oud and
humane farmer driving the team, his wife behind in charge of the
baby, while two or three little children contended with the boxes
and barrels and bundles for room to sit or lie. Such were the
evidences of devotion and self-sacrificing zeal the Northwestern
farmers gave, as, in their long trains of wagons, they trundled
into Chicago, from twenty and thirty miles' distance, and unloaded
their contents at the doors of the Northwestern Fair, for the
benefit of the United States Sanitary Commission. The mechanics and
artisans of the towns and cities were not behind the farmers. Each
manufacturer sent his best piano, plough, threshing machine, or
sewing machine. Every form of agricultural implement, and every
product of mechanical skill, was represented. From the watchmaker's
jewelry to horse shoes and harness; from lace, cloth, cotton, and
linen, to iron and steel; from wooden and waxen and earthen ware to
butter and cheese, bacon and beef;--nothing came amiss, and nothing
failed to come, and the ordering of all this was in the hands of
women. They fed in the restaurant, under 'the Fair,' at fifty cents
a meal, 1,500 mouths a day, for a fortnight, from food furnished,
cooked, and served by the women of Chicago; and so orderly and
convenient, so practical and wise were the arrangements, that, day
by day, they had just what they had ordered and what they counted
on, always enough, and never too much. They divided the houses of
the town, and levied on No. 16 A street, for five turkeys, on
Monday; No. 37 B street, for 12 apple pies, on Tuesday; No. 49 C
street, for forty pounds of roast beef, on Wednesday; No. 23 D
street was to furnish so much pepper on Thursday; No. 33 E street,
so much salt on Friday. In short, every preparation was made in
advance, at the least inconvenience possible to the people, to
distribute in the most equal manner the welcome burden of feeding
the visitors at the fair, at the expense of the good people of
Chicago, but for the pecuniary benefit of the Sanitary Commission.
Hundreds of lovely young girls, in simple uniforms, took their
places as waiters behind the vast array of tables, and everybody
was as well served as at a first-class hotel, at a less expense to
himself, and with a great profit to the fair. Fifty thousand