The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1892-06-17

H~' e's<@ AsIk(0 y ~ o08Rtuk y VI
posos-As Sbs GinEerbread Fair.
TTOW tfus & d that ono half Of
Nj the world - net the faintest
/ ides how c9ther half lives
Any one $hos wishes con.
frmation of this maxim has ouiy TO see
the sight which I have Just seen at the
"GiDgerbread Fair" writes q Paris
correspondent of the New York Journal.
This fair is species OF survival Of the
Middle Ages. It is annually held on the
great Place de Trone, aud the peasautry
comes from dozens OF miles around to at
tend il.
Imagine country cattle show multi
piled by about five hundred, aud you
have some idea Of the "Giugerbread
Fair" Long lines of booths flled with
every conceivable kind OF rustic snow,
with acrobats, jugglers, hre- eaters,
tumblers, circus riders and historical
actors, display their gaudy sigus and
tempt the gaping peasant to enter. Aud
every where there are mountains OF
gingerbread, made into quaint grotesque
figures OF men and women, or elephants,
or camels, or windmills, or fishes, or
dragonsl
There 10 something Chinese in the
oddity and childish in the sirsp city Of
this 'fsir,-t0 which tens Hslaouaands oii
fashionable Parisians pay one visit at
least before IL closes.
Not many people are admitted to see
the curious spectacle which saw in o
booth at the back of the fair yesterday.
1t was colony Of professional beggars,
Of the peculiar variety known as the
wooden bowl men. "Sawed offs" would
be the American vernacular for them.
Aud the name certainly strikes one as
appropriate, when he sees the curious,
whimsically e.ormed creatures hopping
about under mis- very feet, looking up in
his face, aud in whining voice demand
ing aims.
These beggais have either lost their
lower limbs eutirely,o or they arc withered
Or paralyzed, so that each man, aud wo-
man. too. present the singular spectacle
Of the half of body seated in a largo
wooden bowl, to which it is strapped
The cripple then propels himself or her.
'elf by using the haud as feet, and max
ing the bowl clump, clump, clump along
over the pavements. It is almost i'm.
possible to refuse charity to one of these
humble creatures when you find him
blocking the way at the entrance of a
booth.
l found so many Of these personnges
1T the tair that was astonished. / con-
cluded that they must know each other,
and have some general place of rendez.
vous. So looked them up.
found, as | suspected, that there was
great gathering of these cripples to
"work' the fair. They we're under the
care of one man, who gave them regular
weekly wages, and very good ones, too,
md who was coming fortune out of
what they brought in. About forty of
Them in a good days work, would turn
in nearly e thousand francs $4,000, which
allowed more profit apparently than any
establishment ON the ground was max
ing.
i venturcu TO express .nuo v,,.-.u. w
the man who had charge of tho ''sawed.
oirs." and who, "for consideration"
nad introduced me to some of the moro
renowned Of the beggars.
"Thc investment IS heavier than you
iupp"se," this man said, "for before
good beEgar Of this kind is ready for the
market he represents quite n large sum
N cash. There were plenty of these
peculiar cripples in the Middle Ages,
when the making of artificial limbs was
almost unknown, and they used to get
about very quickly in their wooden
bowls.
"In modern days these cripples are
,ot numerous enough for business, so
.hcrc is u company which produces them
oy artificial means. Most of these poor
creatures whom you see hopping about
III their bowls come from Spain, aud the
greater part from tho villages near
rolosa, not very far from the French
frontier.
"rhe agent goes around amcng the
poor families in search of children with
Iome 81. hit defect in the lower limbs.
lie finds a good many In the course OF a
rear among the peasautry, and he per
'uadcs the parents to let the child be
cascd for term Of years. This is gen
,rally accompanied with the conditic:
chat the child shall be transformed into
wooden bowl cripple, but sometimes
The parents are deceived.
''lf the child has withered limbs they
hey are amputated, and In six months
he child Is II first. class sawed-off. pro-
vided with terrible story of q "fright-
'ul accident" and he works tho large
titles for years with great success.
"If the limbs are simply deformed,
he 'beggar. MAKERS as they are called,
operate on the child by COMPRISING the
limbs with bandages until they wither,
topping the circulation of the blood
little by little. This il done with the
;tcn,esJ SKIM, auu the clri,a.o.- 20.
Iuaded to undergo the torture by the
assurance that, having sacrificed them
el, $ for the good of their families, they
will certainly 20 to Paradise. This is
he srea. argument also used with the
mothers to co olvince them that they
ought to permit their offsprings to be
lctormed.
"rhe families receive an annual SUN
equivalent to the interest on $400 or
:-hc sawed-offs are proud of their pro-
cssion. Some of them, when they reach
heir ma ajority, go into business for them
elves, and accumulate fortunes by work
ng the public skillfully. Others are
KENT down by their yiccs-they are