Before “Goin’ to the Fair,” Americans received unsolicited advice in their small-town newspapers on how to navigate the city of Chicago during their visit to the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. The June 22, 1893, issue of the Mount Vernon (OH) Democratic Banner offered these words of guidance:
There is little doubt that a large proportion of those who will attend the World’s Fair ought to be under the charge of a guardian while in the Windy City. This would be almost impossible — expensive, to say the least. And so a set of questions [sic] has been printed as guidance for the unsophisticated. These rules are cheap and easily followed. Moreover they will save money and trouble hereafter if closely adhered to. Here goes:
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- Don’t blow out the gas. It often incurs the services of a coroner and undertaker.
- Don’ t flash your bank roll upon the crowded thoroughfare. It is tempting and may lead to a “lost” advertisement.
- Don’t get off the cars until the train stops.
- Don’t answer any questions of men or women regarding the time of day or the state of the weather.
- Don’t wear a badge. It shows you are from the country.
- Don’t get acquainted with strangers who pretend to know you and thus encourage the bunco man.
- Don’t try to atop a cable ear with an uplifted umbrella. Let it pass. .Another will soon come along.
- Don’t ride a mile or two in a cab before you ask the price of the service. Make your bargain on the start.
- Don’t stop when once you start to cross a street. If you do you are apt to become entangled in wheels and horses’ hoofs.
Don’t stare up at the big buildings. It’s a dead give-away that you are a tourist.
SOURCE
“Mount Vernon Democratic Banner June 22, 1893” (1893). Mount Vernon Banner Historic Newspaper 1893. 15. https://digital.kenyon.edu/banner1893/15