"Here we are!" and sure enough, they had reached the fair grounds.

"Why, I didn't suppose we were more than half-way here," said Dorothy,
"and the reason is that the ride has been so jolly."

"That's just it," agreed Nancy.

"The reason _I_ enjoyed the ride," said Uncle Harry, "is because I was
so charmed with my little guests."

"And the reason why we had such a fine ride," said Flossie, "is because
we had the _best_ man in the world taking care of us."

Uncle Harry bowed low.

"This must be a wedding party, if I'm the 'best man,'" he said with a
laugh, "so we'll not fuss because there's no musician to play a march
for us, but we'll play you are all bridesmaids, and we'll hurry right
along. The entrance is this way, I think, and under that evergreen
arch."

A large tent had been pitched for the display of the various wares and
numerous attractions; a smaller tent near it serving as fortune teller's
booth.

"We'll coax Uncle Harry to have his fortune told," whispered Flossie to
Dorothy, when, to their great surprise, he said:

"Oh, Flossie, you little witch! Uncle Harry heard what you said, and not
only is he going to have his fortune told, but he's going to make every
one of you little girls have yours told, also!"

CHAPTER VIII

AT THE FAIR

THE fair proved a great delight to the children. They had all been to
fine fairs patronized by fashionable matrons, whose names were quite
enough to insure success, but the country fair was an absolute novelty.

At the large city fairs, merry debutantes graced the booths, and sold
flowers, or tickets for the various games of chance.

Here in the mountain village all was different, and the novelty gave
greater interest.

Farmers' daughters were in the booths, and sold huge bouquets of
old-fashioned garden flowers, homemade candy, and honey, while one
rosy-cheeked lass dispensed sweet cider, or sweet apples, according to
the preference of her customer.

Uncle Harry purchased a huge stalk of hollyhocks for each of his guests,
but for himself he chose an enormous sunflower which he insisted looked
_fine_ in his buttonhole.

There was music, if it could be called music, furnished by the local
band.

Uncle Harry said he had never seen such independent people as those
musicians were. He declared that the music sounded, to him, as if each
man commenced to play when he chose, and stopped when he got ready,
regardless of what the other players were doing