 
exact fac-simile of its neighbor, it is 
not at all surprising that mistakes 
arise, and more or less dissatisfaction is 
felt at the non-appearance of the covet¬ 
ed red and blue tickets. It is always 
have been unfairly dealt with, next time 
you will be sure to succeed a« a reward 
for your forbearanee. The week before 
the fair takes place oarsfully make out 
your list of articles intanded for exhibi¬ 
tion; take or send it to the secretary of 
the society, and get your entry cards, 
which are securely fastened on the ar¬ 
ticles at home, correctly without any 
worry, which will inevitably accrue if 
this is left until you reach the fair 
grounds. There is much less danger of 
mistakes being made, both with you and 
with those who make your entries. Be¬ 
ing a successful exhibitor is really only 
a matter of care and forethought. 
SAJRAH RODNIY. 
3919 Fancy Waist, 
32 to 40 Bust. 
the new exhibitors whose carelessness 
causes the trouble. A person accus¬ 
tomed to making fair entries, has 
bought her experience and rarely makes 
blunders, and thereby usually secures 
numerous premiums, and is accused by 
less fortunate ones of being shown un¬ 
due favor. In reality she has only been 
careful, exhibiting no better articles 
than her less fortunate neighbor. 
I heard a very successful exhibitor 
say in reference to fair work: “I al¬ 
ways commence at the first of the sea¬ 
son, and put up a little of each kind of 
fruit, with the intention of exhibiting 
at the county fairs the following Au¬ 
tumn, making it of a superior quality 
for this purpose. There is no use en¬ 
tering inferior articles to compete with 
better ones.’’ As strawberries come first, 
a few cans, and a small quantity each 
ot jam, jelly and preserves were made 
with this end in view, and so on, taking 
each fruit as it came, storing the work 
by itself, so it would not get mixed with 
the other fruit. As she said, the actual 
expense was very trifling in comparison 
with the premiums she received, com¬ 
pensating her fully for the work it 
created. All of the fruit could be used 
in the family after exhibiting, and only 
the canned fruit required reheating; no 
harm came to other preparations. There 
is no need to add that she always won 
many premiums; for the same syste¬ 
matic rules were followed out as * for 
any other well-organized business. 
There is something else to be remem¬ 
bered; do not enter articles which are 
not listed in the catalogue, expecting to 
receive premiums. Occasionally they 
will be awarded a special premium, but 
this is an exception, not the rule, and 
they are more frequently passed over, 
only those included in the premium list 
receiving attention. Many beautiful 
things not specified are entered each 
year, adding much to the display as well 
as giving new ideas, which may be of 
use in constructing the catalogtie of 
premium lists the following year. A 
failure is often the forerunner of suc¬ 
cess. Refrain from making sarcastic re¬ 
marks over either real or fancied injus¬ 
tice; bear your disappointments Spar¬ 
tan-like; for it does no real good to 
complain, and only makes others pro¬ 
nounce you disagreeable. I once heard 
a fair official wearily remaric: “It is 
surprising how much rancor the loss of 
a 25-cent premium will bring out in 
some people.’’ Even if you know you 
The Rural Patterns. 
Waists buttoning down the back re¬ 
main in favor, and the model shown is 
especially pretty because of the fullness 
allowed by the groups of tucks. The 
original is of louisine silk, with cream 
guipure lace, and is made over the fitted 
lining, but all waist and gown materials 
are suitable, silk, wool and cotton, and 
the lining can be omitted whenever de¬ 
sirable. Silks and wools are better and 
more serviceable made over the founda¬ 
tion, but washable fabrics are prefer¬ 
able unlined. The fitted foundation is 
snug and smooth and closes at the back, 
together with the waist. The fronts 
proper are tucked to yoke depth and 
gathered at the waist line, but the backs 
are plain across the shoulders and show 
only slight fullness at the belt. The 
lace is applied over the material on in¬ 
dicated lines, the scalloped edge making 
an admirable effect over the plain waist. 
The sleeves are in bishop style, with 
pointed cuffs, and the neck is finished 
with a plain stock, to which are attached 
turn-over portions of lace. To cut this 
waist for a woman of medium size, 3% 
yards of material 21 inches wide, three 
yards 27 inches wide, 2% yards 32 
inches wide or 2 % yards 44 inches wide 
will be required, with yard of lace 
7% inches wide, and % yard of narrow 
edging to trim as illustrated. The pat¬ 
tern No. 3919 is cut in sizes for 32. 34, 
3G, 38 and 40-inch bust measure; price 
10 cents from this office. 
The tendency of all the latest skirts 
is to extreme snugness at the upper and 
pronounced fiare at the lower portion. 
No style contributes to that end so per¬ 
fectly as the habit back and the circu¬ 
lar flounce, and the two combined make 
a marked feature of advance models. 
