The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-23
Moph r@nn Daily Papers 6n Generalization

are in fragments, 81 ack
reality, so submerged does the IN livi-
dual become in the sense of his fell
lows. The Ego, forced strongly in
upon itself loses in it's own self-con-
sciousness all save it's own distinctive
personality; the others of whom 1t is
one, form merely the body Of the mass.
And so the crowd goes on, the hu-
man crowd become inhuman; its voice,
that strange, inhuman voice, rising
and falling in language all its own,
untranslatable, yet intelligent, NUT
tering as it goes about it's work. as
it follows blindly the impulse OF its
foolish brain.
Why do people come to the fair ::
Is it to see the enthusiastically, Alge-
non! Is it to see the side-shows-not
yet that To dance-a few. To ride
proudly, if on unaccustomed seats the
horses taken from the traces of car
riages to be converted into temporary
chargers" to walk up and down in
pink sasheS, bow-legged with novel
spurs and leggingS, licking their chops
over sweet conspicuousness-a hand
full. To see the races and to bet on
them-an insignificant contingent. But
the mass-the molecular body of the
crowd-why do they come" Is it not
the passion for the crowd that calls
them? The desire, at the expense OF
comfort, at the cost of aching limbs
and Justified eyes and empty pockets
to be lost in the slow-mov1ng, foolish
beast of the crowd?
They say that man is "gregarious
animal" but l believe that the
crowd follows not upon instinct,
gregarious or otherwise, but as one of
the necessary vices OF civilization.
The taste is surely an abnormal one.
Man needs man, but he needs also
room to breathe. No one is comfort
able in a crowd-and, yet, mot come
to the fair''-the idea is a preposter-
Gus one. We, even, who know it year
! after year-as who does not from
the prize winning crazy quilt" to the
| wife and family of the wild man
of Barneo," go again and again
grumbling in affected ennui, to an
other prostration foretold by long ex-
perience with absolute certitude. "Ah
WELL" one says, "its a duty that we
owe'-and one knows the lie as he
tells it! 1t is in the blood, this habit
of the Fair, this habit of the crowd.
AT bottom it is unnatural, yet in ma
ture as it has developed. At the bot
tom of it all lies the railroad. the
| thing that gives wings to the nomadiC
instinct, that furnishes to the aver
|
spirit of adventure. Behind the en-
gine is invention, mothered not as we
so tritely put it by necessity, but by
/ the curious spirit of change, and be-
| hind change lies nature; and the cir
Gle, including the monster of the
crowd is back again at the beginnins
and the State Fair, with it's thous.
ands of good, bad, strong and weak
doctors and saints and dancing girls
| hun oil &c yiaIy
that is no greater or less for beine
concentrated than the ordinary ex.
perience Of life, is merely the tab't
/ spread for the annual banquet of un.
rest.
! At five o'clock Thursday afternoon
while the crowds filled Fayetteville
street to the curbstOne, there fell into
the three-inch dust some scattering
drops of rain whose impact struck
| from the ground some Smoke-lik,
puffs. Thirty days of drouth anc
these scattering drops the first re.
! lief! A cheer ran along the dry anC
dirty files of peonle. They scanned
the sky with anxious eyes, Agar
came the patter of rain, slight, tenta
! tive, as though the sky were ha!
afraid to break it's barren habit Fol
three hours the heavens couuetteC
ground with wet spots under which
showed the white powder of the dust
And then it fell with a will, tha swee
and blessed rain! The Winds blew into
the faces Of the people their pure we
breath. Everybody. smiled. Head.
were thrown back for the pelting OF
l1the rain, lungs thrown wide to in.
hale the shivered moisture of it.
drops. BY nine o'clock the slender
patter had become a downpour.
On the corner of Fayetteville anC
Martin streets, on the wet Sidewalk
glistening with the lights upon tn,
water, stood a bare-headed man, tax
ing the rain as it fell, his clothes sat
urated his hair and eyebrows anC
| beard full of miniature rivulets.
A man with an umbrella paused
to get the drunkard to seek shelter
At the touch of his hand, the MAJ
turned and spoke with laughing bu
serious sobriety.
Go on friend said he, "I'm gec
ting wet because | want to-God bles
this blessed rain