Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-10-28
Sightseeing.

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thing you are sure to tell it to some
body else, and just as the twig is bent
the trees inclined" So you see now
that | am seeing so many wonderful
things l feel just as though l wanted
to tell all of my country cousins about
all these beautiful. wonderful things
and sights l see. But feel as though
/ could not begin to do the thing JUS
justice. But for all that l will try.
Ia my last article, if it has not gone
to the bone pile. said. Il met my old
friend, and the girls had persuaded
him to stay over few days and go to
the fair Saturday morning Ida, my
friend and myself started for the fair.
and let me say right here that the fair
of 1897 excels in excellency any prev
ious fair since the ffties. In the early
years, way back, there used to be the
finest displays of fancy things, textiles.
flowers, paintings and arts | have ever
seen up to this present fair. When
we boarded the street car, as we went
spinning along, Ida would call the at
teution of my friend to all the noted
things that we passed, such as the
Tower Grove, the reservoir, the High
School and Cathedral. She took pains
not to let anything of interest pass un-
noticed.
When we at last reached the fair
grounds, Ida procured tickets for each
of us. When we were ushered in
through. the ticket gate we saw, in ev-
cry direction, tents filed in between
the great buildings. But as it was
Saturday. large portion of the great
crowd had gone home. | had seen
and read in the dailies that there had
been great crowds of people every day.
On Thursday. the papers said, there
were on the grounds one hundred
thousand people. There were people
from everywhere. They came hun
dreds of miles to see the fine sights.
We walked slowly along, so as to get
a good look at everything as we came
to it, for if you want to get the good of
don't hurry; take time to see.
The first place we visited was the
textile hall. As we entered the great
door, we involuntarily stopped. and
stood, and looked with wonder and
at the wonderful sights spread
out before us. would the genii would
come to my help and give me language
to tell you all we saw. After standing
for quite spell, taking in the scene
as a whole, we began on one side and
looked at each article as we came TO
it. Here we see great glass cases
ing above, filled from top to the very
bottom, and spread on the floor. Here
we saw dresses of every sort of ma
terial, OF all sizes, from doll to the
richest bridal dress, dresses OF thick
rich silk to dresses as white as snow,
made of the thinest, softest material.
We saw one bridal dress made of goods
ike gossimer, thin as a spider web,
trimmed with silk of part yellow
color between white and yellow, bor-
1ered with the finest and most costly
lace, and that dress was made by an
Did lady eighty-three years old, and,
as we looked we saw that most of the
most beautiful things were made by
Did ladies. You see the young are too
full of life. They haven't the time nor
patience to do all of this fine work,
but these old ladies have nothing else
10 occupy their minds or those fingers
that would now be idle. We saw such
a variety of quilts.
Some made of the littlest bits of all
sorts and colors of cloth picked up into
all sorts of blocks, and so neatly ar
ranged as to look like great picture
Or landscape. | stood almost rooted
to the floor in wonder at the sight of
some of those beautiful pieces of hand
work. 1t seemed as though it was be-
yond the power of the human mind to
conceive of such work. / saw crazy
Quilts of the most brilliant colors of
silks. so arranged to look like some
great paintery. 0, it is wonderful.
We saw large pieces of velvet with
flowers worked iu silk fiosses, crewels
of the richest aud most brilliant colors
| saw. One piece of black velvet with
a feur de Us worked in silk, with ali
the shades of color that would vie with
the natural flower itself. They look
ed 80 natural you felt as though you
could almost smell the flower, and such
a display of strawberries worked on ali
sorts of goods. 1t seemed as though
the strawberry was our national fruit,
saw it in such a variety of ways and
on so many kinds of goods. Some
were so large and looked so tempting
YOU almost had the desire to reach-and
pluck the fruit. Roses, roses, worked
on everything and painted on every
thing: ro.es red. roses white, roses