Springfield Globe Republic

A GERMAN VOLKSFEST.
THE CULMINATION GLORY OF THE HARVEST DISPLAY.
The Various Scenes of the Fair-A Strikingly Artistic Effect-Everybody Hilarious and Good-Natured-Amusements at Every Turn.
[Stuttgart Cor. Courier-Journal.]

At the annual Volkfest, in October, there were 60,000 persons assembled to see the harvest decorations and festivities. All the world goes--I mean the inhabitants of Stuttgart and the surrounding country. The great fair was held at Cannstatt, a neighboring city, across the river Neckar, and was free to all, from king to peasant. Innumerable side-shows attracted crowds of curious visitors; children's games abounded on all sides; restaurants fed the hungry; bands of music intensified the din; throngs of peasants spent their pfennigs at gay booths. The whole thing was an intoxicating pandemonium.

Of course the culminating glory was the harvest display in a vast amphitheatre. An immense triumphal arch spanned the central stand, or tribunal, as they call it here. This was covered with cedar. It must have required a forest, while the ground floor was reserved for the horticultural display. This arch was decorated by a border of fruits of brilliant colors; from the center was suspended the escutcheon of Wurtemberg, made of grains of corn and a shining blackberry. There were millions in it, and the effect was strikingly artistic. A triumphal column twenty-five feet in height and proportionately thick rested on a large pedestal composed of pale green apples, all of the same shade. Around the base there was a Grecian border of yellow and red ears of corn. The main column was composed of silver skin and pink onions, surmounted by a capital of yellow pears. This bore profuse heaps of growing plants and vegetables, squashes, pumpkins, gourds, red peppers, etc., the whole presenting a mass of colors so harmoniously blended that I stood dazed, enchanted, and you remember I never went into much enthusiasm over floral decorations at home.

The base of the grand stand was decorated with sheaves of wheat and barley, while there were superb displays of each separate kind of fruit and vegetable artistically grouped. The grapes were of every size and color, and there were apricots in profusion. The festivities lasted for a week, but my ardor knew no abatement. Dignified Germany forgets her dignity at this happy carnival. It is considered highly discourteous to notice an impatient word or gesture, or an impertinent speech. Crowds of students are there, full of merry pranks--hilarious and good-natured through every vicissitude of the day with its mad jollity. Many of them wear mottoes on their hats-"Verliebt," engaged, or "Ledig," single. A sudden sound, as of a swarm of locusts, startles you-it is only a band of students, each of whom is twirling a wooden toy, which imitates perfectly the whirring of those vivacious insects.

A Punch-and-Judy show meets you at every turn, while the usual monstrosities are placarded in immense letters. But the favorite amusement is the merry-go-round. There are rows of these "children's delights" rivaling each other in gorgeous decorations. Many substitute, for the customary wooden horses, elephants, lions, camels, tigers and ostriches, which begin their gay journey the moment the orchestra gives the signal, the living freight being of all ages and sexes. Such madness! such merriment! as accompany these flying Dutchmen! Chubby little peasants and peasantesses have saved their pfennigs for a year to ride behind four white elephants in a merry-go-round; no novelty seduces them to try other fields of delight. There are whole avenues of gayly-dressed booths, with wares from every climate under the sun, and rows upon rows of restaurant tents, where Teutonic dishes are served in all their integrity. Fritters and salad are Siamese twins-not to be separated; that is, you may separate the salad, but not the fritters. Some of the dishes are incomprehensible. The excitement of the Volksfest is so intoxicating that instead of producing weariness it creates a desire for "more." I long to see another.