Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-09-26
He Saw Enough In Three Days
To Believe a Rest Room
Needed
SICK AND WEARY SOUGHT REST
Tired Women With Babies, Sick Chill
dren and Weary People Of All Kinds
Found Place to Rest Under the
T.-R. Tent-lts $50 Chairs Crowded
at All Times.

Much has been written about the
county fair but it remains for me to
mention one thing which impressed me
strongly because | was placed in the
best position to know / refer to the
Times Republican rest tent. ! was
stationed there during the whole time
and saw many things which l wish fair
managers in every Iowa county and
merchants, as we'll, could see.
The tent was 2SX42 and had tenn
porary board floor. 1t had chairs to
accommodate $50 people. a tub of ice
water at all times. One corner was
screened off and was used as a dress
ing room. A telephone was located in
the center which was used freely by
both city and country folks. The tent
was the meeting point for scores of
people: hardly FIVE minutes passed but
what someone asked for wife, daugn-
ter, husband or friend.
The advantage to the public of such
place on a fair ground or in Il city
lIle size VI NetS ShVNh
over and over again. Here We're peo-
pie not only from Marshalltown and
the immediate vicinity, but from Har-
din, Iowa, Story, Grundy and Pow
eshiek. many, yes, hundreds, had no
friends or relatives with whom to stop,
and many. who otherwise would nave
wandered sore-footed and weary until
train time found here place where
they were welcome to sit and rest.
Congratulations and thanks were so
many that we who had charge of the
tent felt that we We're indeed public
benefactors.
A few instances will point the moral.
A small girl perhaps IL years old, was
taken sick on the grounds, her father
would have been at loss to know
where to take her, but the rest tent
was there for him. SHE was brought
and taken care of until she was able
to go home. Had not the Times Re
publican tent been On the grounds,
suppose they could have taken care OF
her at Arneys implement tent, or pos
sibly laid her on the floor in the Art
Hall.
Another case that came up was that
of farmer living near State Center.
He came to the fair, leaving the bal
ance of the family at home. because
they thought they would rather visit
some relatives When he arrived on
the grounds he met the very family
his folks were to visit. He rushed in
the tent and said: Can ! telephone
State Center from here?'' And being
told to go ahead, did so, with the re-
suit that he stopped the family before
thew had left home on long and USE
less drive.
MY business has for the last five
years taken me to many county fairs
each year, and at none that can THINK
of was there a place outside the am
phitheater for anyone to sit down.
Many a time 1 have found some farm-
err with his team unhitched and he Sit
ting down in his buggy to rest Per
maps no one else noticed or apprec1-
ated what this tent meant to the tired
woman with babies or children as l
did.
There has been some agitation for q
public rest room for the city Of Mar
shallt6wn. If the some who are only
lukewarm over the proposition, or even
some who think it foolishness, could
have been around the T.-R. tent for
half day, they could not help grow-
ing enthusiastic over such feature
for any city.
The fair association is to be COM
mended on the excellent order which
prevailed during the entire fair, for the
absence of the criminal class. Few, if
any, drunks were on the grounds. I
inquired of a few prominent men why,
this was so, as on most grounds there
is considerable drinking going on. All
agreed that this was a county fair and
not a race meet, and that the people
who came here were not, looking for
gambling or drinking, but to see the
products Of the farm and home They
were not disappointed, either, for in
cattle, horses, and especially hogs, no
better show could have been asked for.
There were eight fancy hog men with
exh bits from LeGrand township alone.
John Hixson, the veteran hog buyer
from st. Anthony, who has made hogs
his business practically all his life, said
to the writer:
81 have been to county fairs, state
fairs, stock shows, and have seen
more, yes, three times as many hogs to-
gether, but for quality there has never
been brought together a finer bunch
than was shown here right here today"
GEORGE f. THAYER.