Annual Fair of the American Institute: 35th

     “[T]he fair will open on Thursday, September 3.”

         “Opening of the Thirty-fifth Annual fair.

The thirty-fifth annual exhibition of the American Institute opened last evening, at the Academy of Music, under the most favorable auspices, and bids fair to become, ere its close, one of the most successful which the Institute has yet produced…

…On the body of the floor, on tables ranged across the room, are models of naval batteries; cases of signs, proclaiming the virtues of ‘ladies’ skates;’ ‘Monitor cock-tail,’ and other articles too numerous to mention; electric machinery, wigs, false teeth, saddles, artificial legs, stuffed birds, military goods, model railroad-breaks, ingenious teapots, life-saving bathing machines, and a thousand other things, great and small, worth one’s while to seem them all. A score of elegant pianos mark the dividing line beyond which is the machinery…From the third tier a full band performs some of the most beautiful selections of music. Every one misses the whirr, bustle and clatter of the machines, which, at previous exhibitions, gave such a charm. The machines themselves are there, but are dead masses of matter, without the music of the mighty song of steam to give them life.”

     “The celebrated Italian Opera Band, under the leadership of E. Grill, will perform every evening.”