Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-10-14
big THURSDAY"


An Institution of st. Loui. That Tsrives
Wen Upon What it Feeds-The Records
of Attendance at Both Fair and EXPOSE
ton Broken--A Crowd 40. 900 Strong nj
the Former and Nearlt 10000 at the
Latter.
ST Louis, Oct. .s.-The Missouri Re-
publican of this morning thus vaunteth
Itself an glorifies the Future Great city
of the world over the unprecedented sue
cess attending the great Fair and EXPOSE
ton:
Big Thursday is new name in the
week. 1t is the old fifth day with the
prefix, which in this country has so vast
meaning. There are Thursdays in
other parts of the world, but s.Big
Thursday" only in St. Louis. 1t came
into existance with the Fair and as
long as the Fair lasts it will continue
to be feature in the st. Louis hebdo-
mad. There was time, twenty-s
years ago exactly to-day, when the eldest
son of the proudest queen OF the great
est empire on earth came all the way
from England TO pay homage to it-and
more than million persons have paid
similar homage 10 it since. 1t is no
wonder, therefore, that Big Thurs
day" has grown into a very despot with
something like a real personality and
exacting dutiful recognition from all who
venture into st. Louis during Fair week.
And it may be added that never did gal
liant knights of the olden time make
reader obeisance to his lady love i'm
moated castle than our people Weld to
this t1fth day of the first week in October.
"All the conditions were favorable
yesterday. The earth, the air aud the
sky agreed in making it good day for
an 'outing'-and an outing to the people
of st. Louis and the strangers therein
means day at the Fair grounds, where
the lawn is greener, the flowers brighter,
the trees shadier, the water fresher, the
beer better, the sandwiches sandwicher,
the monkeys monkeyer and the crowd
bigger and gayer than any where else on
the earth.
eff the Exposition, so brilliantly sue
cessful, both in the vastness of it's dis
play and the magnitude of Its attendance,
has demonstrated one thing more strik-
ingly than another, it is the unequaled
capacity of st. Louis for making instruct
i've and attractive object lessons in the
shape of spectacle, and it's ability to
build up a new one. The Exposition
and the Fair 90 on at the same time
and yet there is enough curiosity in the
population in and round ST. Louis to
feed both, The one is as great success
as even its enterprising projectors dared
to anticipate; yet the Fair continues to
maintain its old success, too. The par
ent betrays no loss of vigor, though the
child has grown beyond all expectations.
s'It seems that the more sights there are
to be seen in and around st. Louis, the
more persons there are who come to see
them. The one begets the other, and
both thrive in the reaction. There was a
time within the memory of persons still
young when the Fair grounds were out
in the country, and the journey to them
lay through woods and cultivated fields.
But the city has gone out to the grounds,
wrapped itself round them and made
them part of itself-and beautiful
part, too. They are a green spot in it's
heart, and the population turns to it with
all affectionate fondness that grows and
is the reason why St. Louis goes to the
grounds on Thursday to pass it's own
special holiday holiday that
prevails nowhere else in the world
amid its flowers, amphitheatres, grassy
swards, bowers, hyenas and monkeys.
1t was out there yesterday in force aud a
fairer sight was never seen than the vast
swarms of gay and happy people, NOV
ing amidst the myriad objects of inter-
est and imparting to the place the ami
nation that was it's chief attration.''
The above lf-gloriication was in
spired and fully justified by the greatest
"Big Thursday" in the history of the
city, which witnessed one hundred and
forty thousand delighted sghtseers at
the Fair grounds and over fifty thousand
visitors at the Exposition. The usual
holiday was proclaimed and the whole
city gave itself up to enjoyment.