The Van Buren press., 1895-11-30
ARP SEES THE FAIR.
He Takes His Folks Down ane
They Spend the Day.
They Enjoyed 1t Hugely. Hut They Did
Not Get More Than an Idea of What
1t Really Is and DId Not Reach
the Midway.


is big enough for me--big enough for my
time and my comprehension. My wife
and | have been and it has renewed her
youth and now she has something else to
talk about besides the missionary meet
ings and the grandchildren and the flow
ers that | haven't put in the pit. Yes, |
took her down last Wednesday 1t took
right smart of preparation, of course, for
she had an idea that the people would all
expect her and observe her outfit, and
she has great respect for public occasions
and Tor herself, too, and so her parapher-
MALTA had to be revised and rem0deled
She knows how poor | am and said it
would cost too much for her to 90, but
] told her she should go if it broke ne
and all my friends and relations. These
maternal ancestors, who, for thirty and
forty years, have served the Lord and
their country in the infantry service and
toiled day and niRht in raising children,
nursing and sewing and caring for off
spring-slayes to destiny and the curse
that was put on Mother Eye-neyer with
out a little child that was too young
and helpless to take care of itself, never
with day or night that was free from
anxiety, they should have good time in
their last days If there is a good time
for anybody in this sublunary world.
They are like the heroes who came from
the war. They are like Paul, who said
Il have fought good fight" But Paul
would have known II little more about
fighting if he had been a family man and
had to get up in the night when he WIS
almost dead for sleep and walk the floor
in his night gown with a teething child
IN his arms and singing, "Ilush, my dear;
be still and slumbcr," or
'Oh, where shall rest be found
Rest for the weary soul?'
Paul had hard time, but he never
graduated in the fighting business. lie
was too smart to enter the infantry serv-
ice.
My wife was almost afraid to under
take the xposition-afraid she would get
tired and worn out tramping around,
but like all mothers she let's the young
est child persuade her The older ones
have scattered and gone and some of
them we fear are weaned, but the young
est of all the flock is here and she is not
weaned. She was q yesterday and is
married and has q child of her own, but
she is not weaned. Oh, no; she Is still
our comfort and brings us sunshine every
day. Just think of it. Ten living chill
dren and the youngest has passed her
u. The oldest is clean out Of sight. He
is almost as old as | am and has sons
who have graduated and gone to work.
One of them, who has my name and my
birthday, is an electrician at the EXPOSE
ton. He escorted us round and when we
were asked to register our names in a
book | wrote mine in full and he took
the pen and just wrote ditto and we
went on.
We got safely into the grounds, my
wife and | and our youngest daughter,
who was celebrating her birthday, and
| began the grand rounds about o'clock
| in the morning. We stopped long enough
to take bird's-eye view of the situation
| to look at the panorama and to locate
| the particular buildings. | was the chap
eron for | had been there before, and SC
! pointed out everything before we began
| the perusa There is the government
building" said |. 81 wish you could
spend half day there That Smith
|
| is the woman's building. There is the
| liberal arts. There is the agricultural
| building and there the machinery. Over
there is the Midway. In every church
| you know, the devil has a pulpit at the
rear eud and the Midway is his pulpit
here
In due time we started on the grand
rounds. / had two shawls and a basket
! of lunch and some other traps to carry
but that was all right for while. | will
carry anything on such occasions. l car
ried those paraphernaiia until ] o'clock
when we got to a place where we coulC
eat up the lunch and leave the shawls an(
the etcetera. We took it in by slow de
grees Sometimes | was in the lead like
a pilot, sometimes / was behind like {
shepherd dog. ! am docile on such occa
sions. Sometimes ] would sit down some
where and wait till they got done look
ing. | had no trouble anywhere except a
the fisheries The crowd was thick ther'
and most of them were niggcrs and whit,
folks and the passway is narrow. Gen
tlemen," said /, 'please don't crowd thil
lady-she is my wife, but they paid NJ
more attention to me than if | was com
mon man and | reckon ! am. If | coulC
have called back twenty years / woul,
have knocked one fellow a rod and taugh
him some manners. Those fish are jus
beautiful but ! have seen sheepsheat
down at Clear Water just like them.
have seen them all around n palmetto
post sucking the barnacles and they wer
20 thick you could not see through them
They wouldn't notice hook with tn
most tempting bait on it. but | could tax
grain or gigpole and strike it dow
among them and kill half a dozen at
stroke. 1t took us an hour to get througl
the government building and we did no
see it all to our satisfaction. That alon
is a great show. Our paternal govern
ment has been good to us and the Smith
sonian Institution carried out the will o
that noble Englishman who left millio
dollars for the diffusion Of knowledg
among men. The preface to the catalogu
saws they would have sent us much NOR
, if we had had room for it. Since Smith
son died many other philanthropists hav
left money to that great institution. Lot
Of money in various sums from 5000 u
TO quarter Of a million. Say what 20
nlease about the Northern people, the
are the greatest people on earth to max
} big fortunes and then die and leave ther
. TO some charity or some benehcent cause
Just think how this Smithsonian Institr
ton has grown. They have now j
brary of $1,000 volumes on scientific sui
lects. a museum Of 10000 historical co
. lections of coins and medals, 1-2l9 mus
ral Instruments, $500 specimens Of poi
, terry and porcelains, 1900 chemical Pft
iucts $500 textiles, $4,000 specimens