Our Fair and Other Things

by Mrs. A. J. Wilder. Mansfield, Mo.

The annual fair at Mansfield was a success in spite of the summer's drouth. Farmers surely are the most optimistic people in the world! Altho badly punished, in the conflict with the forces of nature this season, they were by no means defeated, as was proved by the agricultural exhibits and everywhere could be overheard planning for next year's campaign.

Discouraged? Not a bit of it! "It's been a bad season but we'll come out all right," said one man. "The old cows will take us thru." One man could understand his confidence after looking at the stock exhibited. Purebred Jerseys, Holsteins and Polled Durhams were there, each so good in its way that one could not be partial to any. In the hog pens were fine Duroc Jerseys and Poland Chinas, one weighing 800 pounds. It looked as tho the day of the "hazel spitter" was part of the Ozarks.

The women as usual did their part toward the fair in a very satisfactory manner in every department. Mrs. C.A.Durnell of Hillside Poultry Farm made a good superintendent of poultry and M.L. Andrews, poultry judge, is conceded to be one of the best in the state. Mr. Andrews is very helpful to anyone interested in poultry. As he examined bird after bird, he displayed their fine points and explained where they failed to come up to standard, to a small interested audience which followed him from coop to coop. Altogether we farmers and people of Mansfield feel very proud of our fair.

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One amusement feature provided as a free show on the street was, to me, shocking. I knew of course that the thing is often done, but I never have watched while knives were thrown around a human target. The target as usual was a woman and a man threw the knives. Effacing myself behind a convenient corner, which hid the spectacle, I watched the faces of the crowd. They reminded me strongly of the faces of the crowd watching a Mexican bull fight that I saw in a moving picture. There happened to be no bloodshed in the knife throwing but judging by the expression of some of the faces there was a tense expectancy and unconsciously almost a hope that there might be. In the crowd were women and children as well as men and boys, all eager, alert and watching-- for what/ A failure of nerve, perhaps, in one of the performers: an instant's dimming of vision or slight miscalculation on the part of the man. There is something thrilling and ennobling in seeing a person brave death in a good cause or for an ideal, but to watch anyone risk being butchered merely to make holiday sport savors too much of other things. We condemn the bull fight and the spectators you know. Is it perhaps a case of the pot calling the kettle black?

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It is not alone "one touch of nature" which "makes the whole world kin," but every emotion which writes itself on the human countenance creates a family likeness, with others of its kind, even between people of different races. I saw this plainly when present at a Chinese Salvation Army meeting, on a street corner in San Francisco's Chinatown. The crowd was large and all Chinese except myself and escort. Altho Chinese was the only language spoken and I could not understand a word, I could follow the exhorter's meaning and by the expressions on the faces about me could tell the state of mind of his audience. it was one of my many curious experiences in the city and when the leader started singing "Onward Christian Soldiers," in Chinese and the crowd joined in, I felt as tho my ears must be bewitched. It was quite as startling as it was to see the words "Methodist Episcopal Church" over the door of a beautiful building, built in Chinese style, on another street corner in Chinatown. The words seemed no more to belong with the fanciful Chinese architecture than the Chinese words belonged with the good old American hymn tune sung by Oriental folks.

Mrs. A. J. Wilder. "Our Fair and Other Things." Missouri Ruralist,  (November 5, 1916), page 12.

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