Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-20
A GERMAN MARKET-FAIR.
The Ancient Teutonie Custom as 1t Still
FIourishes at Hanover.

This week there has been an oppor-
tunity to see a market-fair in Hanover,
which occurs only thrice a year, and
lasts but two or three days, says cor
respondent of the Hartford C0urd11t.
In fact, | am just returned from wan
dering about town in a drilling rain,
humping umbrellas in the crowd of
chaffering Hanoverians and receiving
an occasional curse from some booth
owner because of the unintentional
but none the less wet stream of water
which my umbrella-tip pumped down
upon her cakes or candy. The stalls
and booths for the display of the wares
were to be found in various parts of
the town, according to the nature of
the sales; thus live stock was to be had
in one section, books in another, mo
tions" in the third, and so on. To-day
spent my time in the old portion of
the city, and here the center of hustle
and interest was the ancient Market
church. From the square upon which
this church stands the lines of booths
stretched up the streets radiating right
and left from the Market square.
These booths were hastily rugged
affairs, built of boards, with their tops
covered with canvas against the rain,
so that they looked like row of In
dian wigwams. Every conceivable ar
ticle, and some inconceivable were to
be purchased along these rows, behind
which stood men and women crying
up their wares or doing out small por-
tons to the peasant buyer.
Before o'clock of this rainy after
noon the oil lamps were lighted and
fared picturesquely in the wind.
Through the middle of the streets
surged the crowd of buyers, many of
them country folk, who had come in
solely for the fair. They clattered over
the cobble-stones in their sabots and
beat down prices with high heart and
volubility. Above rose the gray old
houses and high over all the venerable
and massive church, under whose
walls for five centuries humanity was
bought and sold, lived and died. 1t
was a scene for Dickens and | sighed
for his insight and his graphic power
of description.
At some of the booths a foreigner
was especially tempted to rid himself
of few pennies or marks. For exam
pie, here hung by the score those long,
porcelain-bowled pipes which are SO
typical of this country, and hard by
were all manner of blue earthenware
drinking jugs, mugs, and tankards,
with bibulous notices in German script
and metal covers that were Joy to
see. In some cases some magic siga
like "Aus Italien" was hung in front
of the booth, and there you are sure to
find cheap jewelry, tawdry paintings,
or bizarre house ornaments, those be-
hind the improyised counter being
dark, sallow, and melancholy eyed,
and wearing large rings in their ears
after the manner of their race.
There seemed to be no congruity
here in the arrangement of the sue
cessive stands; beside one exclusively
devoted to worsteds would be another
where the succulent sausage and the
malodorous but beloved limburger
reigned supreme, and little farther
on the toys of childhood hobho5bed
with murderous array of knives, big
and little, ranging from the tiny nail
trimmer to the long, keen blade Of the
hog-killer. The motley sales and sights
only made the scene richer and a char
acteristic picture of foreign street life
| am told that the articles to be bought
at these fairs, though cheap, are shoddy
and unreliable and are avoided by the
willy citizens, the chief profit accruing
from the open-mouthed country bump
kins who Judge by outside show and the
oily assurances of the proprietors.