Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-06-27

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS FAIR.
q sers Bsrer-etsr oe ~ Commercial
Prosperity Il Rnssia.
Inc fair has just begun. According
70 the traditional usage. the flags that
announce the opening have been
hoisted on their poles and blessed with
grand ceremonies. A naval officer
Presides over this ceremony; it IL 4
solemn moment According to the
hereditary superstition of the Mimi
merchants. If the flags mount without
. Mitch and aoat at once bravely In
the breeze the success of the fair Is
certain; but if they get entangled in
the cords it is useless to hope
to do good business. The level
OF the waters of the Volga Is also
anxiously consulted. When the
waters are too low in consequence Of
the excessive heat the heavy boats
laden with metal. stuffs and cereals
run aground on the sand banks in the
river and can not get up to the fair.
which Is limited to the triangle of al
luvion formed at the confluence of the
Volga and Okla rivers. On this
sandy plain, bare and marshy in
spring-tine. q large city rises for
tho space of two months, with its
wooden houses, its long streets with
names established by ancient custom,
its Chinese quarter with pagoda roofs
bristling with dragons and bells. The
municipalities of our proudest West
ern capitals might learn much by
studying the problems which have had
to be resolved in order to insure the
administrative service Of this ephe-
neral town, and its provisioning in
food and in water. Two things are
particularly worthy of attention; tho
system Of sewers and the organization
Of the are-brigade. Fire is the great
enemy of the fair; every year it de-
stroys shops to the value of q consider
able sum. Everywhere there are
towers for watchmen. and stations
where powerful engines are always
ready under steam with horses stand.
ing beside them. The firemen Of
Mimi surpass all their European col.
leagues in skill and rapldity. General
Iguatief, the Governor of the town in
1881, left here traces of his activity.
and marked his passage by useful re.
forms. To him is due the foundation
of night refugees, immense dormitories
which give shelter to floating popu.
lation of sweepers and dock laborers
who formerly slept in the doorways OF
inns, and did not contribute much to
the security of this vast agglomeration.
The population of Mimi is formed
of types OF the whole universe. You
see there all tho costumes of Asia, and
hear all its tongues. The Chinaman
from Pekin rubs elbows with the Mus
sulman from Constantinople. Khivans
and Bokharians and Persians have ar.
rived in company on the Caspian
steamboats,; the German fur-trader
from Leipsic bargains for sables with
the trapper from the borders of the
Lena 1t would require a
correspondent Of the Pail Mall Gazette
to trace the realistic pictures which
may be seen in Mimi in all their
patriarchal candor. You may study
here the most abject misery and vice.
and at the same time the most incred.
IDLE follies of wealth. There in few
weeks a Russian merchant will drink
more champagne than whole provin-
cial town in France consumes in a year,
and spends fortune such as Paris rare
ly sees squandered within the same
lapse of time. These great business OPP
orators seem to be seized with vertigo;
in good years every thing is out of all
proportion--their profits, their liber-
atty and also their pompous piety.
Some of them ruin themselves by ded-
icating a church to St Macaire,
the patron of the fair. The total
amount of business transacted at
Mimi is the surest barometer Of the
public fortune and commercial vigor
of Russia-The Vicomte Eugene Mel
chior de Vogue, in Harper's Magazine.