Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-10-25

qulrleS W as one after the Darlington County
Agricultural Society and Fair. We re-
membered what pleasant visit we had
last fall, and the warm welcome extended
us by the officers of the Society, and also
that the JOURNAL was the only paper that
gave the public an extended report of the
Fair, and We felt desire to see what pIo
gress had been made. Since last year the
Management OF the Fair has been placed in
the hands OF a joint Stock Company, which
has assumed the title CT
" THE DARLINGTON AGRICULTURAL AND
MECHANICAL fall. co..
The Company has purchased grounds a.
short distance from the village, and has put
up large and commodious buildings for the
exhibition which takes place the 30th of
October. These buildings arc so arranged
as to give perfect shelter to all articles ex-
hibited, as well as to stock of every kind.
A nice little track has been laid out, and
the whole arrangement exhibits good taste
and correct judgment of the necessities
of the occasion, with degree Of libcrality
of expenditure uncommon in country
Fairs. thc Secretary and Treas
urcr, Mr.. w. e. James, has been untiring
in his efforts to afford every convenience to
exhibitors; and all the officers, from the
President down, seem to take lively in
teIcst Ill the matter. We wish them abun-
dant success, for they certainly deserve it.
Last year this fair was what its name i'm
ports, Agricultural and Mechanical. There
were none of those abominablc "side
shows permitted OH the grounds-no "fat
women" or "largc snakes,' or gambling
boOths,'' or ridiculous tournaments" )"
which, by the way, are the most tiresome
Of al the ''side shows" We remember to
have seen tournament once, the like of
Which can be seen any day in the riding
hall at West Point, where they train Off
GERS to the practical use OF the sabre and
pistol; and We thought there was some
thing manly and exciting i'll it; and we
remember also to have seen q scene called
a tournament, in which figure something
like the following description figured large
ly: a short, knock-kneed Dutch dry
goods clerk, clad in light cashmere pants,
which, when he was mounted, reached
half way between his shoes and knees the
shoes were low quarter patent leather, and
the stockings white cotton; his vest was
buff colored, rolled collar, with huge
pearl buttons; his coat a split-tailed
blue sack, with very short sleeves
he wore no gloves and his hands were the
color of a -gobbler's-Snout on q July
day; to top all he had shining stove pipe
hat about ten inches high with an inch
and quarter brim. Such was our knight
Somebody cried once, "Oh for forty
parson power to shout thy praise hypo-
crisy!H' and We could we'll cry, ooh foI
the pencil Of HOgarth to linn the features
Of that horse !w To begin at the bottom
his feet were apparently the size and shape
Of an i" eight-inch cotton-hoe,' his knees
lnOlya6 if no had had of ot
gOut for many years, lis frame was lean
showing his ribs in considerable promi-
nence, and his limbs were set in at right
angles, .,ust as school boy puts them in
his model horse in his first attempt at draw
ing on his slate; his head Was longer than
and nearly as large as flour barrel, and
his capaciOus ears tapped as he galloped
with noise almost as great as scarecrow
in a rice field. He looked, as he hung bis
head, like he was lamcnting the many years
in which he had served mankind in COM
pany with dray and was mourning his lost
companions, and as he moved at the sound
of :he bugle he seemed 20 be searching for
a hole in the ground wherein to hide his
modesty and shame. Behold the picture,
and then put light white pine lance,
about the size OF fishing pole,
in the hands of the hniQht, turn
his patent-leatheIs at right angles to
the saddle, square his elbows up to the level
of his shoulders, let fly his coat open, and
you have the knight and horse as they
came laundering down on the "two-inch
ring" with a noise like dozen rice pestles.
We say Darlington had none of this last
year, and we hope she never will, and that
the great game of pOking fishing polls at a
ring, IidiculOusly called tournament, has
fjrcver come to an end.
From the Fair grounds we turned to
the Court, now for ten days past in
session, Judge Townsend presiding. A
trial for murder was in progress, the de-
fendant's counsel and the solicitor were
arguing some very acute points Of law re-
garding insanity, but as we came III after
the argument had been some time in
progress, we did not get much information
on the subj -ct, and rctrcatcd. From the
Court House VIC went to the Jail. On
asking a prisoner through the window how
he came i'll there, Ic replied "thrOugh the
door, which really seemed the more
natural way than TO strain through the
+ grates-sO we went to the door. a short.
stOut black man met us, with pistol in ono
hand and bunch OF keys in the other
and to our request to be admitted to visit
the priSOhcr5 asked US what arms VIC lad
about us, WhcrcupOn we gave up the
cauc wh"rcon we hobble, and our old jack
! knife, WI the cOlKscreW on the back. lie
turned that over several times, as if he
doubted there was something more i'll il
than appeared, then slipped it into the re-
ceSScS of his clothing, opened the door, ,'ano
we stood i'll the midst OF fifteen OF the most
fclUnious looking negroes we ever saw. As
/ the tailor slammed the door 10, lie cried
out esLook out Providence" :" and really We
. felt that unless Providence guarded us VIC
Wcic in straight. just then a clean, tall
well-drcSscd negro came forward and an
! nounced himself as ''PrOvidence," and saiC
/ he would show us round the Jail. We
! found one prisoner in for murder, three fol
burglary, eight for IiotIng at Florence, one
for failing to give bond to keep the peace
! and one United States prisoner. We
never fell i'll with set Of men SO unneccs
sariy conlined--tO take their own testi
mony about it. AS IA sample, we asked
one old man, fully 20 years old, grey hal
and long grey beard, ''Wcll, uncle, wha
are you in here for?' lie turned sharpl!
round Oh his walking stick (fOr he had th'
rheumatism and was bent almost double,
and replied, allow could L beat dat da
niggcr and L settin down in de back doc
eatin my suppa, an he settin down in tod
der eatin he suppa?" We were unable
LD see how he could have don,
i, and yet he has been here thre
IN nths for doing it, and is likel
d" stay several more. When we had seer
lem all, we turned towards the door T.
pass out, but we found it little easier T.
get in than to get out, for "Uncle Bob,
the jalor, had put his keys in his pocket
and walked off to court, sitting about hal
mile away. We banged and beat tn
door to no purpose the echoes of the pas
sages answered us mockingly, when w
turned to the window and saw a ma
passing, to whom we cried 81 want I
get out" His response came back in