The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-09
THE VkORI, DIS FAIR
AS A WOMAN
VIEWS 1T

Out at the Fair site no one has dared
to say, Hail, gentle spring. for fear
She would do it; but at last she seems
to be adapting herself to the changed
ondi:ions there, and her behavior is
becoming normal again. She has
been asked to rush her work on grass
and tree. and to hold back on bloom
ing shrub and flower; to provide a
Temperature that would suit Worlds
congress OF plants, and make a lot
of shivering little alien green things
feel at home. Altogether she has sad
ly neglected home folks and IS only
just now finding time to attend to the
old residents on the hills about the
mushroom city and give her friends,
the native trees, their new clothes.
In the few places over among the
State pavilions where the original soil
has been undisturDed, the violets and
spring beauties are only just now out.
AS you bend to gather the shy, wild
things the noise of the Fair dies away
and you hear only the SOFT voice OF
the bluebirds and the scolding of the
Jays in the trees above you, and Tor a
minute the Ivory City vanishes and
you see the park hills as they used to
be before it came to spoil.
Among the ores and stones OF Tex
as mining exhibit stands big iron
kettle that draws unto Itself 1ascl-
mated crowd Of people. 1t holds a
bright dark stuff that is taken at
first to be melted tin in which lie an
iron casting and a cannon ball. But
the bright dark stuff is mercury
some 1900 pounds of it-and the heavy
casting and the fifteen pound ball
are floating on its surface The faces
of the people are a study as they try
to subnlerge the floating things
Abolit the Kettle are four thick iron
bottles with screw tops, in which the
mercury is transported from E!ihe 10
market and specimens of the ore are
shown which are fairly adrip with the
deuce, elusive stuff.
Down in the Fisheries building as
you slowly make the rounds OF the
sha dowy corridors, thousands OF fish
look out at you through the glass
walls. With a little stretch OF the
ina gination you can see in their faces
the features of people you know.
You see the wandering, uncertain
eye and the droopys open mouth Of
the baby in the upper flat clearly de-
p;ciel at one point while somewhere
else the wide mouth, scrassy mus
tache and slowly-moving Jaw Of a mud
cat remind you of some man you
know.
st one place you come upon a
long rlper lip and 4 stern eye that re-
mind you Of some respected relative,
and at another yOu are confronted by
a protruding under jaw and full bagGy
throat that you seem TO have met be-
fore. only they would appear more
familiar if some bonnet, strings We're
tied in a loose bow under them
That lcng-nosed skate, that siding.
high-stepD crab so ready for
ha ntshalze. that lobster forever cTaw
ishing from his position in that
prickly. repellant burfish, and recall
to mind their human counterparts. as
do even the seals that sulll in their
pool when they are expected to come
out and show off
Many of the fish seem to need the
services of an oculisI for cataract Oh
the eye. and all need to be broken OF
the reDrehensible and unsightly hab-
it of brcathin" with the mouth open.
That the Fair will be all things TO all
men is nowhere so Well demonstrated
as in the art galleries for there are
pictures to suit all tastes.
CT o