"I think," said my companion, "that it would be a good thing to see the street fair."
"Oh, no," said the secretary earnestly. "You don't want to see that. There is nothing about it that is representative of Montgomery. It is just a traveling show such as you might run into anywhere."
"Yes," I said, "but we never have run into one before, and here it is."
"I have said right along," declared the secretary, somberly, "that it was a great mistake to bring this fair here at all. I don't think you ought to pay any attention to it in your book. It will give people a wrong impression of our city."
"Do you think it will, if I explain that it is just a traveling fair?"
"Yes. Wait until you see what we have to show you. We want you to understand that Montgomery is a thriving metropolis, sir!"
"What is there to see?"
"Montgomery," he replied, "is known as 'The City of Sunshine.' It is rich in history. It has superior hotels, picturesque highways, good fishing and hunting, two golf courses, seven theaters, a number of tennis courts, and unsurpassed artesian water. It has free factory sites, the cheapest electric power rates in the United States, and is the best-lighted city in the country."
"We have some pretty fair street lighting in New York," interjected my companion, who takes much pride in his home town.
"I said 'one of the best lighted,'" replied the secretary.