Omaha daily bee., 1896-09-02
xERCISsS HELD BY NEBRASKA PIONEERS
Parade.

Yesterday the state fair assumed for the
first time the cosmopolitan appearance which
comes with the people. The fair was
scarcely different from the day before, but
with the advent of the first real crowd the
studded slopes and well-kept avenues were
transformed into Il dcnse,y populated city.
The morning attendance was something
enormous for the second day and 1T looked
as though the afternoon would bring a
crowd that would compare favorably with
the biggest day of last year But after noon
the increase was scarcely perceptible and
the record of last year is still unbroken.
But compared with the corresponding day
of last year there scented twice as many
people on the grounds ana If the crowd in
crcascs during the next two days, as prev
ious experience has led the managers to
expect. it will equal their most sanguine ex-
gCCtatons.
Yesterday was zen over to the children
and to the Pioneers Association of Nebraska.
Both were on the grounds in full force, and
with them thousands of people who were
neither children nor pioneers, but who were
there to assist in making the fair densely
populated city. The clouds that seemed to
promise rain in the morning had no de-
terrent effect. The people began to arrive
and at o'clock the street cars on all the
do Sn town lines were crowded. little
later they were little more crowded, and
people had to hang on the tootboards and
wonder If the whole population of the city
had started for the fair. BY the middle Of
the forenoon all the means OF transporta-
tion were beginning to find that their ca
paCtty was to be tested. The street railway
company hurried cars to the fair grounds
line and from then on heavily loaded
train started every two minutes.
But the transportation was perfect,
and barring accidents the troubles OF
last year Will not he repeated. The extra
dynamos were started at the power house
and the additional current was distributed
through the three big feed wires along the
route. The schedule time of twenty-five
minutes from the start to the fair grounds
was maintained in nearly every case and
the heavily burdened trains mounted the
long grades as easily as the lighter ones did
the day before. The railroad service was
more than satisfactory. Some of the Union
Pacific trains made the run to the grounds
in fifteen minutes and eighteen minutes. and
the Missouri Pacific was doing equally as
we'll and by the middle of the forenoon
every incoming train was comfortably filed.
SOMETHING OF A CROWD.
At the grounds the crowd grew percepti-
bly, every minute. The roads leading from
each entrance brought a continual stream
of people to pour into the buildings and
Ovorwhelm exhibitors with their curiOsities.
The most conservative estimate placed the
number of people on the grounds at 10
o'clock at from 10000 to 25,O00, and
this was doubled before night. The crush
in the buildings vas as great as at any
time last year, and all over the grounds the
crowd was in evidence.
The children were there in prodgious
numbers and their continual gyrations kept
the older people well occupied to avoid
their rushcs. They wanted to see all that
to be seen and it "A common thing
IN pf tal Fa hnII Of hnnI
and make a rush through mass of people
that would have done credit to a foot ball
team. OF course they knocked off bonnet
once in a while, and occasionally their
heads Colided with the abdominal organism
Of some preOccupied observer to his tenn
pOrary embarrassment, but these small
noyanccs were forgotten in seeing the wild
enjoyment which the little ones took in
every feature of the big show and jubilated
in their holiday.
The pioneers were less conspicuous. There
were only i92 of them altogether and they
were simply not in it with several thousand
children let loose from all restraint. They
were principally in evidence around the
Court of Honor where the exercises of the
day We're held in their honor They sat
on the benches and chatted together Of
the old territorial days when they helped
to make Nebraska a commonwealth, and
contrasted the wilderness which they had
found with the great state whose resources
were distributed in such lavish abundance
around them
It was apparent to the careful observer
that the bulk Of crowd was from out of
town. Omaha people were in the minority.
Great numbers of farmers and busi-
ness men from various parts of the
state with their families helped to initiate
the crowd, and they seemed to take an un-
usual interest in the various attractions OF
the show. The Fisheries building was as
ever one of the most popular exhibits, and
1t was continually packed to the doors A
railing has been constructed, so that all the
people are compelled to move one way, and
in this manner a vast number Of people
can see all there is TO see in an hour. But
most of them take a second and even a
third trip around the aquariums, and from
carly morning every foot OF standing room
in the building was occupied.
THERE TO SEE TT ALL.
The crowd was almost equally dense in
the other buildings. Each seemed to claim
a fair share OF attention, and in every case
the general comment Of the multitude was
TO the effect that the fair fulfilled all that
had been claimed for it. There are fewer
exhibits this year that can be passed by
with a hurried glance, and infinitely more
that deserve continued study.
Out in the stock pens the hogs seemed
TO be the popular fayoritos The pens were
literally surrounded, and even the city peo-
ple who are as ignorant OF porCne merits
as Of the ediCts of Constantine, seemed to
take unmcasured delight In examining tha
monstrOus hogs ana wondering what there
could be about such an animal to make Il
worth a dozen good horses. The cattle.
sheep and horses were not without their
admirers. and It vas noticeable that the
women fingered over them and with fully
as much interest as the men who had a
more practical Interest I'm the exhibits
The fact that nearly all the people on tho
grounds wcro taking thoir first look at the
fair was doubtless responsible for the fact
that only small crowd remained around the
band stand to hear the concert which was
given at 10 O'cloGk by the McCook band under
the baton Of II, T. sutton, Those who did
not hear the concert missed treat IN a
musical way, for the band gave one of the
best programs yet rendered on the grounds.
As no printed program was furnished 10 aid
the listners In understanding the descriptive
pieces, these were largely abandoned and the
program vas largely coprosed OF operate
selections from popular composlticns.
Among the most pleasing was the oyegtggs