The model shown is admirable in every 
way. Being cut in five gores it suits the 
great majority of figures and allows for 
fashion. The flounce falls in soft undu¬ 
lating foius and widens as it approaches 
the back, forming admirable lines. The 
placket can be at the center back or left 
front seam as desired, but in either case, 
should be provided with an ample un¬ 
derlap and an abundant supply of hooks 
and loops, that there may be no danger 
of gaping. To cut this skirt for a wo¬ 
man of medium size, 13 yarns of ma¬ 
terial 21 inches wide, 10^ yards 27 
inches wide, 8% yards 32 inches wide, 
71/4 yards 44 inches wide, or 6 % yards 
50 inches wide will be required when 
flounce is used; nine yards 21 inches 
wide, seven yards 27 inches wide, 6% 
yards 32 inches wide, 5^ yards 44 
inches wide or five yards 50 inches wide 
when flounce is omitted. The pattern 
No. 3920 is cut in sizes for a 22, 24, 26, 
28 and 30-inch waist measure; price 10 
cents from this office. 
An ounce of cheerfulness is worth a 
pound of sadness to serve God with.— 
Fuller. 
It is often said that God condemned 
men to work. This is absurd. God con¬ 
demned man to live, and gave him work 
as a mitigating circumstance.—Legouvs. 
To be gentle and humane to every 
creature of God is the duty of every 
man, but more especially of every Chris¬ 
tian man who claims to be a follower 
of One who went about doing good.— 
Father Ducey. 
A Qo=to=Church 
Lantern 
The Dietz 
Junior 
Lantern 
is just the right 
JiSIk . IiI one for this pur¬ 
pose, also for any 
other purpose 
which calls for 
a light weight, 
convenient lant¬ 
ern, giving a fine 
bright light. The farmer’s wife 
will especially appreciate it. We 
send one by express, prepaid, for 
$1.00, and we give your money 
back if it doesn’t suit you. That’s 
fair enough . Circulars free. 
R. E. Dietz Company, 
87 Laight Street, New York. 
Established 1840. 
ATWHOLESALE PRICES! 
If your dealer does not handle 
MONABCH SIALI.EABLK IRON & STEEL 
Kanges wo will ship the first one 
ordered from your community at 
the wholesale price; saving you 
from *10.00 to *25.00. iYeight 
paid 400 miles. 
tySENT FREE— Handsome cata- 
logrue with wholesale prices and 
full particulars. 
Malleable Iron Range Co. 
159 Lake Street, BEAVER DAM, WiS. 
Recently St. I.ouia, Mo, 
DON’T PAY PROFITS 
TO IRON COMBIMESs. 
Wa ISclunj; to no TruHt 
will sell direct to you a single StoT* 
for less than regular wholesale priv < 
■im FREE CATALOGUE. 
Atyles and sires cook stoves, heating ntOTet 
3 — and steel range*. Lowest prices In the U. 8. 
-'S © $10.00 Oak Heating StoTe.$4-26 
K $15.00 Fuur*llol« Cook Hlove... 7.95 
C.talOTie « a-jp. 00 Cn.t I ron Kange.1S. 50 
3920 Five-Gored Skirt. 
22 to 30 waist. 
remodeling the skirts of last season 
when so doing is desirable. The original 
is made of novelty material, in shades 
of brown and tan, with trimming of 
narrow brown braid over light tan, and 
includes the graceful and becoming 
flounce; but this last can be lomitted 
and the skirt used plain; or, again, the 
material can be cut away beneath and 
the flounce seamed to the lower edge. 
The five gores are carefully shaped and 
fitted without fullness at the belt, and 
provide just the snugness required by 
MOTHE5RS.—Be sure to u#e“Mni.Wins- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your childrem 
while Teething. It is the Best.— 
No. 35U0 
$S5.0o Steel Range.16.95 
Every stove and range guarunteed and sentsubjeetto examination. 
CONSUMERS C’Q’E & MANUFACTURING CO. 
232 boutli 8t«t CUlCAiirO} ILL. 
FREE Baby’s clothes will 
LIFE SIZE DOLL 
laby’s clothes v 
now fit Doliie.' 
Girls can get this beautiful 
Life Size l)oU absolutely Free for 
selling only four boxes of our 
Great Cold & Headache Tablets 
at 25 cents a box. Write to-day 
and we wilt send you the tablets 
by mail postpaid; when sold send 
us the money (Sl.OO)and we will 
send you this Life SlzeDoll which 
is 2H feet high and can wear 
baby’s clothes. Dollio has an In 
destructible Head. Golden Hair, 
Rosy Cheeks, Brown Eyes. Kid Col¬ 
ored Body, a Gold Plated Beauty 
Pin, Red Stockings. Black Shoes, 
and will stand alone. This doll Is an 
exact reproduction of the finest hand 
painted French Doll, and wll live 
in a child’s memory long after child¬ 
hood days have passed. Address, 
NATIONAL MEDICINE CO., 
Duli0ept.l34>^) New Haven,Conn 
