The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-10-20
THE OREGON STATE FAIR.

Oregonians are disposed 10 be happy.
They are resolved to make the most of
circumstances; consequently, when the
time for the Annual approaches, ev-
cry man, woman and child, who can be
spared for the occasion, hieth to the
Donybrook of We land of Webfoot, pre-
pared to make money, spend money,
patronize side shows, camp out, eat dirt,
breathe smoke, sleep on the ground, race
horses and be gay. Among the numbers
thus inclined was the redOubtable staff
of the NEW NORTHWEST.
On Monday, Oct. 9th, (the same day
being the first of the great jubilee), we
mustered our forces, rolled up our tent
and blankets, and hied us to the depot,
resolved to make a week of it. And-we
succeeded.
First, after having run ourselves down
to reach the depot in time to catch the
train, we found that the the time had
been changed to a so-called "accOmmo-
dation" table, which disappointed every
body, so we dropped our feathers and
wended our way home, a sadder but
wiser people.
Seven o'clock A. NJ, Tuesday, and we
tried it again. Succeeding upon this
occasion in getting a seat i'm an unfin-
ished passenger car, mounted upon
trucks, which rocked away like a eau
ton TO dyspepsia, we reached the fa-
nous Webfoot Donnybrook at ten
O'Clock, and prepared ourselves TO enjoy
the many delightful pleasures above
enumerated.
As is always the case at these places,
horse racing is the principal amusement
connected with the agricultural exhibi-
ton.
The women here, rs in Walla Walla
and Albany, are getting too financially
sagaeious to spend much more time and
money TO make the pavilion attractive,
when all the profit is on the outside. SO
the show, compared to that of former
years, was meager in the extreme.
/. We saw a committee of men busily
engaged in examining the embroidery
and "tatting' on n lady's chcmise, and
we couldn't help feeling that they were
slightly "Out of their sphere" But,
poor fellOwsl how could they help it ?
: Where women are not on hand to do the
. women's work the men must do it, and
rice UerSd. These matters regulate
themselves in spite Of laws or usages.
The general exhibition has been so
minutely served up for the public palate
in the daily papers that the NEW
NORTHWEST will now bring on the
"side dishes" and furnish the intellec-
tual feast with such dessert as the oppor-
tunities afford.
We have the famous and sprightly
PiXley Sisters, who always draw crowd
ed houses, and who made a handsome
sum of money; we have the wOrld-re-
nOwned Madagascar Family and the fa-
nous Circassian Beauty; the Vancouver
Fat Woman, Madam Forestelle and the
women OF the Aurora Restaurant. In all
these Shows the women do the work
and, with the exception of the first, the
men pocket the profits, and then boast
that they support the women~ The
Pixley Sisters are remarkably successful
in their profession. The eldest, Miss
Annie, is but eighteen years of age;
Minnie is fifteen and Lucy twelve. We
learn that their masculine 'help," with
one exception, struck for higher wages
on the last evening, whereupon these
heroic young girls 'doubledn i'm the acts
and performed without them. To those
carping men who boast that women
need their protection" we proudly
point to the Pixley Sisters and say, "be-
holdr
Madam Forestelle, the cOntortionist,
performed her wonderful and dangerous
feats every day and evening. The hus-
band who Supports" her by getting
men TO tie her up on the stage with n fif-
ty feet rope, from which she magically
frees herself i'm a box; by causing her to
twist herself in every imaginable con-
tortion for the vulgar gaze of the Gu
rious; by taking sledge hammer and
breaking 4 three hundred pound rock
upon her breast; and then squanders the
money thus earned at the peril of her
life at the saloon or gaming table, can
not keep the "wOOl over her eyes" much
longer. There's just rebellion a-brewing
in that kingdom.
Then the Fat Woman, of Az pounds
avoirdupois, who resembles Brother
Ike" of the Herald, is another example
of the capability of man to Support" his
WIFE This woman is nineteen years old,
the mother of two children, and, when
found by the appreciative Snowman who
has charge of her, was washing by the
day to support her family. She is a
: stolid specimen of phlegmatic obesity,
and agrees with "Brother Ike" on the
Woman Question.
Well, this description of the Oregon
State Fair has the merit of variety if
nothing further.
This is only part of our bill of fare.