Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-10-08
At the Exposition.

children living in st. Louis, saying
must come up and spend a few weeks
with them and see the sights; and as
| found in the letter the money to pay
my expenses, thought il would not
be fair not TO go. So took the train
at Arcadia. and all too soon we were
at st. Louis. / said all too soon. You
see, the ride is so pleasant and COM
Portable one does not tire of it, and I
always enjoy looking out at the con-
slant changing scenes as we pass along
To see the changes that have taken
place in the years that have passed in
my absence! When / reached the
home of my children / received a
hearty welcome.
Saturday morning | was taken in
charge by one of the best lady guides
in all the city. And what Miss Ida
Martin don't know of the city isn't
worth knowing. She is teacher in
the Kindergarten, and has been for
years. II you want tc see anything,
she knows just where to look for it, if
you want anything she knows just
where to find it.
an electric car, we saw so many things
to interest one: these great gardens
where ali the food for the millions is
raised, and such great vineyards, where
grow those delicious grapes-it makes
ones mouth water to see such sights
of good things. As We come to that
part of the city where the cyclone did
its awful work, | saw most of the
houses had been built up again. But
many of the buildings were just as the
storm left them. As we passed Lafay-
cite park it looked so stripped of its
former beauty it made one feel sad to
look at it. But our car does not wait
for us to shed the silent tear.
Soon we are at the great Exposition
building. We, to save steps, enter
one of the many great doors on the
lower floor, and as you enter you step
to take a view of all that vast room
with all of its many wonderful sights.
As you walk along you see every kind
of engine, every kind of machine that
the mind of man could invent have
not room to tell of all this. Saw mills,
planning machines, sewing machines,
bicycles, pony carriages, etc. Aud as
we loiter along we meet such crowds
of boys and girls, for it's Saturday
when all the children are out of school,
and such joyful lot of children / new
er saw before. Wherever you go,
there are the children. / think the
greatest objects of attraction for the
little folks were the five great trick
oil h.
see so many kinds of fish swimming
in the boiling, bubbling water-for in
every great tank there are air pipes
running down in the water, and air is
forced down into the water by these
great engines, making the water boil
and move like the sea in a storm. And
then to see them feed the fish with
buckets full of minows. AS they go
swim ming through the water the big
fish just scoop the little things up by
the hundreds. 1t was so amusing to
see how those little folks would talk
and laugh to see them. Way over to
one side of the floor we saw a crowd of
children. We went over to see, and
there were five great elephants. Their
keeper was washing them. As the
keeper would with great cloths dipped
in buckets of water wash their faces,
legs and feet. these great animals
seemed to enjoy it better than some
children | have seen, who cry when
they are to be washed, and do not love
to be clean.
As we go upstairs to the second
floor, what wonderful sights we see!
1t would take weeks to write of each
fine display. Everything to wear, ev-
erything to decorate the body, every
thing to make the burdens of life light.
AS l watched the girls looking at all of
the thousands of housekeeping helps,
wondered if they did not wish they
could have home of their own with
all of these nice things to keep house
with.
At noon it was amusing to see the
people in groups with their lunch
boxes and lunch baskets, seated and
standing every where. And every
body had real ball of popcorn.
do not think ] saw anything that
brought back my boyhood days more
than the corn peppers. In two places
saw young man popping corn in
great pepper that was hung on
crane over a kind of stove heated by
ever so many gas jets. When his
pepper was full he would take it from
the fire and empty the popped corn
into a great tub and another young
man would put the sugar in the hot
corn and stir it all up until the sugar
would melt and stick it all in a mass.
Then one young man would, as fast as
he could, fill tin rings or cups with no
bottoms and hand them to another fell
low that had machine which would
with one downward motion with his
feet on a pedal, crush that corn in the
tin into a hard ball. And as he took
the balls out his machine would toss
them to two girls that sat on the OPP
posite side of the table. These girls
would catch ball and lay itaou pile
of red tissue paper, and with two or
three motions cover and throw them
into a big basket. And such sights of
balls they would make in minute! 1
don't think there was any one thing
that could begin to take so with the
children. How many million balls
were eaten in day would be hard to
tell.
After everybody had had their
lunch, the thousands and thousand of
boys and girls made rush for the
twenty-five great doors that let you
;nto the great musie hall Rut thev