The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-21
WORLDS FAIR FADS.
The Rage for Collecting Souvenirs
Of the Great Exposition.
One Woman Who Even Eoonomized 0z
Her Meals In Order to Crafty
Her Desire for ColuC1-
bian Curio6.

An epidemic Of fads has set in as a
direct result Of tho worlds fair. Peo-
pie who had held ont long and stoutly
against the temptation to collect"
things came under the spell at the
White City, says the New York Sun.
A critical analysis Of the fad fever
has yet to be written. 1t Is contracted
in various ways 1t is with fads as it
is with greatness. Some people are
born with fads, some acquire them,
and others have fads thrown upon
them. Of this last variety are the peo-
pie who have, by chance perhaps. re-
ceived present or presents, which
have subtly inspired them with the
mania for acquiring other things Of the
same nature. In this way, for EXAM
pie, many a fine and otherwise admir-
able young woman has. by the gift Of
perhaps single silver spoon, been
transformed into one of the spoon
fiends who have been at once such try
ing, and yet such pathetic, figures dur
ing the past few years.
Other people acquire fads. They
take them up" These are the people
who have more money than they have
tastes. They crafty their small lik-
ings without exhausting their ''spend-
ing money" SO to speak. and they
''taxe up" fad for teapots. or fans, or,
in general, anything that they have
heard some one else is collecting.
And there are the born faddists.
They are the people who have single
strong fancy or love for something.
The man who collects musical instru-
ments because he cannot help it prob
ably loved them when he was baby,
and the real bibliOmaniac doubtless
never had to be reproved when he was
an infant for tearing the leaves Of his
picture books.
But the exposition faddists were cre-
ated in still another way. They are
the creatures of circumstances. Never
were such opportunities for collecting
curiosities presented to the American
public before. 1t is not strange that
the victims have been many. Some
times the merest trifies laid down the
law of the coming fad. For instance,
two New York girls, were passing
along the Court of Honor, in front Of
the Agricultural building. All the
white facades cleaned in the sunlight,
and troop of Navajo Indians crossing
the court looked SO picturesque that
they soon had crowd around them
The two girls pressed through the pco-
gle till they reached the center of the
group. where they suddenly became
lost in admiration of leather culver
full of arrows worn by one of the In
dians- They priced it at once. The
sum named was SO fabulously large
that they relinquished the culver with
a sigh. But each girl purchased an ar
row. And, of course, those arrows
were exhibited at the clearinghouse
that night with the remark that they
were purchased from "a real Indian"
The next day the same young women
were at the Javanese village, when
their eyes fell upon some more arrows.
In weak moment they yielded, and
Javanese arrow, bought from a real
Javanese," was placed with the Navajo
weapon. That settled 1t. Dahomey-
ans, South Sea Islanders, Japanese.
Chinese, every nation which boasted
an arrow. contributed a specimen, and
now those two girls are rabid collect
ors.
A list of the fads which sprung into
life and were nourished into viGor at
the fair would be amusing enough. One
who began as mere joke, to
purchase two or three of the ''souveD-
irs" which were for sale in almok
variety, finally became such
collector, that she econo-
mized on meals, walked instead of
rode. and finally took cheaper room
in order to make her souvenir collec-
ton as complete as possible. She had
which cid not bear the words:
Columbian Exposition or: Worlds
Fair" or some other reference to the
fair. Everything, from little red
glasses with the name engraved while
you wait" silk handkerchiefs with
picture of Columbus woven in them
also while you wait" to canes con-
tanning maps of the grounds. souvenir
coins and models of the buildings,
We're put into collection which is
really most interesting one, although
of Scarcaly any ir<rinSir