Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1889-07-04
Neutrality-suspicious. FAIR.


Oh
The fair has just begun. Ac ording
to 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 is a
solemn moment. According to the
hereditary superstition of the Mimi
merchants, If the flags mount without
hitch and float at once bravely in
the breeze the success OF the fair Is
certain; but il 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-timc. large city rises for
the 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; the
system of sewers and the organization
of the fire-brigade. Fire is the great
enemy of the fair; every year it de-
stroys shops to the value of a 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
Ignatief, 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 o.
inns, and did not contribute much tc
the security ofthis vast agglomcration.
The population of Mimi is formed
OF types OF the whole universe. You
see there all the costumes of Asia, ant
hear all its tongues. The Chinamar
from Pekin rubs elbows with the Mus
sulman from Constantinople. Khivan
and Bokharians and Persians have ar
rived in company on the Caspian
steamboats,; the German fur-trade
from Leipsic bargains for sables will
the trapper from the borders of tn
Lena. 1t would require
correspondent of the Pail Mall Gazett
to trace the realistic pictures whicl
may be seen in Mimi in all thei
patriarchal candor. You may stud
here the most abject misery and vice
and at the Same time the most incred
ible follies of wealth. There in fey
weeks Russian merchant will drin
more champagne than whole provir
cial town in France consumes in a year
and spends fortune such as Paris rare
ly sees squandered within the sam
lapse of time. These great business OF
orators seem to be seized with vertigo
in good years every thing is out of a
proportion--their profits, their libe,
ality and also their pompous piety
Some of them ruin themselves by dec
icating church to ST. Macairt
the patron of the fair The tot;
amount of business transacted +;
Mimi is the surest barometer OF tn
public fortune and commercial vigc
of Russia. The Vicomte Eugene Me
chior de Vogue, in Harper's Magazine