The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-10-24
Special Correspondence of the Register.
TRIP TO cLARKSBURG
BY THE WAY.
Clarksburg, Its surroundings
and its improvements.
The Agricultural Association.
THE FIRST ANNUAL FAIR.
CROWD IN ATTEND
ANCE.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
The Agricultural Association,
THE FIRST ANNUAL FAIR.
CROWD IN ATTEND
ANCE.
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.
CATTLE, CROPS, HORSES, WOOL, &c

NcSl virginia SeutTal Agricultural
Society opened at this place to-day. In
common with many others from dis
tance your correspondent was attached
thither, partly to witness the Inaugural
tion of so important an enterprise, part
ly to see and hear and learn all that was
to be seen and heard and learned from
intercourse with the multitudes whom
such an occasion would naturally draw
together.
THE JOURNEY
from Wheeling to this place, was un-
marked by any incident of special inter
est. Perhaps l should make an excep-
tion in favor of rather ludicious oc.
currence which transpired on the cars
between Grafton and this point. Among
our fellow-travelers WAS party of foul
individuals, of an appearance and char,
acter that marked them as belonging tc
q class always found in the vicinity OF
fairs, circuses and races; seldom any
where else. You have noticed that the
general outline of the men who run the
side-shows, manage the "hying horses,
peddle the wondrous nostrums, or des.
cant in dirty clothes before dirtieI
canvas upon the merits of two headed
babies, one legged men, six legged calves
impossible snakes, miraculous swine
and unexampled musical, intellectual oil
physical prodigies is always the same;
compound of shabby gentility, glib
CAB, impenetrable brass, and pinchback
iewelry. Ofsuch material was the crowd
TO which | have alluded composed
They were coming to the fair. They
had "the thickest, largest, and liveliest
snake that ever engaged the attention
of the American public;" they had "the
most astounding and superhuman pana-
cea for corns, catarrhs, consumption and
catalepsy ever vouchsafed 70 suffering,
humanity by philanthropic philosophy"
they had "the most inimitable, enter
tanning and original one-legsed gymnast
acrobat and psalm singer that had yet
carried captive the popular heart,
they had-but l will not anticipate
further than to say that "a dime and a
hdwf paid the bill" As VIC jOurneyed,
three of the party turned upon the
fourth, who seemed to be the Jonah of
the concern and assailed him with the
most merciless badinage. His habits,
his antecedents and his prospects were
all the theme of criticism. One looked
at horrible scar upon the lower part
of their victims arm and thought "he
would make n good actor, with his wrist
tore away" (Ristori way Ipresume.
Another thought the poor owl-visaSed
chaps cap would make good perfumery,
because "it was cheap patch, owl-eye !!
Il could hardly recognize cheap patch
owl i'll this horrid disGuisc.) Referring
to the victims former occupation one
said "he had been n brakesman on a
steamboat, and was discharged for car
rying off wheelhouse (wel-louse.) An
other thought he had "run an engine
with two starting bars and one Wheel"
meaning q wheel-barrow. / suppose.
Another related a frightful occurrence
i'll the victims history; how he had
"slept in haunted house, been waken-
ed by the clanking of chains, felt a
clammy hand on his forehead, started
up with the agoniziag cry, 'be you a
ghostf" Here the narrator paused, and
instantly the silence was broken by a
wild and piercing scream like that of a
child in intense agony. 'Phawt the
divirs that 7" exclaimed fat Irish wo-
man, who was the first to notice that
not a single child was on the car. The
scream was repeated apparently right
by her side, and she promptly assumed
the position Of krout-tub, turned bot
tom upward. A young and blushing
damsel, who had evidently been learn
ing what tunnels were made for, clung
closer to the vest pattern of her lubber-
IL lover. A slab-sided and gawky
"young man from the country"
swallowed a portion of his first
cnaw" in his agitation and quickly
proceeded to acquaint the cross-ties and
track with the results of his first eXpe-
rience in manhood and tobacco. Mean
while the confusion became general.
To the baby's squall were added the
noises of the barn-yard, the hen-roOSt,
the pig stye and the kennel. Impalpa-
BILE swine grunted and squealed. In
tangible cocks and hens crew and
cackled. Invisible calves hawled, and
imperceptible sheep united their bleat-
ing with the lowing and believing Of
unreal COWS and bulls. The bark of o
dog that could not be found, mingled
with the fire-spitting squall of an ago
nizing cat that was no where to be seen,
while high over all this indescribable
tumult rose the thrilling wall of the
suffering child, like the leading strain
in the loud chorus of discordant nature,
painful, mysterious and unceasing. The
brazil of bloated old hummer finally
solved the mystery. For several min
utes he had been steadying himself
against a seat, aud hiccuping, Gem'n,
(6ic) Gem'n, (hic). At length he reach.
ed the solution. even (hic) Vent'rl
(nic) Vent'r'lykism, id humbug. BY
hi, talks in his belly" The fact could
not be belied, and in the midst of the
relief that followed this solution we
reached
CLARKsBURG.
Before l speak of the crowds and the
Fair let me say word about the old
town. In macy respects it is as the war
left it. Usoccupied Government build
ings, suggestive of quartermasters and
commissaries and hospitals, and other
military swindles, meet you at the out
skirts. The roads are still rough with
the furrows that were ploughed therein
by the heavy wagons, with which Uncle
Sam had to haul the rations and bag
gage of his boys to the distant front,
from the great supply depot of the De-
partment of West Virginia. The
bridges, Though repaired to some ex-
tent, still show the marks of the mill
tary presence; the railipgs are poor; The
weather boarding knocked off, and the
timbers SCARED with the knives or
marked with the charcoal sketch and
initial of the soldier artist. High over
the quiet town, like a great watch-tow-
er for the sentinel of slumbering COM
munity, towers the historic hill, Pima
kinick; upon its summit, when old-time
tradition located the resting place OF
ronownad Indian braves and where an