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10 The Campus Mirror What Was It Like? By Francks -Johnson, ’37 All over the country people are asking their neighbors, “What about the Fair? What was it like?" And though this neigh bor who was so fortunate as to actually visit the Fair, may answer in a stream of des criptive adjectives so dear to the hearts of all English professors, his less fortunate friend is not always quite satisfied for he wants to know just what about the Fair was “wonderful" or what buildings were “odd and unusual.” Ten of the most commonly used adjectives for describing the Century of Progress Ex position have J)een here collected with a brief summary of the interesting points that they suggest. (1) Bewildering may describe the new comer’s first day at the Fair as he stands on the steps of the Hall of Science and looks back up the Avenue of Flags at the milling, gaily-clad, jostling crowds that are surging up and down the avenue lined with its scarlet flags. The endless exhibits can also l)e described as bewildering, for any Fair visitor will tell you that after wandering about for an hour or so in the Transport Building, looking at at least fifty different types of steam and electric engines, he felt that he was lost in a trackless desert, with no relief in sight. The vast Transport Building and the Gen eral Motor’s Plant; the Carillon Tower, the domes and turrets of gray stone of the Bel gian Village; plus the lighted causeways of the Hall of Science by night, bring forth sighs of admiration and murmurs of (2) stupendous from all visitors. Perhaps if asked after having spent a whole day on the Fair grounds, one would describe the Exposition as (3) wearying. And wouldn’t you, after trudging over about eight or ten of the eighty-two miles of ex hibits, scuffing your shoes on the hard grav el walks with the Havoline Oil Thermometer registering from 90 to 95 degrees in the shade? The incessant cries of, “Yeah folks”, “Step this way folks", “hot dawgs, hot dawgs,” and ‘Madame, have you tried our health drink?” are all so (4) exasperating that it causes one to pause and wonder if these people don’t get tired of hearing themselves talk. All teachers and students will tell you that the Fair was (5) interesting and instruc tive, meaning the industrial exhibits and historical displays, but, to the ordinary visi tor, these two adjectives—instructive and interesting would describe even more the "naive, gum-cliewing, beer-swigging crowds” that fill the avenues and swarm over the ex hibits buildings in endless numbers. The same crowds were also (6) amusing in their explanations and speculations on vari ous scientific experiments and phenomena found especially in the Hall of Science. Can you picture the indignation of one woman in the “Wings of a Century” show, when her little boy, after staring at one of the old fashioned airplanes dated about the year of 1888, asked her if she had been present when it made its initial attempt at flight. “1 can't go a step farther! My dogs’ are simply killin’ me,” was almost a slogan of the crowds along about four o’clock in the after noon. No fair, whether local or world-wide is complete without its Midway, and so we find the Chicago Fair no exception to this rule. Among the Midway attractions were the Sem inole Indian Village with its wrestling alli gators, Ripley’s ‘Believe It or Not’ Audito rium, the Havana Rumba, and the Streets of Paris. These are described by some as (7) tame and unoriginal and by others of stricter morals as (8) salacious. (9) Raucous is the caption given the loud speakers bellowing out their cries of “Going on now, folks, on the Lagoon, see the big water circus!”; the barkers doing their ‘speils’ on the Midway; and the balatant souvenir-hawkers pressing their high-priced wares on the crowds. Finally, (10) disorderly, may be used to depict the hodge-podge of pseudo-scientific displays and the many Coney Island peep- shows. Although many may give adverse criti cisms about the Fair, expressing their disap pointment. concerning the buildings, exhib its, and the like, nearly all however, no mat ter what their position in life, agree that the 1933 Century of Progress Exhibition was a succession of one big thrill after another. Home Folks At the Fair By Edna E. Nkal “Every type of sound, responsible, middle class, American father, mother and child ivas represented at the Fair.” You noted the dif ferent types first by their clothing. Cow boy hats mix with panamas, and men wear ing suspenders and no coats mix with men Avho cling to coat and vest even on the hot test days. Of course, every type of women’s clothing was well represented. Second, you noticed their talk, the clipped northern brogue, the broad western drawl, and the long, drawn out southern dialect. Although the people differed markedly in their dress, talk, and manners, they as a whole were kind and polite and most of them would go out of their way to do you a favor. The main trouble the visitors had was with their feet. You can always tell an experi enced sight-seer from a new one. Among the new ones are the dear little ladies who tip around in their close-fitting high-heeled slip pers and the men who stroll in their newest Sunday oxfords. The experienced visitors wear their oldest and biggest shoes and smile sympathetically at the suffering martyrs. Men sitting on benches with their shoes beside them and their stockinged feet dangling comfortably, was a common sight at the fair. In their eager haste to s;ee every thing the people are likely to forget their poor feet than can stand just so much. A clerk in a Michigan Avenue drug store stated that they sold as many bunion plasters as ice cream sodas. Most of the treatments at the fairground hospital ward were for failing feet. “This shows that the feet of the nation are in a bad way.” The people were interested in almost every thing at the fair, but more in some things than in others. In the crowd were the gush ing maidens who exclaimed, “Oh! Isn’t this adorable?” Husbands who merely grunt ap proval, and wives who fiddle around with everything. However, Jerome Beatty in his article, “Did I Meet You At The Fair?” cited an incident where the husband was fiddling around and the wife wanted to go on to see something else. It seems that he was looking at a bug which was enlarged 30,000 times. He kept exclaiming, “Ain’t it ugly?” His wife grew impatient and went to look at the bug herself. The last time he made the remark, she retorted, “Humph, why criticize the bug for his looks? You wouldn’t be so handsome yourself, if you were enlarged 30,000 times!” The dance floors were nearly always empty, possibly due to foot trouble. The people as a whole seemed to be more interested in exhibits on disease than in those on health, more inter ested in copies of things familiar to them than in things far away which they had never seen, and more interested in what is going on now than in demonstrations of the future. Most of the people were disap pointed in their first sight of the Fair, but they soon got used to it. However, a very few of the people liked, or even got used to, modern art. Jerome Beatty says that the Fair will probably end modern art forever. But they all like what they like, not what they ought to like, or rather they like what they think they ought to like. The older people marveled at the scientific exhibits, but it was the younger people who asked the questions. They wanted to find out about everything. One man expressed his opinion that the fair with its various ex hibits of different things helps the young people to decide what course they want to follow in life. Someone said that you learn about the Fair from the exhibits, but most of all you learn about the fair from your fellow sight seers. You do. You learn all about Ameri can people and America from the people you come in contact with and the things they do. You saw many examples of honesty at the fair. A man lost $188.00 in the wash room and it was returned to him. Three girls lost their return tickets and all their money, and these were recovered. Most of the shows were clean and decent. This fact, says Jerome Beatty, is not so much a tribute to the officials of the Century of Progress as to the American people. They simply do not patronize vulgar shows. You learn a great deal about the people of America. You learn that they are friendly, guileless, honest and trusting and you decide that America isn’t so bad after all! One interesting guest at the Tapley Me morial service was William H. Borders, .Jr., of Evanston, Ill., with his mother, Mrs. Julia Pate Borders.