Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-06-17
PARTISAN FAIRS.
Grand Displays of Decrepit Household
Gods. Hams, Sausages, Etc.

Grand Displays of Decrepit Household
Gods. Hams, Sausages, Etc.
Every spring two curious fairs are
held on the Boulevard Richard-Lenoir
at Paris. The one is the ham fair.
where Bayonne hams are sold: at the
other decrepit household gods are sold
to the highest bidder. Why these two
fairs are always coupled together is I'M
known. even to the Partisan chronicler;
but such as they are, they are interest
ing still. Here, for instance. is pict-
ure of the fair of household goods,
ordinarily known as the ..foire de la
eharcuterei, probably on the same prin-
ciple on which in England seller of al
most every thing under the sun is called
an ''oilman. The space assigned for
the fair on the boulevard Is covered with
goods heaped pell-mell in large or
small lots on the ground. Here are
secondhand books, sold at four sous
apiece; next to them heap
of ribbons of all colors: church
candles, plaster saints, old hats,
a broken china vase, Dresden
statuettes short of a leg or an arm.
rusty padlocks. agricultural implements.
warming pans and a parrot-perch. There
again are saucepans without lids, Ian
terms, a medallion of the republic, bust
of Napoleon l., another of Beranger,
another of the lawyer Lachaud, hunting
gear brass trumpets. sword, arevolv-
er. rat-traps and sign-boards Here a
colored saint is praying with joined
hands before a picture la Vatican.
Again, a portrait of Garbaldi supports
itself against an engraving representing
the heart of Jesus. A wood-cut of
Murillo's Assumption is the COM
panion of Rubens' Descent from the
Cross Further on there is guitar, a
harp. scissors, pincers. a box of razors,
the French tricolOr, shoemakers' lasts,
a view of the Champ de Mars and the
Trocadero. stuffed birds. etc. In ever
new varieties this world of by-gone
splendor appears before the beholder.
And the merchants shout themselves
hoarse. allure the benevolent passer-by,
and compel him to buy by the mere
force of their eloquence.
Only few steps aside toward the
Bastlle is the ham fair, filling the air
with the odor of bacon. A double row
of booths runs along the boulevard.
Between bouquets of laurel are sus-
pended cakes of dripping. sausages dry
as marble, and smoked hams large ba-
sins of lard stand about: smoked gar
lic-fiavored sausages and other similar
daint1es are heaped up mountain high.
Behind the exhibits are gathered whole
families of country folk; the wife wears
large white apron, the husband walks
about with knife in hand. inviting
everybody to try his goods. Partisan
housekeepers throng the passage
through the fair. Lyons and Aries
send the finest specimens of pork. and
Bayonne is represented by its famous
hams. Garlic sausages represent the
town of Wire, and from the district of
the Loire, from Italy and Switzerland,
the products are excellent. The palm,
however. belongs to Alsace and Lor-
raine, whose pork butchers have appro-
priated most of the booths on the bou-
levards, and the names of Strasbourg,
Mulhausen, Schlestadt, Weissenberg,
and those of the departments of the
Mouse. the Vosges, and the Meurthe-et-
Moselle are the most prominent.-Cor.
Chicago Times