The Portland daily press., 1892-12-15

fnAs ~ AM very gay. soci-
II W N'@@ ety--a s m all
Y Sk$@ part of it-that
e-f xs1aszsssSM vast contingent
of well-to-do nobodies who are not In
society but who want to be; fair
sprinkling of men about town, and q
large assortment of that class OF women
who affect yellow hair and drug store
complications, combined to make the
audiences at the horse show fully as in
teresting as the show itself. For, cam
didly, the newspaper gush to the con-
trary Notwithstanding, the array OF
horses at the horse show was nothing
phenomenal. There was plenty OF good
stock on exhibition, the jumping was
fair and the parade of the mounted po-
lice was interesting. Further than that
little can be said of the show to justify
the wild enthusiasm of the reporters
who have made lot of well meaning,
decent, amateur horse breeders masque-
rade as society leaders and have mis-
taken Anonyma for Lady Clara We're de
We're. Not that there are no real swells
in the Horse Show assooiation-there
are. but this year they staid away. The
Vanderbilts, the Astors, the Belmonts
have all had deaths in their families
during the past year, and furthermore
the crowd has not been such as to at
tract the genuine -Four Hundred.
Horsey young men whose knowledge OF
stable matters is confined to dressing
like bad imitation of an English
groom on his day off, and whose man
ners would procure the instant disInis-
sal of the groom of any well regulated
English family, saucy, short-halred
soubrettes and mob of impossible so
ciety aspirants constitute just the sort
of an audience that the genuine -Four
Hundred delight in staying away from
The contrasts in the character of the
visitors to the food show, the flower
show and the horse show were comical
and instructive.
The food show was an advertising
fakement on gigantic scale. Gamers
of timed tomatoes, manufacturers of
chocolates and cocoas, vendors OF
blended teas and coffees, grinders of
spices, makers of baking powders and
curers of hams were all there. They
had their little booths upon which their
wares were artlstically displayed and
literally advertised, and in many cases
pretty girls in neat caps and aprons dis
tributed free samples of the goods The
bulk of the audiences at the food show
was staid, middle-aged matrons with
the inevitable hand bag, which every
staid, middle-aged matron carries; into
this bag she would carefully stow the
samples of such goods as could be taken
away; other concerns served, their
comestibles to be eaten on the spot, and
it was at this pleasing occupation that
the staid matron shone in eMulgenG
glory. saw one rather delicate, moth
| erly-looking woman, one who was quite
| old enough to know better, drink three
cups of tea-different brands-eat a
| large chunk of that peculiarly battery
cake known as angels food, swallow
samples of four different kinds of
canned soup, followed by two fapjaeks
made with somebody's baking powder,
then, in rapid succession, two cups OF
| chocolate. teaspoonful of condensed
| milk, biscuit, a pickle, a few dried
apples, teaspoonful of sirup, a bit of
| cheese, and then lost count. I had to
| stop watching her, it was rapidly CIV
ing me dyspepsia to look at her; at the
same time her bag was damned with
samples of goods, enough to start q
fancy grocery store.
| Not that there were no young people
| at the food show. The pretty girls in
| charge of the booths attracted good
| ly contingent of the crutch and tooth
| pick brigade and good many of the
| girls enjoyed their innocent flirtations
| hugely. There was one tea concern
which had very artistic pagoda built
| of bamboo, presided over by an ex-
tremely fetching Ceylonese girl, round,
| plump, large eyed, dressed in the pic
| turesque Oriental garb and thoroughly
an fat in every firtatious art known to
her fairer-skinned sisters. was get
ting on famously with her and had quite
made up my mind to learn to speak the
lingo of Ceylon when her husband APP
peared-a hopelessly-ferce East Indian
| with his broad belt stuck hfull OF
varied assortment Of scimitars,
| crooked stab knives and other lethal
| weapons. He looked at me suspicious
" and I went down into the basement
/ to inspect the model dairy.
Following the food show came the
flower show, and the garden was trans
| formed into wondrous scene OF
beauty. There were rose days, and
orchid days. but the piece de resistance,
so to speak, was the crysanthemum.
Great ragged yellow ones as big as a
child's head and little solid fellows nc
bigger than vest button, the flower OF
Japan was there in all shades, sizes
and colors. The flower show was really
fashionable and the very best people in
town attended it. Somehow it did not
attract either the fast set of society or
their followers.
The only noticeable types, outside
of the well-groomed, correctly-attired
| New Yorker. the society man, were the
hard handed Scotch gardeners. Why
the best gardeners should be Scotch.
men is a matter which have never
seen explained; the fact remains all the
same. There were lots of pretty girls
with great punches of orysanthemums
| ~ THAR Iaalts and lots of trim clean-cut