Polk County news. [volume] (Benton, Tenn.) 191?-1983, 1919-09-18

prepared by the United States Depart.
ment of Agriculture.)
The fair.
What does it mean to you?
Fair" IS very old noun. With va
riations in spelling it exists in many
languages.
Fair" is akin to the ancient "fes.
tus" and therefore cousin in some de-
gree of the more modern feast and
Festival" and the like.
Always and everywhere it has car
ried the away-from-work idea. 1t has
always been pretty much what we
mean nowadays by holiday" though
not what that word meant originally.
Holiday" was 'holy day" and sacred.
Fair" has always been secular-a
wholly human sort of thing.
Fair time is playtime. That it al
ways was, that it always meant to
most people, that it always will be.
But for every play there must be play
ers, and two kinds of them, too-play-
ers who play playfully and players
who play labOriOusly, more or less, for
the entertainment of the others.
And "the fair" has very different
meaning for the two classes. The big
bunch goes to have good time, to be
carefree, to drink red lemonade and
throw confetti and foot tinsel horns !;
to get the CLINT of twinkling horse
al n tho
btoad-backed cattle, the prettily packed
iellies and jams, the big pumpkins, the
intricate needlework, the fulfilled
ears of corn and to mill around, going
nowhere in particular and not caring
especially if they never get there.
But with it all they are getting a
education. The fair is a
in which the festive stu
dents soak up science unawares.
Then there must be the other kind
of players--the ones who put on the
show"-the professors and instructors
and tutors in this most accommodating
of academies. And there has to be
somewhere a sort of teachers college
IOE IHCSC pCODlC. htlC CiN' III A''' t.
lots of normal schools for fair profess
sors, but the United States department
of agriculture is the graduate college.
And one of the queer things is that
any boy or girl still in the grammar
grades of the public school may be
doing postgraduate work in getting
things ready for the fair.
Much in Getting Ready
Too many people, the department
experts say, do not know how much
depends on preparing exhibits in the
right way, on getting the pig or calf or
corn or canned stuff in just the right
shape to show to the best advantage.
One of the~boys' club workers tells
story in point.
zone of our club boys in MISSISSIPPI
oi," he says, grew an acre of mighty
rood corn and entered an exhibit in
he county fair. There were four
prizes, but he couldn't even get the
'ourth one. The Judge simply tied on
he ribbons and made no explanations.
rhe hoy was disappointed-not rebel
ious. but he wanted to know why his
rood corn couldn't get prize. went
,ver il with him, showed him that
;ome of his biggest ears had crooked
ows and how others had other de- |
ects. Picking out the best ear said, |
If you had ten like this you could |
vim prize
"Well, that boy went back home and |
arefully examined every ear of his |
orn. He found only nine that he |
bought were as good as the one had |
pointed out. He went back through !
he whole pile again and finally found
he tenth ear. He sent those ten ears
O the state fair--and won first prize.
DO you seer Knowing little Of how
O prepare the exhibit made state
winner out of corn crop that was an
also ran at the county fair"
Manieurlng the Pig.
Now the boy who is preparing pig
n calf for the fair has more com
licated task than the one who enters
ONE corn. With the corn boy the
Whole problem is selecting the right
ars. With the others II Is not only
electing the right individual but do
az great many things TO put Tint