Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-12
SCENES AT ATLANTA'S SHOW
a Moving Panorama of Life, Color and
On aint 0haractertics.
THE CRACKER AND OTHER coUN1RYMEN
A Dazzling Spectacle Mt Night when
the ThronRs MonopoIi=c the Mid
vny-Nortbern sketches of
the southron.

n YOU had a lasso a mile long and could
%hirl IL from the center Of the exposition
grounds, writes the Atlanta correspondent o
the Brooklyn Eagle, 1t would in its evolution
smte the scalps of beefy BrItons, chppci
Frenchman, dull Mongolians, polite Japanese
fierce Indians. roaring cowboys grim Rus
slams, grlnnlng negroes-well, you would I'll
n half column with the mere catalogue
But these are incldentale and curiosities
The people that you have right to be inter
ested in principally are your own country
men. II takes some such show or occasion as
this to bring the wonders to town Under.
stand please, at the OUTSET, that this is nc
csuny fair. 1t is a big and important dis
play Of the worlds clvllzng forces. 1t has
drawn people frcm across the sea and Il
drawing thousands from the distant stat IS
and cities, and it attracts multitude from
thc cotton belt. Now, IL the northerner wh1
has not been in this part Of the world for
many years expects to find things as they
were Just at the end of the war, he has a
grlat big surprise waiting for him. Maybe
the people do not stave around and perspire
as much as they do in the north. for the
climate is warm and there is trace, too,
of the fine old leisure of ante-bsllum times;
but they are awake, earnest, educated, trav-
eled full of business, getting rich, inventing
things and keeping right along with the pro-
cesS!on.
TO the middle Of Sahara, or Nevada, If he
wanted to keep his brains from being rubbed
against a printing press, telegraph wire,
a minstrel show, a patent medicine fakir, or
any other awakening instrument. Still If
we compare the Cracker with some of
the northern provincals, we cannot but con-
clude that the man suffers a lack of schools,
Of good raods, of institute lectures, and a
too generous use of pork. His morals are
all right. He means them to be, anyway.
IL. n,.I \ to- ri.
intellects to quite the point that should suit
his city neighbors. He is often poor with a
poverty that would be miserable in the
cities, but can never be quite hopeless in the
country. where he owns his bit of land his
roof, his yams, his razor backs and his
cotton patch. You will see him on the
Journey, in his ramshackle cabin, surrounded
by weedy field, with not even a flower at
his door stone and no piano in the parlor. And
here you will see some of him. likewise, gaz-
ing in dumb wonder at feats of art and mech
anism, at the crowd of buildings, at the well
dressed, pleasant faced multitude and obvi-
ously with his wits in deep water. But it
cannot be that he will go away empty. Thera
will be a quickening in him. He will see
nature with a clearer eye. He will have
learned new possibilities In mankind and
himself. He will have learned to think, some.
The Cracker" is the most significant, as well
as the most interesting, then, of the ex-
hibts. Where you find him in his nearly
original state he is n mile mark from which
you can reckon the later progress of his fell
lows. Here he is, six and a half feet high,
with tow colored hair, whiskers woven into
fantastic knots by the breezes of his uplands,
with high water pants and jacket of home
spun, gray or butternut, straw hat col
lariess cotton shirt, thick feet cased in COW
hide, and his wife, likewise tending to gaunt-
ness and pallor, with her head concealed
in mighty sunbonnet and a
calico gown Tapping about her ankles.
The twain have come to town in a low rooted
prairie schooner-a vehicle peculiar 10 these
parts-pulled by a sheep-necked, ship-ribbed,
fannel-coated, knock-kneed plug, dressed in
rope harness and ignorant of holidays and
festivals. This is the older type. The newer
one wears the stovepipe or pot hat and shin
Ing shoes Of civilization; his wife and daugh-
ter wear dead birds in their bonnets and
balloons on their shoulders; their waists are
pulled in out of shape, they have been to
Europe and have graduated from an academy.
One thing cannot fail to impress the visitor
here, just as it did in Chicago, and just as
it does wherever Americans throng together
cn their holiday making, and that is, their
plrfect good nature. Atlanta has its toughs
and its rogues but they take little interest
in fairs and favor the saloons, the street
corners and the society of each other, as
they do in other cities. The police have not
invited the blacklegs of our towns, but when
these gentry do make bold to attend the
fair the guardians OF the law treat them with
true southern hospitality, meeting thsm al
the trains providing them with free patrol
wagons to their lodgings in well appointed
jails and stations and furnishing free board
during their entire visit At the fair the
people are disposed to merriment. They en-
ter freely into conversation with strangers
and are as willing to give information az to
ask IT, In crowd there is patience and
and one seldom or never sees
such turbulence and selfishness as we have
n lonl In q RrOOklyn
bridge, the ferry gates and on the elevated
roads Of cur big cities. Atlanta will grow
heartless as it grows larger, no doubt for
hat seems to be inevitable to throng, yet
it is not in the present constitution of the
southron to jam his elbows into women's
ribs and jostle and kick his way to a front
place, especially where nothing is to be |
gained by being bear.
No the crowd is orderly, pleasant hu- |
nored willing to learn, gratiied at its own |
,how--a crowd to be in no wise ashamed |
,f and one that could be put in competition !
With crowd from any other part of the |
world.
SCENES AT NIGHT.
In respect that the ground is hilly instead |
Z level the Atlanta fair has the advantage
yer the Chicago one in its spectacular effect.
II night this is the more noticeable. Then
he electric fountains are playing and all the
rlncipal buildings are illuminated, most of
b m being outlined in long rows OF incandes-
ent lamps that are merged at little dis
lnce and seem like lines of yellow fire. The
est point of view is on the train of the
ou,hern railroad at distance Of about half
mile from the grounds. One then sees a
is,on that he will never forget. 1t is like
ty of dreams. city imagined by Turner,
ct more beautiful than he could have painted
r imagined. The domes, the long roofs, the
the towers, the big wheel, the
,ads are marked as against the sky In soft
eady outlines of light, and one secs such
lace as he might fancy to be the city Of
ernal rost, lacking only the gates of pearl
nd the distant mountains, The electric
untains playing In the center Of the lake
re q luxury of color. The colored light Is
rown through them from beneath. and they
.ange from moment TO moment like opals. |
,ssing from green to red, thence to purple. |
arge, silver. gold blue, or these colors al
rpating and ntermxed, Now they are
cuds Of mist with hues like rainbow shining;
en they change to sheaf-like forms, blazing
fly in yellow and red; anon a geyser leaps
ON the center. clear white in the focused
VS. of search lights and dozen spouts Of
ol fire play about its base. All this Is
ubled In beauty since II is reflected in the ,,
ke whsre the little waves catch the sparkle :
thousand distant lights, and the night =
filled with magic. !
GLIMPSES OF THE MIDWAY. y
The Midway Is the feature toward which I
e crowds flock at twilight, says writer In I
arpers Weekly Look at II from any point I
the grounds and you will find the vision I
Interesting one. as the electric lights be- p