GOING TO THE BLOOMSBURG FAIR IN THE 1870s
Editor’s Introduction: The author of this
letter, Viator, undoubtedly a pseudonym, wrote to the editor of the Columbian
describing his observations of the people who attended the Bloomsburg
Fair in 1871. He felt there was "no place where you can study human
nature to more advantage than at a county fair." His commentary
ranged from recounting the conduct of young people, to the practice of
smoking, President of the United States, dental hygiene, religious
sects, and the Republican Party. The missive appeared in the Columbian
on October 20, 1871, and is reprinted verbatim.
● ● ●
Mr. Editor: Of all the sights at the Fair, the Fair
itself, is the greatest sight to see. There were lots of fair women, and
doubtless also, of brave men. There were cakes and candies, apples and
cider, ice cold lemonade and raspberry syrup. There were chickens and
pigs, horses and cattle, sheep and mules. There were wild men from
Africa, sword swallowers, thimble riggers or something of the sort, and
all kinds of devices, good, bad, and indifferent, to make money.
I know of no place where you can study human nature
to more advantage than at a county fair. The sharper, the business man,
the mechanic, and the farmer congregate there. The young fellow who has
a sweetheart goes and takes her, and the one who has none goes to find
one. Girls who have lovers promenade quietly in a state of bliss, and
those who have none are to the fore, as the scotch say, to secure one.
The younger girls keep their eyes upon the older ones to learn, but the
boys are staring round for the purpose of chaffing older ones who are
for the first time, looking sheepishly at calico.
You see there young fellows who think themselves
gentlemen, puffing a cigar, and gallanting a lady. It was not so in the
olden times – gentlemen did not smoke even in the presence of ladies
– and indeed, gentlemen do not now. But what else can you
expect, when the man who should be the first gentleman in the republic
[President Ulysses], is a horse racing, cigar smoking, whiskey drinking
moss trooper! It is a bad example for our young men to have, and still
worse to follow.
You see there beautiful girls, dressed in the highest
art of the milliner and mantua maker, whose under-skirts, as they pass
through the crowd, turn up and prove that they have not seen the washtub
for months. You can also observe, as they smile sweetly at the
compliments of their gallants, that their teeth have seldom, if ever,
been brought in contact with a tooth brush. Nothing is more utterly
disgusting than a foul mouth, and nothing is more positively
unjustifiable and inexcusable. For a young lady, faugh! When a brush and
a tumbler of salt water to cleanse the mouth after every meal and before
retiring, would preserve the teeth, purify the mouth, and sweeten the
breath!
There were also on the ground a sleek scalawag, run I was told by the
Young Men’s Christian Association, making a speech in favor of
republicanism and the sects. That, Mr. Editor, though it grieved, did
not surprise me. It only proved what I have long foreseen, that the
friends of religious liberty, will sooner or later, be called upon to
combine and defend themselves against the encroachment of the sects;
which are inaugurating their campaign in tirades against priests, and
bishops, and popes, confounding in their harangues Anglican and Roman,
either through ignorance or malice
TOURNAMENT CONTEST AT THE BLOOMSBURG FAIR
Editor’s Introduction: The Bloomsburg
newspaper, Columbian, carried an interesting story in its October
18, 1878, issue about a new event at the Bloomsburg Fair. The article
hailed it as the "leading feature of the exhibition." It
involved a throw back to the middle ages of Europe with knights and
their lances riding horses as well as a queen and "maids of
Honor." The following article is a verbatim copy.
● ● ●
The Exhibition of the Columbia County Agricultural
Society began on Wednesday, October 9th and continued until
Saturday, the 12th. Heretofore the fair has been held three
days, but the success of the present year will probably inaugurate the
custom of having it one day longer. There was the usual crowd of people
in attendance, and the display was not much different from that of other
years. It is estimated that over 10,000 tickets were sold.
The leading feature of the exhibition was the
Tournament on Thursday. Fifteen men gaily dressed in theatrical and
fancy dress costumes with lances in hand and mounted on fine horses,
paraded through the principal streets of the town in the morning, headed
by the Bloomsburg Band. In the afternoon at three o’clock, the
procession made its appearance on the grounds, and shortly afterwards
the tilt began. There were three wires strung across the track at the
Grand stand, about twenty feet apart, and from each of these an iron
ring two inches in diameter was suspended. The knight who could remove
the largest number of rings in four trials and carry them off on his
lance, with his horse on a keen run, was the victor, and had the
privilege of crowning the Queen of Love and Beauty. Much interest was
manifested in the contest, and one knight who carried off the three
rings on two occasions met with loud applause. The largest number
captured out of four trials was seven, by two different knights. In two
more trials to settle the tie, three more rings were taken by one,
making ten rings out of eighteen, which was very good. After the
announcement of the result, Miss Grace Harman was crowned Queen of Love
and Beauty by the victorious knight, and Miss Minnie Eyerly and Miss
Sadie Bates were crowned Maids of Honor by the two taking the next
highest number of rings. The young ladies were becomingly dressed in
white and wore gilt crowns. After all the knights had done honor to the
fair ones, Col. J. G. Freeze made a few remarks explaining the
Tournaments of the middle ages. The Queen and her maids were then
escorted home by the Cavalcade, and the Tournament was over
