The Bolton County Fair was one of the largest in that part of the state.  Every year it was held, and farmers from many miles away brought their largest pumpkins and squashes, and their longest ears of corn, hoping to win prizes with them.  The farmers’ wives brought samples of their needlework, such as bedquilts, lace or embroidery, and samples of their cooking and preserving.  The farm boys and girls made things or raised something to exhibit at the fair.

Besides this there were new kinds of machinery for the farmers to look at, such as windmills and plows and electrical appliances to be used on the farms.  Men who raised horses and cattle took their best specimens to the fair to show them for prizes.

Then there were to be automobile races and horse races, and there were many amusements from the big merry-go-round to the little tents and booths where one could throw baseballs at dolls or toss rings over canes.  There were also booths and tents where candy, ice-cream, lemonade and cider were sold, as well as places to eat.

“Oh, it’s wonderful!” cried Nan, as she and her brothers, her sister, Harry and her father got out of their automobile and walked through the big gates into the fair grounds.  “Don’t you like it, Bert?”

“Sure!  It’s fine!”

“Let’s go over and look at the airship,” proposed Harry.

“And the balloon,” added Bert.  “Do you s’pose I could go up in the balloon?” he asked his father.

“No, I don’t suppose you could—­I wouldn’t like you to,” said Mr. Bobbsey.

“But why, Dad?  The balloon is fast to the ground.  It can’t get away!”

“I’m not so sure about that.  I don’t want you to go up.  You’ll have plenty of other fun.”

“I wanted to go up in the balloon,” and Bert sighed in disappointment.

“We’ll go look at it, anyhow,” suggested Harry.

“I want a ride on a lion!” insisted Freddie.

“So do I!” added Flossie.

“All right, I’ll take you children to the merry-go-round,” said Mr. Bobbsey.  “You come there and meet us after you finish looking at the balloon and the airship,” he said to Bert and Harry.

“I’ll stay with you, Daddy,” said Nan.  “I want a ride on the merry-go-round, too,” and she laughed.

They could hear the music of the “carrousel,” as a merry-go-round is sometimes called.

“Come on!” urged Flossie and Freddie, tugging at their father’s hands.

He led them over to the crowd that surrounded the machine on which a whirling ride could be had for five cents.

“This way!  This way for the merry-go-round!” cried a boy’s voice.  “Only five cents a ride!  Get your tickets and take a ride!  On an elephant or a tiger!”

“I want a lion!” cried Freddie.

“All right!  This way for your lions!” cried the voice.

Mr. Bobbsey, pushing his way through the crowd with the children, saw Bob Guess on the merry-go-round.  The boy was helping children to their seats on the wooden animals, strapping them safely so they would be ready when the machinery started.  The organ kept on playing all the while.