Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-09-22
FAIR FAKIRS.
THEY CLUSTER LIKE BEES ALL
AROUND THE ENTRANCES.
Prepared 10 Sell Anything From y
House and Lot to n Shoe
Strlng-SOme Typi-
cal Cases.

warm.
What" said the correspondent,
"ere YOU tired already
"Tiredl" he replied. 81 assure you
a thousand hackmen struggling to take
nossession of q man when he arrives at
a depot is not a circumstance to what
he has to endure walking from the
train to the gates of this Fair. %
"Who molested you?" he was asked.
'Fakirs," he replied.
The whole population Immediately
around the great show is composed of
these gentry. They have everything
for sale that is likely to catch the
penny of the traveller before he gets to
the gates and after he leaves them to
go home.
Lemonade, lemonade only five
cents glass Ice cold lemonade here
for half dime Here you are, here
YOU are :" The yender is crying this
ont with a voice that rises high above
the roar of the railroad trains and
mingles with other loud voices crying
out to the same effect. The lemonade
is in big bowl, or rows of glasses
with white powdered sugar in them
stand before you, and the lemonade
can be made in a second while you wait.
"Smoked glasses here, a sure pro-
lection to the eyes another man IS
shouting. He carries them in tray
and begs you not to voluntarily incur
the danger Of blindness, when you can
be safe by spending modest twenty
five cents for pair of smoked glasses
Here is hasty enumeration of the
principal things that the fakirs sell
l Pcucorn and sausages, sandwiches and
toy tops, guide books and hat guards,
fruit and umbrellas, time savers and
orange cider, soda pop and cheap orien-
tai rugs, souvenir medals and walking
canes, hats made of bark and bags Of
candy, East Indian curios and chewing
gum. There are thousand other
things, too. All these are dispensed
from bags, trays, stands and the front
Of shops They cost from five cents to
five dollars. Some of the fakirs are
little boys hardly yet in their teens;
others ore venerable old men, with
white hair and boards. There are ycl
low japanese among them, cofeo-col-
ored men from East India, black men
America and smoke-begrimed white
men from Chicago.
jackson Park is entered by land
from the north side and the west side
the south side runs out upon a waste,
where the streets hardly count, and
the east side is bounded by the lake.
The chief entrances nre known as those
of Fifty-seventh street, Fifty-ninth
street, Sixtieth street, Sixty-second
street, Sixty-fourth street and Sixty
seventh street. At the north en-
frances there are no fakirs. Here n
row of hotels is Immediately in front
of the gates. Next to the Sixty-fourth
street gate is the big terminal railroad
station, and if you come in by that
route you escape the venders You
will find them thickest about Fifty
seventh, Fifty-ninth, Siztieth and
Sixtv-third streets. On the two first
they have full sway ut the people who
get off the cable cars and tho Illinois
Central local trains, and ut the last
two they advance upon the passengers
of the express trains MS well as the To-
cal trains. They do not confne their
operntions to the streets lead
ing into the Park, but the whole
neighboring territory is utilized by
them. Here, however, they have res
taurants and side shows. You are soil
cited to partake of "a good square
meal for twenty-five cents" end to
come in and see the calf with three
heads. If that does not allure you,
little further on sign informs you
that "six beautiful ladies' may be seen
in some sort Of variety performance.
There is the usual big tent, IN which a
lot of prancing wooden horses go around
and around to the tune of huge music
box. and an enterprising citizen has
small sized Ferris wheel, which re-
wolves as the big wheel in the Midway
Plaisance, and is probably ten times
as dangerous.
1t must not be supposed that the
whole region around Jackson Park is
ciyen ND to fakirs and side shows, for
it is not. There are many fine hotels,
many railroad stations, etc, and near
by are some quiet, shady streets with
modest, comfortable houses where peo-
pie actually live. 1t is strange at first,
and hard to believe, that everybody
near the Worlds Fair is not boarder,
but there are people who lived there
before the Fair came near them, and
who continue to live there now, under
certain disadvantages, it is true. II
any one supposes that hotels and board
ing houses are the only means OF
lodging provided for Worlds Far
visitors he is mistaken, for there are
several encampments for those who
like to live in tents, and there is even