were selected, who, with a similar committee
of gentlemen, undertook the general manage
ment, of the Fair. The details were confided
to various committees, each having charge of
some special department of industry or art in
which to gather contributions in money, or in
articles of taste and utility. It was at first
designed, as we have seen in our account of
the Brooklyn Fair, to embrace not only New
York city, hut all the populous towns in its
immediate neighborhood, as a field of opera
tions. It was found, however, that this was
impracticable, principally owing to the neces
sity of postponing the opening of the Fair
beyond the time originally intended.
This necessity arose from the daily increas
ing proportions of the enterprise which had
been undertaken. It soon became apparent
that a space sufficiently large for a suitable
display of all that the wealth and liberality of
New York proposed to do for the soldier had
not been selected. In addition to the building
in Fourteenth street, two hundred feet square,
with a very considerable space in the second
story, it became necessary to erect another of
large dimensions, on Union Square. Both
were over-crowded during the continuance of
Fair, with the choicest productions of taste
and industry. The various departments re
sembled very much those we have described
at other Fairs, except that in many respects
the display was far grander and more impo
sing than had been seen elsewhere. The
Foreign Department was peculiarly attractive.
The collection of arms and trophies of all
kinds reminded one of the most famous histo
rical museums of Europe, while the Art Gal
lery brought together a collection of pictures
from private cabinets such as has never before
been seen in this country.
The striking incidents of the Fair appear to
have been very few, the famjus sword contest
being the only occurrence which rutiled at all
the decorous, practical and business-like stylo
in which the whole thing was conducted. But
the result, in a pecuniary point of view, was
unsurpassed, and worthy in every way of the
Empire City. More than a million of dollars
have been received as the net proceeds of the
enterprize. The expenses were about $lOO,OOO.
The loss from counterfeit and mutilated notes
was less than three hundred dollars. One
feature of the undertaking, well worth re
marking, was the very large amount con
tributed in cash, the Fair being looked upon
not only as a place for the exposition and sale
of goods, but also an occasion upon which all
who could not offer articles of their own manu
facture for the relief of the soldier, might ac
complish the same object by gifts in money.
We would call attention to the very beautiful
album of sketches contributed by some of the
most distinguished artistes of New York, Bos
ton and Philadelphia to the Great Central Fair.
OITB ID .A. ILY PABB.
ITEMS BY A CAVALRY MAN,
[For Our Daily Fare.]
PAYING FOR AN OATH OF ALT.F.GIANCR
While at Sparta, Tennessee, with Colonel
Harrison’s ltegiment, (3'Jth Indiana Mounted
Infantry), in the beginning of last January,
1 was detailed by Colonel 11. as Provost Mar
shall, and part of my duty was to administer
the oath of allegiance to such of the citizens as
would take it voluntarily. One day a rough
specimen of the chivalry came into my
office and accosted me with “llow d'ye,
stranger; are you the Provost?” I told him
I was. “ Wa’al,” said he, squirting a mouth
ful of fluid-weed on the stove, “ I recken I’ll
take yer oath.” I soon had the oath admin
istered in all due form and solemnity, the
returning prodigal stumbling slightly at the
words “mental reservation or evasion,” but
being assured that they did not involve
the surrender of his “bosses,” recovered his
ground. I handed him his duplicate, properly
signed and witnessed, and asked him a few
questions. As he put on his hat to go, he
pulled out an old greasy wallet, saying as he
opened it: “Wa’al I reckon as how there’s
suthin’ to pay, what mought you charge ?
Not more’n half a dollar I reckon ?” I assured
him we were not accustomed to charge a man
anything for becoming loyal. “ Wa’al, Mister,
that’s clever naow ; they alius used to charge
for such at the Squire’s up yander,” and with
a happy smile he went on his way rejoicing.
Not long after, a man whose name sounded
very much like Smclfungus, appeared in the
doorway, and demanded a pass for “ liisself
and these yer two other ladies” to go out of
town. The party resisted the fascinations of
the three-legged stool, which was all the fur
niture my “office” could boast, and fortified
with their pass, shortly departed, the “ two
other ladies” flaunting their scant and aerial
calico skirts with quite as much defiant grace
as their sisters in Huntsville displayed with
their silks and grenadines at the sight of a
Yankee soldier.
CHAMP FERGUSON,
I have heard of certain fair ladies who live
under the Stars and Stripes and read with the
greatest interest the doings of “John Morgan
and his gallant band.” “It’s so like Robin
Ilood!” lisps Miss Cobra D. Capello. “Oh, I
do dote on guerillas —such a lovely word, so
Spanish, you know—why you can almost see
the sombrero shading the splendid beard. I
wish I lived on the Border.” I wish from my
soul you did, my dear Miss Capello; then,
perhaps, you would have had an opportunity
of testing the gallantry and Robinhood-ative
ness of the chivalric Rinaldinis of Tennessee.
One of these wretches, the notorious Champ
Ferguson, who had made himself obnoxious
by robbing everybody—union men, sutlers,
stores on the borders of Kentucky, and hen
roosts within his own Tennessee —nearly fell
into our hands last January. Col. Harrison
(30th Indiana) came within an ace of captur
ing him in his own house. As it was, he took
to the mountain fastnesses in sight of our
party, which arrived at his house in time to
capture five horses, in charge of a negro, who
was just about to follow Champ. Mrs. Fergu
son was pathetic; “hoped the colonel would
not take her last horse, as she would then have
none to send to mill.” “My dear madam,”
said Col. 11., in his quick way, “I would not
willingly put you to any inconvenience; but
your husband is an excellent business man,
and, I have no doubt, can provide you with
another horse immediately. Good morning.”
Poor Mrs. Champ ! Shortly afterwards the
Colonel found on her plantation about a thou
sand dollars worth of goods belonging to a sut
ler whom her husband’s band had killed a few
weeks before, on the mountains. They were
buried and hidden in straw sacks. Our men
carried away what they could, andtheremainder
was burned, much to Mrs. Champ’s chagrin.
The people in this region are nearly all secesh,
and harbor these murderers. Colonel 11. t alked
to them severely, telling them he was now
“throwing turf, but if that would not do he
would soon try stones. He expected them to
discountenance and rid their neighborhood of
these men, and would return soon and see
what had been done. He was determined that
it should be stopped, and, if necessary, would
lay waste the whole Calf-killer Valley.”
Riding along that afternoon and discussing
the Colonel’s oration, which was received with
open mouths and witless brains by the prom
ising inhabitants of the valley, we started a
couple of wild does, which bounded across the
road, tails up, “showing the cotton,” as hun
ters say, and were soon out of sight in the
forest. That night half a dozen of us spent
with an old hunter on the mountain, and
supped on broiled venison, and the next, morn
ing breakfasted on wild turkey. The old
man, Myers, who is a genuine descendant of
the great Boone, so far as habits and mode of
life go, said that in two years he had shot
thirty deer and two hundred wild turkeys.
Before parting with Champ Ferguson, who
has, I am happy to say, since had his last row
with Charon, I may mention one of his most
brilliant and characteristic exploits. A mem
ber of our regiment was coming into camp
alone, and stopped at a farm-house to get
breakfast. While there he was amazed by the
apparition of Champ, who walked up to him,
pistol in hand, and ordered him to surrender.
Being entirely unarmed the poor fellow had
no alternative, and was immediately marched
out into an adjoining woods and shot, in cold
blood, by this villain. Our colonel, on hearing
of the outrage, sent out a party to scour the