The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1895-11-14

| girl lOxl2 photograph OF nerSelf. Inc
oldest resident of Trumbull County to
record his name, age and residence at one
Of the hardware stores would receive a
carving set worth s., while the lady
presenting the largest number of grand
children at a certain shoe store was to get
a pair Of IS shoes. The best dressed
doll, work of a girl under Is years,
would bring the youthful dressmaker a
pair OF fine shoes, and the coolest and
oldest piece of fire arms shown at that
same store would gain for it's owner a
pair of rubber boots. Wagstaff 4 Jenkins.
/ druggists, offered 81 worth of school
supplies to the scholar under l. years,
who would form the most W words from the
letters composing their firm name, while
one OF tile grocers offered sack of fine
flour to the man with the largest family
registering at his store fair day. The
same grocer also offered a book of poems
for the best off hand drawing, by school
/ boy or girl, of the kings Daughter S
window in the Presbyterian church. The
First National Bank offered ) Columbian
half dollars, for the best collection of
rare and foreign money, while the City
National Bank offered various cash prizes
for the oldest coins in a number of diff
ferent denominations.
| Although have mentioned great many
prizes they are fen in number compared
with those OF which | have not spoken,
but space in The journal is valuable. and
fear | have already gone beyond the
proper limit.
For several days before the fair, the
streets Of Niles presented strange and
unusual appearance. The City Council had
, granted the use of the streets to the
Association. and every merchant who had
offered any prizes erected wooden booths
in the center of the street opposite his
store. The booths were nearly continu-
Gus, as almost every store had offered
premiums for something or other. The
dry goods firms had been advertising
special prices for street fair day, for days
before hand, and extra clerks were en-
gagged to take care OF the expected crowds.
The great day, October l6, came at last
warm and pleasant, though rather breezy.
The booths and places of business were
gaily, and, in some instances, beautifully
decorated with flags and bunting, and the
prizes offered were on exhibition in the
r+,. \
vehicles were barred from the business
streets after 8 a. M, and all was ready
for the crowd And did they come?
Well, you should have tried to push your
way down Main Street about ten O clock,
and you would have thought they did.
1t was as bad as Newspaper Row in Bos-
ton on election night, and not only the
sidewalks, but the whole streets were full.
1t is estimated that 20, 600 people were
present, and this is the largest crowd
that ever gathered in Niles, and with one
exception, in any place in the county,
and that exception was political meeting
at Warner in honor of JAMES GILLESPIE
BLAINE.
In the morning there was a parade of
fantasies, accompanied by three bands,
and with the horses and dogs which were
entered for prizes bringing up the rear.
After the parade the bands were station
ed at different points and enlivened the
scene with their music at intervals though
out the day. Then there were bicycle
races, running and jumping races, and all
kinds of athletic games and contests to
amuse the people, while grand ball at
Riverside Park Pavilion rounded out the
day.
At the baby show, thirty babies (near-
ly every one screaming) contended for the
prizes offered for weight and beauty. A
little Irish maiden with gold brown hair
and dark blue eyes won the fur cape for
her proud mamma, while the heaviest baby
tipped the scales at % IL lbs.
The largest pumpkin weighed 12s lbs.
and | never saw finer collections and
specimens of fruit and vegetables than
were here exhibited ON that day.
There were 800 loaves Of bread shown;
all the way from the size of sc loaf up
4 to one literally as large as half bushel
! basket. There were more than 80 chocolate
cakes, about dozen cocoanut cakes, p ap-
pie pies, and | dom know how many lemon
and pumpkin pies; but do know, by the
looks of those cookery exhibits, that there
must be a lot Of mighty good cooks in and
about Niles. There were about % silk
crazy quilts competing for the Sl2 couch
offered by the furniture store. The prize
quilt was almost one solid mass Of en-
broidery. The man who registered for
the largest family had sixteen children,
and surely deserved the prize. The larg-
est number Of words formed from the
words ssWagstaff & Jenkins was ?, 100.
The Niles Soap company had at its booth
a huge block of soap weighing over 800
lbs.
The stores were crowded with pur-
chasers, and it is estimated that thou
sands Of dollars were put in circulation on
that day. The livery stable men reaped
the greatest harvest They were taxed to