Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-28
AT THE BAY.
TIE "REcoRp-uNroN CORRESPONDENT
GOES TO A FAIR
Some Notes of What she Saw There New,
Novel. Amusing and Worthy of
thought and Weird.
SAY FRAscIsco. AUGUST 25, 1880.

SAN FRANCISCO, August %, 1850.
About the prettiest little fair San Fran
cisco ever has had on exhibition now occu
pies the Pavilion. 1t seems so small, 81
gay, so bright, so like a little dance, if
may say SO, and yet l miss few regular ex
hibits, and space is all well taken. II
seems good, after evenings at theaters and
concerts and amateur entertainments, to
wander about among the stands, and UP
and down the main passages, or from the
gallery to look down at the ever changing
groupings of people in variety of costume,
and animated by flashes Of expression that
reach even the far-away observer. The
fountains throw up graceful spray the
cut glass of the cases shines and shines
there isa glimpse of electric light like dead
moonbeams the shafts of machinery come
and 20 !; "a living stream flows up and down
the aisles, and it is all vivid tableau seen
nowhere else In San Francisco Add to
this all the sounds that smite the ear and
! make strange, exciting, because living,
breathing music of their own. The water
/ OF the fountains cIeaves the air with a
rush, and falling drops into its basin with
a dash, dash, scattering plash like
THE SOFT BEAT
OF hundreds OF unseen fingers there is
the clash of iron grinding upon iron, the
rub of circling belts and the whirr of
wheels. A soft, low hum of voices, as from
! a beehive, rises above all, and faint,
creeping sound, that is now a sllurry and
now tramp, and now asweep ike wind
the sound of moving feet comes like a
strange, weird, distant march at night,
when you listen to it alone. Sometimes,
/ together, they give note like chorus,
! but most never hear it, it is so subtle they
only listen to the earthly music of the
braZen band whose humdrum lips crack
Jokes between numbers, and then,
glued to instruments, toot away and break
/ with crash upon the other monotone that
seems to turn and turn in its slumber with
/ breath that is but half awakening. The odd
and the curious seem to have caught my
glance this year, and / have had no eye for
3 the separate bright and pretty things.
I stand for an hour and watch the children
/ in the various stages of bangle upon the
railing of the popcorn and candy in
closure. As every bit of sweet goes into
manipulation, their eyes stretch and
stretch, till they outgrow the capacity OF
the little stomachs, and the small red
mouths take on a glorious smack and
water
THE POPCORN MAN
Is possessed of the spirit of enterprise, for
during the last Worlds Exhibition in Aus
tralia little English girl writes Il am sure
her little mouth smacked and watered Just
as if she had been of Yankee breed) ''In
the American chamber they have new
kind OF lolly-pop, and they call it pop corn
candy. 1t is very nice. Think OF the
odd little creature waking to the delights
of the new "lolly.pop" down there, in
the land OF the bush and the Farjeon, the
platypus, and the Lord knows what. An
incubator is in full play not far from the
corn man, and it shows you everything,
from the new-laid egg to the full.fedged
/ chick. 1t looks like a miniature farm,
with stables, dwelling house and chicken
yard in full. Nothing ever was so sweet
IN this world as little, peeping downy
chick and whole brood that never had
any mother, that "just growed," run
round after worms and cornmeal as chip
per as hen-ralsed. Ladies go round there,
smile indulgently as at babies, and put
down. their ever-so-many buttoned- kids,
and the tame, cunning little things make
little runs and pecks at them. They per-
NIT the familiarity of handling without
protest, and
CUDDLE DOWN
as under breast of softest feathers. In a
booth not far away there is a little girl
dressed like brilliant little courtier in
cambria knee breeches, with cloak cast
jauntily from one shoulder and d hat with
rolling white plume. She deals in bright
cards, in books, in paper, in pretty orna-
ments. The great elevator at the Market
street entrance goes ponderously up and
down, carrying freight to and from the gal
lery, and just by its side, though moving
not nearly so far, is the same In model,
with boy of five or six,
LITTLE MAN
In model, standing every night upon the
platform to make the whole complete. He
has come to gaze with weary Indifference
upon the crowd below, and up and down
he goes at tiresome intervals the evening
long. A patent washing machine is on
exhibit. 1t works by treadle, and two
| little girls in muslin caps, to show how
easily it runs, tap the treadle with their
little feet and
WASH, WASH, WASH
At towels by gaslight till one thinks how
tired their limbs must be. They have been
there every evening since the fair opened,
and at first they were bright and fresh, and
sprang gaily to their work, but now they
keep going steadily at it, the fun all gone
from their eyes, and the roses speeding fast
from their cheeks. Upstairs there is
strange map that teaches you everything
in history. Think of hunting up Cicero
| and Adam on a map just as you would look
out New York or St. Louis. 1t makes the
races to run through time like rivers it
uplifts and overthrows peoples and nations
in such bewildering confusion that you
can't help but remember each and the data
of it, and besides it has a man attached to
it perfectly capable of talking you to death
in so many seconds. 1t is curious to see
the map with its trailing lines of color and
dots of vivid picture; the people who
pause for moment and back away as soon
as they find it is something that asks for
thought and the man whose voice flows
courteously on through heroes and hap
penings as though the weather and its
probabilities were his theme. In the right
gallery there are
TWENTY WOMEN
Sewing. away for dear life on machines,
illustrating the making of underclothing.
Some are old, some are young, some tall,
some short, all sorts mixed in together.
Their feet never cease their tread, their
hands to guide the cloth, but their eyes
glance rapidly up at the observer once in
while, and then down again to the needle
mo % all ha rr-h,1 10 ha