The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1915-10-01
RALLIES: c. p. S. FUND is RAISED
ROALT CAN THINK OF NOTHING
But SHOOTING GALLERY THAT
PUYAlLUP VALLEY FAIR LACKS

like the fairs he could remeia-
Der.
DO you remember" said
Alph, 1.-The country girl In a white
dress with pink ribbons. She had
white shoes and stockings as
well. And mitts!"
Certainly" said Hi. And she
had a Beau
I'm store Clothes" said Alph.
His pants were high-water. AMI
he and the girl held hands
And weren't ashamed" seid
Hi.
We were, as | have indicated,
pleasantly surprised. 1t was just
such fair as in our youth we
had known, only bigger and bet
ter, and showed a few-very few
changes.
For instance, there were thou
sands of automobiles parked witl,-
in the racetrack circle. There
used to be carry-als and wagons
with farm horses tethered to the
wheels.
The girl with the white mitt3
wasn't there. Nor her beau. Our
country cousins nowadays dress
strictly in the mode.
But the cows, pigs, horses ard
sheep were just as sleek and fat
as ever. The pumpkins, turnips,
potatoes and sQuashes were just
as large. The apples were just
as rosy. Indeed, the apples look
ed too good to be true, and ! ac-
cused an exhibitor of showing
phoney apples. He let me bite
into one, and ] apologized.
Honestly, / wish some of those
eastern smart Alexis l used 10
know could see the products OF
this wonderful Puyallup valley.
Yes, and b'gosh, l found in
the exhibits of housewifely skill
a genuine crazy quilt such as my
grandmother used to make out
of bits of silk and other odds AMI
ends. She always won first prize
with her crazy quilts.
! would prefer to write none
but kind words of the Puyallup
fair. 1t is an all but perfect
fair. But it has one damning
fault. "a
1t has no shooting gallery.
We looked and looked. VIZ
found a merry-go-round. We
found side shows galore. We
might have tossed rings at canes.
1.-THE cane you ring is the cane
you get! C'mon!"
We might have ridden on the
Ferris wheel. We might ha,c
knocked a baby down and got a
fine seegar. A glib young man
offered to bet us we couldn't
guess which little shell the H.
lusive pea was under.
But Hi wanted to shoot at lit
tie white rabbits soaring slowly
across a dead-black background.
And there was no shooting gal
lery.
We were dusty and tired by
now, but happy. Somebody
stocky, red-faced somebody-fsl
up the track by the judges stand
beloved through a megaphone:
Bring on yer hosses!"
So We perched on the fence al
the stretch and watched the
horses come home. The drivers
had numbers on their sleeves.
They sat ON the horses tails. Re-
member? And the horses went
lickety-skelt to the wire.
Then we went home-which
was an anti-climax, of course. HI
and Alph talked of the wonderful
richness of this country, now and
potentially. They talked learned
ly, authoritatively, in terms of
millions. of bushels, millions of
tons, millions of dollars. Then
they fell silent.
Jimmy was driving the thing "a
ma-jig.
/ don't know what they were
thinking of. But l was thinking
of small boy who had 40 cents
two-bits to get in and Is cents
to spend. The boys mother wa,
poor, and 40 cents was a pile OF
money.
The boy didn't tell his mother
that he sneaked through a hole in
the fair grounds fence.