Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-09-30
Riverside Park Fair.
JIrrLISrowN, IL O'cLo:K, FRIDAr1
NIGHT. SEPT. 25. 1874.

Editor Sentinel and Republican =
Wednesday, Thursday and to-day have
been gala days, not only. for the peo-
pie of this place but for you people
who live in the country toe. River
side Park Fair has been great success,
no matter from what standpoint you
view it. After dark, this evening,
returned to the Park, for no other pur.
pose than that wanted solitude, the
bracing air of the evening, and to feel
the change that one would experience
there when the din and confusion of
the three days closing with tlis one
had passed away. The change inspired
me painfully as / stood at the gate
and looked into the deserted place.
"The moon was upl How calm and slow
She wheeled above the hill
The weary bag-pipe had ceased to blow,
And the trip-trap and rumble of fleet
horses was stiil.'
The multitude, the glare and the
noise of day we're gone, and the track
fairly CLEANED under the simmer of
the moonlight, and seemed doubly as
broad as when the sides of it were
lined by people to see the trots; and
as looked and listened for something
to break the stiffness, heard low
swells of music blend with the murmur
of the river, and | then knew that
was not alone IN the Park. A short
walk took NE down to the grand stard,
and there on the broad dining room
floor beneath it was a party of young
people finishing up the day, or rather
the night, in hop. l locked but a
moment, for it was nothing to me. They
did not see me, and was nothing to
them. | walked around to the foot Of
the stand, and looked at the empty seats,
where but few hours before a thou
saud bright eager eyes looked out from
them across the Park, and murmurs of
applause, and merry conversation and
laughter rang out from that place.
The stock stalls we're empty. The
blooded animals of McAuley, the Will
son brothers, Trego, Kaufman, Moore,
and others, were away browsing in
the valley ia their rative 6elds.-
The showmen with their tricks, the
auctloneer with his goods, the saloon
man with his victuals, the Ober-
holtzers with their grapes, ano
the pea nut vender, were out of
their booths ana Id other, dis
tant places. Beyond the judges stand,
about which so much interest centereG
at certain times during the fair, on the
green, were a number of wagons and
agricultural implements not yet re-
moved They seemed like sad me-
mentoes of merry fair days.
As l retraced my steps toward the
entrance to the Park, | wished for the
privilege to walk through the building
in which the products of the soil, Office,
shop, and house we're exhibited, once
more, to note and feel the change there.
However, as that could not be, | was
content with realization in my mind.
that the benches and walls were stripped
of their decoration aud glory. l knew
that Strayer's department no longer
contained the whole overlooking to-
matoes. cabbage, beets, potatoes,
squashes, radishes, grapes and other
vegetables, and poultry; that the splen-
did specimens Of wheat, corn and other
grain had changed places that Simons
had his harness at home in his shop,
and that Rohm's furniture graced an
other room, bur | could not conclude
definitely what LoudOn did with his
iron ore, as he has such quantity OF
| it IN the hill north of town.
In my reverie, before half through
with Strayer's place, | skipped into DR..
Eld,r's art gallery, and room Of fancy
and useful articles, and good things to
eat. General Washington's autograph
to Bryson's Commission was removed
for careful preservation for future gen.
erations, to be looked at in future fairs,
after Riverside Park has been laid out
and built up in town. | knew that
the oil paintings and crayon pictures
we're in the parlors and boudoirs Of
their owners, and that trusty agents
had removed the specimens of penman-
ship that none but skiiiful hand under
the control of most artistic eye could
execute. The embroidery, where Was
it aud the delicately aud handsomely
wrought quilts (, Possibly spread cut
over their fair owners in sleep. And
where was the one | looked dczer
times to see and never saw : The
flowers surely had not faded, but mum
bers of them had gone into other hands
than those that raised them. Th:
music was heard no more; where wa
it! Wa. Rollman down at the stand
to put life into strings and bows, anc
graceful motion into humanity Ant
the bread that a little child wished I'M
l.. L. ,r,I