The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-09-22
A DAY At STATE FAIR
t. Burnett Hears of the GIories
of Villas County.
THE GIFT PEOPLE PREDOMINATE.

-
a Jug-Ex-Governor Upham Sees the
Races and Talks sense-A Drop of
Water Under the Microscope - Dog
Fanciers Who Wear Loud Clothes.
Madison. Wis, Sept. 19.-The state
fair attracted many people to NIilwau-
kee last week. The grounds are all
that could be desired-an immense
area Of which the mile track and it's
Enclosure and a noble grand stand are
the features It is about six miles from
Milwaukee and the attendance is al
ways largely stamped with Cream
City impressions,
One sees country people-family
groups and all that sort Of thing, es-
pecially about the cattle stables the
ruraist can be found. He is genuine
~ interested there But look thecrOWd
over, take 10000 Or $4,000 watching
the horse races, and it is not the
country patronage that the fair man
agement dreams Of and longs for.
An Honest show, However.
It must be understood that the oD-
jectionable features have been pretty
we'll stripped from the show. The
honest intent is to make it an agricul-
tural exhibition. Gambling, pools, etc.,
have been wholly suppressed. | saw
some wheels of fortune but they were
outside the gate. Inside there was a
'midWay' where an idiot girl with a
head as small as two billiard balls was
exhibited as the "Wild Australian
child" and a cheap lot of sideshow
takers, negro banjoists and two dane
ing girls who shivered in the cold blast
in ballet costumes. These might we'll
be suppressed in view of the fact that
the fair is under the auspices of the
commonwealth. But withal it was an
excellent fair There were goodly ex-
hibits of things raised on the farm
and choice stock.
Hogs That Can Beat a Freight Train.
The open fields were occupied by
exhibitors of farm machinery, feed
mills. wind mills-all the parapher
MALTA now necessary to agriculture.
The wire fence alone had half q dozen
opponents, one concern inclOSing a lot
Of southern "raZOrbaCkS'
they are styled in Dixie. They are the
leanest. most Wolf-like animal one can
imagine. 1t is said that in point Of
speed they will give a freight train
close rub. There may be bacon on
them, but not an inch of fat. 1t seems
as if some natural law had operated
to cut down flesh at every point, and
the snOut is long and thin enough to
eat corn from a jug.
The Villas county collection was in
charge of q preacher, MI Todd and
his wife Of Eagle River and to hear
the good man talk one would think
he had already reached paradise. He
pointed to a three-pOud trout and
forty pound muskallonge that Judge
Colman caught, and eagles and NAL
lard ducks. and then to the comforta-
bic pumpkins and the clean potatoes
and the native grasses and clover,
which. he said, stood 5 feet high and
even 3 feet at second cutting.
And from the top Of the exhibit
looked out the head of a porker that
weighed 700 pounds-at least the
preacher said so. And for the life Of
me | wished we might all leave the
worries Of city life and go up there
beside the thousand lakes and buy a
few acres Of land at from $1.25 to $40,
and grow old together in plenty and
content. In a glass case there were
two fawns, beautifully preserved in i
setting Of greenery (the price was
$3.50, and then Mr.. Todd said he had
seen deer within the limits of Eagle
river
Drop of Water Magnifed.
The little microscopes through which
one may become a scientist (the man
said went rapidly at 81 each Nothing
affords more pleasure and instruction
than microscopic tense and every
family should possess one. The
salesman touched a drop of water to
the tense and the yeomanry peeked
into the little sea in which scores Of
infusoria Wriggled The people
thought it a horrid sight and agreed
never to drink water again. little re-
alizing that if they could see them
selves. indeed any atom in nature, it
would be found glowing with life Of
myriad forms. And kindly life, too,
for there are friendly bacteria as we'll
as deadly, and without the former the
world of nature would soon be pos
sessed by the demon wrigglers and
then what a sorry old world this
would be. to be sure.
$50 for a Pup a Few Days Old.
It cost an extra dime to get into the
dog show, but it was one Of the best
features OF the fair. The 800 thorough
breds were housed by themselves
great st. Bernards-which Secretary
Ed Meisenheimer of the kennel club
cultivates-one of four brothers, all Of
whom love dogs, veritable lion dogs.
whose Youngest pups are worth $40
or $50 each. Poodle dogs, which you
and | wouldn't have in the house. vet
with a pedigree longer and more au-
thentic than Willie AstOr's: hounds
which bayed long and deep, like the
boom of foghorn; faithful, grim, per-
sistent hounds that follow the trail of
a fox for days until the dogs fall faint
from, exhaustion. There were bulldogs
there. mOrose, clean, muscular brutes
that will die before they surrender, il
their cruel masters put them up to it:
all sorts Of dogs, in fact.
Then there We're the men and wom-
en- who fancy dogs dressed in plaids,
rafting chains and wearing diamonds.
Wonder why it is that so many people