The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1919-09-19


Its CT
prepared by the United States Depart
ment of Agriculture)
The fair.
What does II mean to your
Fair" is very old noun. With va
riations in spelling 1t exists in many
languages.
Fair" IL 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 away4romwork 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 IL 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 1.-THE fair" has q very different
meaning for the two classes. The big
bunch goes to have a good time, to be
carefree, to drink red lemonade and
throw confetti and foot tinsel horns !;
to get the CLINT Of twinkling horse
heels on 4 saffron track to see the
As,soad-backed cattle, the prettily packed
jellies 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 II they never get there.
But with 1t all they are getting a
sugar-coated education. The fair Is a
university 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
for those people. There are, in fact
lots Of normal schools for fair profess
sors, but the United States department
Of agriculture Ia 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 OF
corn or canned stun In just the righ1
shape to show to the best advantage
One Of the boys club workers tells 6
story In point.
zone Of our club boys in Mississip
pi," he says. grew an acre Of might,
good corn and entered an exhibit Ii
the county fair. There were foul
prizes, but he couldn't even get thu
fourth one. The judge simply tied or
the ribbons and made no explanations
The boy was disappointed-not rebel
lious, but he wanted to know why hi
good corn couldn't get prize. l wen
over II with him, showed him tina
some Of his biggest ears had crooke'
rows and how others had other de
fects. Picking out the best ear ! said
II you had ten like this you coul'
win prize
"Well, that boy went back home an
carefully examined every ear of hi
corn. He found only nine that h
thought were as good as the one ha
pointed out He went back throug
the whole pile again and finally foun
the tenth ear. He sent those ten cal
to the state fair-and won first priz
DO you sec7 Knowing a little OF no
to prepare the exhibit made sta
winner out of corn crop that was @
also ran at the county fair"
Manicurino the Pig.
Now the boy who is preparing p
or calf for the fair has a more cor
,plicated task than the one who entel
some corn. With the corn boy Il
whole problem is selecting the rigl
ears With the others it is not on
selecting the right individual but d
Ing . great many things to put thu