The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-10-12
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

If any one had told me that would | have visited the fair three days hand run
 ming l think I would have denied it as
 beyond the bounds of probability, for I might as well confess that thought had i served my apprenticeship al fairs and
 nothing but world exposition would ever tempt me in the future.
 i I am afraid that so far as past fairs were concerned I was in the Stacker class, or If I went it was to spend a few hours in the afternoon just to save my face" as the Chinese put it, so I could say I-had been.
 But, believe me, the present fair is some show. and expect to be there every day this week, for something worth seeing is always gong on and there isn't the least bit of need of spending a dull moment. There is such variety that people of all ages and dispositions can find some i thing to be interested in.
 I thought Buster Brown had got suffering with an acute attack Of tight wadism," and were going to 'skimp" so that the blooming show would be a frost" I believe 1 have exhausted my repertoire of slang, so l win strive to write plain if not pure English. Really do not know what made the president and the directors open their purse strings and go out after the best talent in the land unless it was Jim Dent, and, by the way, he is well named, for any man who could make dent in the bank roll of shrewd and conservative business men for amusement purposes
 in war time deserves the right to wear the name Dent and write it with a cap ital D. He is the best in his line in the south
 Monday afternoon when the wind with the taste of rain in it blew in my face l saw a look of distress on the face of my good friend, R. A. Brown, but with q look of resignation that almost brought tears to my sympathetic eyes he said: Doc, if she rains we are busted, but thank the Lord, we have had great opening day. thereby showing his in born piety, and his ability to put up with fate.
 But Tuesday broke clear and cooler, and as the western sun climbed over the hills and began to pour out his beams over the earth, they say that the coun tenance of Secretary Dent wore a smile as expansive as the mile race track, and that President Brown got out of bed sing ing a hymn of praise to the weather bureau at Washington for sending down south such ideal fair weather.
 I just keep. talking about the weather when the thing wanted to emphasize is the fact that the men behind the fair had brushed aside all monetary difficulties, and for once plunged" in. going the limit to give Birmingham and the state show that would pass into history as a record breaker in the way of first-class entertainments.
 Music is great attraction and so they went to Chicago for Cavallo's band. made the trip with them to Tuscaloosa and learned that they were not only ar lists, but high tone and companionable gentlemen. and that Senor Cavallo was one of the most obliging leaders I have ever met. At the close of the first art ernoon he confided to me that he had played at fairs all over the country, but never before to such varied and splen- did programme as was being staged be- fore the grandstands. Then MemoIfs band is on hand and 1t Is a great favorire in Birmingham.
 Now for the Midway, for no fair can be fair without one. The managers made contract with the Johnny Jones exposition shows. Now this showed their good sense, for 1t meant clean enter tainment and forestalled anything inde- cent or vulgar. The score of shows op- erated by them on the Midway have been packed daily and nightly with jolly crowds who seemed to get their money s worth.
 It Is no longer necessary to go to New York to see hippodrome acts for they have been brought to Birmingham, and have seen many of the big attractions, but the ones put on free each day and night are as good as money can procure. I sat in the box Wednesday afternoon with the president and tho secretary or the New Orleans fair. which comes on next week, and they were astonished at tho number and the merit of the various troupes, and signed up for them for their big show.
 Now. for those who care for such things there Is cattle show. hog show, poultry show. and last but not least a dog show. I visited them all and found them well worth A' look over even thought am city man. feel sure that those who know the merits of the shows can get great good out of seeing the constant improvement that Is being made by the people of the state and of the south in the breeds.
 l The agricultural exhibits are always in 1 teresting to me- and never moro so than this year when the question of food Is uppermost in the mind of the public. l l just glimpsed the woman's department
 taking Mrs. Reid's word for 1t that il
 was the best she had ever seen at any State Fair. I was less interested ir
 the machinery exhibits. but therc |. enough devices to whet the curiosity ol