Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1893-09-15
A SHORT RAMBLE
Through Midway, the Nursery
and Woman's Building.
CRUSHED BY TOO MUCH REFORM.

Plenty of Strange and Interesting Shows
R~emain-Tlc Ostrich IL IL Hard Kicker
Children Large and Small lscadle
Loose In the Woman's B~uilding-Thc
First Gold Nugget.
WORLDS FAIR, Sept. Q. -[Special. -
The blow has fallen. The fiat of fate has
descended upon yours truly Wilkins
Micawber." 1t is expedient that I inform
you that the Midway plaisance is now
thoroughly reformed and the undersigned
Is crushed. OF course I cannot specify
any particular pleasure that is gone, for I
never have been able to see why any prop
erly constituted and organically normal
man could take pleasure in seeing a lot of
fat Amazons wiggling over a little plat
form IN alleged concord with some alleged
music, about as melodious as a hog with
his nose fast under n gate, but not half so
expressive. Nevertheless, it is the fashion
to assume that this was the glory of the
plaisance, and as it is abolished, please
think of the undersigned as crushed.
Nevertheless when l entered the plais.
ance Mt the west end this morning it
seemed as interesting as ever, and for the
life of me / cannot see what is lost. There
is still the california ostrich farm" and
a rare curiosity it is, of which more anon.
There is the Vienna cafe, and theater at
tached, which Germans of taste and Gull
ture tell me is really a fair copy of good
ones in Vienna. There are also the Turk.
ish, Moorish, Algerian, East Indian and
other bazaars, and they are we'll worth
looking at even if you don't buy. The
charming Oriental maids" in charge
speak English fluently, or what passes for
such in Chicago, and other maidens there
are fluent in the local dialect of Halsted
street. All the regular theaters, the Irish,
German and other villages, the special
race exhibits and the big injun
are still open. So what is lost by the sup.
preston of the danse du ventre and of the
exposition de la legge?
1t is just as well, perhaps, to give at
this point a summary of the attractions of
the p%laisance, for though they have often
been advertised a final statement may in
terest. 1t is first of all a place of rest
when n is weary of seeing wonderful
thought-inspiring things. Itrequires
no exercise of brain power to be amused
ON the plaisance; the street in Cairo. the
Javanese village and theater, the Daho-
mey dances, the childish antics of the
Polynesians and the solemn fooling of the
Chinese can all be enjoyed without
thought. In fact, I often go down there
the last thing at night to tranquilize nv
mind before going to bed. OF the things
which do really require some thought.
yet mo- enough to weary one, l may men
ton the Irish village and Blarney castle,
the Swiss scenes and songs, the log cabin
OF l116 and the display of the United
States Submarine Diving company The
dances and village life, of the Fiiians and
Samoans serve for amusement or as food
Tor thought just as the spectator is in
clined, and SO do the gambols of the Be-
douin Arabs. Lastly the Ferris wheel
takes one 260 feet high for so cents. and it's
worth it to n whose heart is in the right
place and will stay there. o, there is still
very much to see on the plaisance, though
the fat female wigglers are gone.
l nave become very much interested in
the ostriches since I learned that the fe-
males do the counting and the males care
for the young. The former are of a dun
gray color and rather coarse in plumaoe.
while the males, as the rule is among
birds, are much handsomer as we'll "a
darker in color. Every ostrich in a do
mestlcated herd has a name as the cattle
on a small farm have, and the TWENTY
eight here are called "Blaine," "Grant.n
Gail Hamilton "Susan B.. Anthony"
etc. Grover Cleveland" is a magnificent
bird, said to weigh 300 pounds, though he
does not look the half of it to me. The
keepers add that he yields $50 worth of
feathers at each plucking and is worth
$500, presumably in gold. 1t sounds odd
to American ears to have white men
speaking the English language call them
selves Africanders, but that is a term the
white natives of south Africa, especially
OF the ostrich belt, have invented to dis
tlngulsh themselves from black Africans.
The birds are said to be very hard kick
ers' breaking q mans leg occasionally
when excited. They haven't kicked any-
o mere yet, U l think they will when
they nnd u what their ~victuals cost.
Ihey 40 swallow oyster shells and gravel
as alleged, but it is only to aid their diges.
ton as other birds do. If thew stav bera
long they will probably take to cohhle
oAS ACIA4dAO ~ 1Our wears
old she leaves her own flock, goes to an
other and selects a mate and This union
continues till death doth them part. No
divorces are allowed, but in case of death
either party can mate again. In this con-
nection it may be we'll to state that the
average weight of an ostrich brain is but
one ounce. The eggs contain more meat
each than two dozen hen eggs, and one ia
reckoned a meal for seven men. In
Africa, l mean. In Chicago at present
one egg would be a restaurant service for
seventeen men anyhow and in the fair
grounds for twenty-seven.
**~
From the grown up children of the nlais.
ance to the real children of the creche and
kindergarten is but a few steps in SPACE
but the circuit Of a worldin other respects'
The Fitch Creche, Of Buffalo, N. Y. hay.
ing shown what it could do, has given
place to the model daynurseries exhibited
by New York city ladies, Mrs. A. N.
Dodge in chief charge. A few ladies' are
allowed to pass through, but the rest of
US can only look through glass at the ba-
bies. They have had as many as ninety
babies a day there, and either they are
frightened by the unusual surroundings.