Times-promoter. (Hernando, DeSoto County, Miss.) 1898-1970, 1908-09-04
CANADIAN FAIR
MAI. Docksry Attends Farmers Meeting
and Tells Experience.

Port Colborne, Canada, Aug. IS, 1908.
! went yesterday to farmers meet
ing at Crystal Beach, pleasure re-
sort, like Coney Island, near New
York City. The place is about eigh-
teen miles from this place and is
reached by rail or boat. went by
boat--a crowded boat (about 1000
aboard) and very rough sea. The
wind was blowing a perfect hurricane.
The boat rocked from side to side
amidst the great waves. The crowd
was sea sick and one half were vom-
iting while the other half were groan-
ing and wishing wewere there or had
rot started. An amusing incident
relieved the situation little. A par
rot was in his cage in the cabin and
great fat dutch woman would say
zach, I-be mooch sick,'' and the par
rot would say "that dam lie.a
But we landed safely and went
right heartily into the fun, which was
in great variety, snch as shoot the
chute, riding the hobby horses, the
figure eight, bump the bumps and
everything OF that kind usually found
at pleasure resorts.
But this was unusual, you couldn't
get any thing in the way Of sport or
any thing to eat or drink, or any
thing else that required money with
out ticket. There were scores of
stands scattered over the ground
where tickets were sold, every ticket
was S cts. The ticket represented a
nickle. A companyowns the grounds
and charges a commission on all the
money taken in by others and collects
all the money itself, and when the
days work is DONE the tickets are
collected and settlement is made, a
sure way to collect the commissions,
but inconvenient to the public. A
went there to see a Canada picnic
and see crowd of Canadians togeth-
er, and I saw it. The railroads brought
thousands, the boats ssther thou ands
and automobiles, haos and buggies
still other thousands. The crowd was
estimated variously from Ave to If
teen thousand. can't say how many
were there, but in the forenoon /
think saw five thousand men, wo-
men and children in the lake bathing,
swimming and fioundering at one
time, and still the crowd didn't seem
to be thinned on shore. They had a
jolly time. At noon the different
bands Of music called the crowd to
dinner and every family brought out
well filed hampers and spread boun-
tiful and good dinner on tables all
over the grounds, with comfortable
seats around them, but it was re-
union Of families and friends and
others had to look out for themselves.
They didn't do as we do, "say here's
good liquor, come ana drink" saw
fellow cooking delicious waffies; at
nickle for three. 1 ordered three,
had them well battered and good
maple syrup on them, but when ] sat
down to eat the fellow asked for my
ticket and I had to look it up, and
when got back with it my wafies
were cold and not half as good as |
thought. There were plenty Of lunch
stands where satisfactory dinner
could be had for five tickets, but blast
their custom I had been accustomed
to eating where I pleased and what
/ pleased from my neighbor's basket,
and enjoyed it mere than ! did a
bought dinner, and would have felt
lonely and slighted but the lunch
stands were crowded with people like
myself, and had plenty Of company.
After dinner we were called to the
stand for speaking and | heard some
good talks. First the organizer of the
National Grange made a fine speech,
urging cooperation by the farmers
on the plan of our southern planters
union. It was fine talk and our
cotton people would have been de-
lighted with it. He urged reciprocity
or free trade between the states and
Canada. Next we had good talk
upon improved agriculture, in which
the speaker drew q vivid picture Of
the slaven farmer, his credit and his
poor citizenship, contrasting him with
the hustling, wide-awake, and pro-
gressive and prosperous good citizen.
Then we had two candidates for par
1;an,ant Thav mare F,,iair1 prantiaal