| Show OUR FAIR OF 92 In October last complimentary tickets were given to the University press and fortunately one of the present presen t editors of the CHRONICLE came in possession of them before our little journal was in existence j and of course It is just and proper that we give our comments or criticism at this late period and I will endeavor to tell what 1 I r. r can concerning the event of 1892 Every day during the week our press was represented and especially on the day on which the University did itself proud by carrying off the honors among so much competition competition competition com com- petition as they had and I think they deserve credit for so great a victory Saw the marriage marriage marriage marri marri- age and pronounced it a genuine success It could not have been better had the great Prof Fowler mated them Took special notice of the art china painting etc and I am certain that this line of work is progressing Took special notice of the machinery the new ditching ditching ditching ditch ditch- ing plow invented by a Salt Lake man Horses cows cow sheep and hogs which did their respective departments credit But in commenting commenting com commenting on the above mentioned plow a Jersey farmer informed u us that this fair was very ordinary in comparison with the one held at Newark in 1828 when he was a boy Of course coune said Mr Jersey Farmer there have been fairs for thousands of years but I mean mea only Jersey fairs The first one of its kind was held at Newark in 1828 I was ten years old at that time lime and an exceedingly smart child formy for and I think I that I Iam my age can truthfully say I Ial al aI am the only man living who attended th that t fair ah or at least the only man who has a vivid n recollection of its every detail contin continued ed the Jersey farmer The exposition occupied 12 IZ acres and was built of brick partially burned b It was seventeen stories high and hac haca had hada a fI tower from which one could see the whole f. f United States This This tower however was not built of brick but was the trunk of a tree The tree standing was feet high and shorn of its limbs and branches left a trunk Soo feet long and 75 feet in diameter It was hollowed out and inside was a spiral staircase I e. e Landings Landing's Landings Landings Land Land- ings ing's were made at every 50 feet and near each was a window that was only a pane of glass 16 x 17 feet On the top tip-top was a platform where the people used to stand and watch vatch the earth revolve The main building was divided into apartments the same Iame as this expo exposition building is but I believe they had better exhibits exhibits exhibits ex ex- hibits that is I mean natural products for we didn't have as many different kinds of machinery machinery machinery ma ma- chinery nor any ditching plows plo then as now because we didn't have so many girls to run them and consequently they were not on ex ex- I remember one year the manager made a arun arun arun run on pumpkins and the person who raised the biggest one was to he be sent I to the legislature legisla legisla- ture and have a poem written about him A Trenton City man captured the premium His pumpkin was fifty feet high and twenty feet in diameter and weighed three tons I dont don't remember his name now but hut he was f sent ent to the legislature just the same and his pumpkin was brought to the city and stood in the Blackwood Park for a number of years till finally a band and of robbers cut a hole in it and used it for a cave cave until Geo Washington grandson of our George drove them away with Avith his grandfathers grandfather's hatchet II But But to return to the fair As it was the only thing of its kind in the East the attendance attendance attendance attend attend- ance was very large and as it was held the year round the managers made barrels of money The first train of cars and the first electric dynamo were among the exhibits if my memory serves me true Such horse racing as we had Why I have seen horses go so fast that the driver and sulky would stick straight into the air Trotting pacing and running now-a-days now aint in it My father owned a little brown mare that could could could- make a half a mile in half a minute and not think much of it Why she made a mile in three-quarters three one evening after working hard at the plow all day A horse that couldn't trot a mile In a minute was barred off the track as no good We Ve had balloon races too they occasioned a great deal of funI funI fun I III was allowed to ride in a balloon race on one occasion for holding a hydrogen generator over the flame of a candle and the way we cut the air and shattered the clouds into bits was a caution We Ve were sure to win and a fellow who bet on the other balloon fired a rifle ball into our balloon this let the gas out and down we came split There were twentythree twentythree twentythree twenty- twenty three people in the basket besides myself and andall andall andall all got killed but me because I had pas pa's linen duster on and that helped me out a good deal by catching the wind I think I was pretty lucky to fall 1300 feet and live to tell about it The fair was held at Newark City for many years ears and would have been held there yet was it not for the fact that Trenton is the capital of the State The buildings at Newark were de destroyed destroyed destroyed de- de in a somewhat novel manner In those days lived in the western part of of- Jersey an old Indian chief known as Step-on- Step his He had a b beautiful daughter called Howling Calmness who was beloved by every everyone one who knew her I was rather badly gone on Calmness myself only I didn't make any particular yell about it One day Howling Ho Calmness came to the to the fair with a young joung white whiteman whiteman whiteman man from down Jersey and this made her father mad because this white man had only ten thousand acres of land and two thousand horses So he goes away and gets drunk puts on his war paint and stalks hu haughtily y into the fair grounds Howling Calmness and her friend were a about out to get into the merry go round when she noticed her father striding toward them Al IAl Al Larson she whispered I that was vas with Avith her Al AI papa has his jag one OIl and is looking for trouble Well Vell let him look I replied II You y ou dont don't know him Al AI He is a high high- spirited rooster when he gets started and now if he s says ys anything thing pass it as a joke 11 Oh certainly I laughed Ill just pulverize pulver pulver- ize him if he gets too funny Here our conversation ceased The Indian chief with a breath that would free Ireland was near by us IY Young oung man began Step-on-his-face Step I II am amnot amnot amnot not at all pleased to have you fooling around my family my daughter is a chump chump- 19 Oh papa replied Calmness II I Dont Don't interrupt me me-me me methe me-methe me the chief of all the Indians is here I say Howling Calmness is a. a chump This was more than I could stand and casting cast casto casting ing one fond look at the eyed brown-eyed maiden by my side I let drive with my left fist at her her- paternal ancestor I missed him but hit the corner of the building The blow knocked a ahole ahole ahole hole in the wall large enough to drive through with a load of hay The building began to shake and totter II It lIt is falling I screamed to the crowd and so it was Thousands would be killed killed ground ground into atoms buried atoms buried beneath falling walls and timbers I the innocent cause of this catastrophe catastrophe catastrophe catas catas- must avert it and with lightning speed I sprang to the wall sank my heels deep in tl the e mud braced the building so that it ceased trembling and tottering and in ten days the the- building building- building's s 's s 's sI I couldn't stand it any longer that was enough I had been taken from earth until the sound of mud brought me back to Salt Lake and I was next seen hunting up my associate press representative to jot down what had happened happened happened hap hap- in the past while it was fresh on my my- mind We Ve both resolved to see the Worlds World's Fair and hope that it may be equal to Mr Larsons Larson's description of the Jersey fair I have since inquired about that Jersey man and by best of research that can be given find him to tobe tobe tobe be of foreign birth probably Norwegian which saved his life with the writer who has a marked foreign brogue PEA GREEN |
