Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-08-31

tive shrewdneSs conspicuous, the angu.
lar type which came over the mountain,
and followed down the Ohio valley thru
Posey county, and light haired descend.
ants of the Vikings and the darke,
progeny of the rovers from south ane
central Europe. Yet they are al
Iowans.
The throng may be easily divided into
4 groups. The most numerous is thai
which comprises the farmer, the miner
the carpenter, the plain mechanic or day
laborer This is their fair. They are
conscious of the fact and show it. For
forty years or more some of these have
4 been coming to state fairs and they new
err weary. 1t is part of their life. Then
| there is the class which includes the
| tradesmen from the towns, the dealers
in sundry' things keen and active men,
\ strong of intellect, schooled in expert
ence and firm in convictions. Another
class reminds one that Yankee-land is
1 no longer in that provincial New Eng
land once the center of American intel
| llectual life. The true Yankee at the
fair is on the make. He may have some
thing to sell or scheme to get rich, or
he may be directing a fake show or
amusement stand-but whatever it is,
he is filling his pockets or preparing to
do SO. His motto is Get More" and
| then some.
The female portion of the throng, and
it seems as if they have a majority, are
quite as easily di-ided into classes. Your
typical farmers wife is there-the
strong, sturdy woman, with we'll brown
ed hands, of generous proportions and
cheerful. She knows little of style in
dress and cares less. She is we'll clothed
and comfortable. Her family is along.
Arranged in row the half dozen would
suggest snort stairway. From the
slender girl of Is to the chubby boy of 4
they are all clean and neat and intelli-
gent. Their hands and heads are kept
leisure for mischief. Then there is the
sharper featured woman who takes the
Ladies' Home Journal and occasionally
attends lecture on cooking. She does
not make the state fair her only outing.
She takes sundry jars OF marmalade to
the county fair and goes to a Chautau-
n n
away. And she dresses in good taste
and is not going to be heart-broken If
the dust settles all over her dress. Be-
tween the types there is an infinite va
riety. And one is just as essentially an
Iowan az the other.
And the young ladies' are at the state
fair They come from every direction.
Here is one dressed in thin white goods
with lace insertion and founces and
ruffles land beneath her dress one catch
es glimpses of daintily covered ankles
but she has yet much to learn about
how to dress for a state fair. Another.
wears her best black skirt, and with it
waist of black stuff with large part
made much like one of the woven wire
fences in the farm supply exhibit, which
causes men to stare at her and wonder
Why she should attend state fair thus
attired. She probably did not realize
that a state fair is famous for its dust.
Then there is group from nearby
town, four or five in a bunch, all bent
on seeing everything, oblivious of all
surroundings, full of life and activity
and expectation, climbing over fences
and shouting out at the race course
doing many things they would not do at
home. But their innocence is their safe
ty.
Yet, after all, it is not by picking out
one here and there for special study
that the best idea of the general effect
of the fair crowd is obtained The in
spection must not be too close The old
magazine articles told of the wondrous
colors and infinite variety of costumes
of a great fair on the Russian steppes
or Hungarian plain; but no Oriental
crowd presents to the beholder greater
variety than an Iowa state fair crowd.
All colors are found here. No two cos
tunes are alike. The faces are 80 differ
ent. There are large and small, fat and
lean, well dressed and those in rags.
men bent with age and girls of tender
years, the stalwart and also the blind
and halt. 1t is an infinite medley Of ever
changing effects. The crowd, taken as
a whole, is a picture filled with contras ts
and contraries The fair is at once an
opportunity and a duty For those who
go it is both serious and light Some go
for work and some treat it as picnic;
others both
Watch the crowds as they gather here
and there. First the massing is at a.
cattle barn, where broad backed animals
wear red and blue ribbons, then the
mass sways to the hall Where the cream
separator buZzes or to the tent where
mutual insurance is explained, then
again to the front of show tent where
dark-featured money maker tries to