Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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T H E H I - O - H I 1 9 1 0 had'nt no idee what it meant. An' then some feller, ferget jest who 'twas, come along an' told me 'twas another o' them Mock Conven- tions. Wal, I told mother, says I: 'If it's one o' them shows we're goin' if it costs seventy-Hve cents.' So when it come Tuesday, I think it was, we hitched up an' drove in. fb Ye know West College Street there in Oberlin, don't ye? Wal, sir, when we drove down there old Nellie, what ain't got scared in five years, like t' ha' shied clean up into politician Comings' store, fer right over there on the grass plot where th', what ye call it, Chapel used ter be, was th' dumbdedest, biggest tent I ever set eyes on to. That was what they called th' Big Tent. Couldn't see what they wanted t' try t' cover th' h.ul campout,-er whatever 'tis they call that grass plot-,all over with tent fer. But that jest goes t' show ye can't never tell 'til ye see, fer they sure did use it all, an' then acted as if they had a hankerin' fer more. 4 as Wal, mother an' I, we 'et our lunch, an' then kind o' mozied up to- , , wards that circus-like lookin' place. , , An', sir, ye never would believe the rigs , we saw comin' in from all directions. Students th.ey was, all o' 'em. I couldn't help thinkin' I was glad some o' th' old Presidents wa'n't alive, some o' 'em would 'a had fits seein' so many queer get-ups in Oberlin. I thought we must 'a made a mistake an' that it was a real circus after all when I seen such a sight o' paradin' goin' on. There was th' greatest lot o' things,-bandsg a sort o' prairie schooner, like we used ter 25

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if a t . . , - A what Big Giant Qbutn Wal, drawled Uncle Hiram, as he settled himself before the kitchen fire for his usual yarn, wal, sir, I never saw th' beat o' th.at fer a real, downright, git-up-and-get, sort o' show,-never 'n all my born days. 5' Yep, I seen a good many crackin' good shows 'n my time, at 'Lyria and round. An' I remember when I wa'n't no older ner Billie there, goin' to Oberlin with dad to see the Hrst-first-, he gazed thoughtfully at the fire, pulled hard on his old pipe, crossed his legs again,- first-why, what th' dickens do ye call it, fake, no that ain't the word, Awl mock-that's the word I bin tryin' to git hold of-to the first Mock Convention they h.ad. Great time that was, tool That was th' time they went an' nominated Abe Lincoln fer th' second term, did it 'fore the regular Convention did, tool if' Have I bin t' any o' 'em since? Wal I should jest say so. I can't see goin' to shows too of'en, but I go t' that mos' every four years. Can't seem t' git out o' th' habit. Crackin' good shows they are. An' th.ey teach ye a hul lot besides. 'Cause Cousin Albert, he seen one o' th' reg'lar kind once in Chicago, and he said it wa'n't half so much fun as th' one to Oberlin. So I don't go to Chicago. Ol yes, I did start out t' tell ye about that 'un they had last spring. Wal, sir, when I fust seed that talk about th' Big Tent I 24

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see when I was a kid, silk hats-nice lookin' ones toog swell dressesg some gals with th' best lookin' oranges a hangin' down from their big hats-sight bigger 'n any use toog an' then some more o' them clown bands what they have to every circus. Then there was a bunch o' th' funniest lookin' Pennsylvania Dutchmen, pipes an' all: an' some gals with big black spots-some sort o',dots mother called 'em- all over their dresses. One couple must 'a come from some ferrin country, fer they had the most rich lookin' sort o' dresses, but they must 'a bin awful hot-somebody said they come from some warm place or other somethin' like Haw-y-a. An' then there come th' funniest kit o' walkin' jugs ye ever heard tell of. Great big jugs- looked jest like them what molasses comes in down to th' store at th' corners, only bigger, an' all ye could see was a little piece o' head stickin' out o' th' snoot an' some wiggly legs under th' blamed things. 8'6 Wal, sir, mother an' I seed they was such a bunch o' 'em comin' that we gets inside th' tent, an' blamed if we didn't h.ave the Worst sort o' a time ter get a seat. Regular circus bleechers they had, an' they charged us a quarter a piece to get in, too. But finally some bald headed teller what seemed t' be a runnin' things, 'least he was doin' consid'rable bossin,' Hxes us up an' we jest set there an' watched 'em come in. ze