Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-04-25
NUMBER II.
TINE FIRST VIEW.

PARIS, April 4.
Notwithstanding much attempt by English
Journals to decry The worlds newest and great
est fair, II has opened in an incomplete copdi-
tlon indeed, but IN its incompleteness the supe-
rior OF whatever of its kind ever grew 10 I'LL
ness FOR three days have wandered In its
aisles and parks, aud yet begin to write with
sense oil Ignorance; for, while its products are
arranged with SO simple design us to help the
memory. they make 80 splendid and interinin-
able continuity, that the mind comes away with
q sense of yastness only and the eve uwcaIy with
brightness lie alone decries the exhibition who
has not seen it. 1t is miracle OF fancy and sug-
gestion, and the best epitome of the worlds good
Will and enterprise that we shall ever have.
The Emperor opened IL without speech, con-
tented that his wife and himself were presented
70 the hundreds of commissioner and the
brightness OF the day seemed an augury of long
inlr weather and prosperity. You will hear COM
plants from exhibitors and commissioners but
III nine cases out of ten they arise from wounded
vanity, preposterous expectations, or yerdapt
querulousness. have seen one man appointed
State agent here, who wants Mr.. Beckwith our
Commissiuner-in-C Chief, removed, because Beck
with did not ask him to dinner. Another thinks
the French Government shabby. because II does
not house and feed all the exhibitors. Everybody
wants The best place to put his goods and the
most OF IL. Altogether there are many s'grcen''
consequential folks in Paris who expected IL show
prlze jews harp,or shoe peg and get the order
VI tiic itEioH VI IuuOT lbT H. ana nave their no.
tells bills cashed. When these have learned by
some wandering in the great palace of industry
how little is the mightiest invention and the most
capable individual, beside the infinite aggregate
mere collected, they may also rem, mber that the
French Government means to lose no money Inv
this Fair. 1t is hosptabe, but wisely so, like u
good householder and reasonably means France
TO be the largest winner. My Judgment is at
fault II this show will not help French commerce
beyond any previous act In its history The
10 -.
every branch, arranged with proftision yet good
taste OF u brides jewels and ATTIRE and those who
seeswhat franctnas to sell, will send 10 Paris
often again. In the fine arts she is more than
the peer of all the rest of the world. Oniy
her living painters and sculptors are represented,
and the very best of the works of each.
They make all art nesdes mere gardening. l
wandered yesterday down the great art circle.
through German canyasses of dreary draperics,
and Dutch studies or painful commandments
English drawings, hideous pre-Raph;slte and
American landscapes, true to our grand country.
but only copies OF her Then the French master,
pieces swept upon me, and at looe, all thought
of comparison died. Here wunderous herd ri \
Rosa Bonheur, with animals souls in every horse
and hoof, moved over the Spanish mountains.
driven by velvet multeers; ynnder n Meissonier.
where as In n water-drop reflected, so small the
canvass was, battle combat ragged with all deli
cious vi,ldness; again, Syrian glimpse, by Her.
bert, OF the pure-footed maiden al the well well
in both her eyes and at the last Gerome. the
greatest living painter, unroed his misty mira
ccs Ike painting Shakespeare, Till you could
walk again where Caesar died, or hear the Roman
gladators, among their dead, cry Muiiuri te Sd
Mfdnf to the drunken Emperor, lccring from his
throne. $3.50
The United States is probably the most back
ward nation on exhibition. This Is due to orr
remotencss; but it should not have been So The
great restaurant we have heard of will not he
open for month. We alone, among the nations
90 thirsty, or punish the beer of foreigners. Our
t1nnl ...t lao.
deal OF II tangle OF sewing machines and MHssa-
chusetts broDzes, but for some cause, nothing il
ready. | am afraid that our agents and Commits
sioncrs are in the main, irrcsolute or incapable:
but do not share the opinion of some OF our
people; who would have us fill the most space
spend the most money, and present a VULGAR
ostentaton of riches that we have moi pot.
Most American fabrics are plain to look at. but
they take prizes. We are subdung that still new
country, and our pillow shares are better than our
gilt clocks. 1t is misfortune that we do not
make better competition In art but we get up n
good article of boots and shoes, and our patient
medicines outscll all prescription.
Admire particularly the simplicity and boldness
with which we have erected, among the palatial
architcctures of other nations, d little point
gabled wooden building, In the heart OF the mark
Adjoining II are the great temples of the Bty of
Tuns, arabesquc In gilt and mosaic, three tiers of
colossal lions upon its stairs, and domes of pold
browning 1t with their crescent moons the bal
ace, tomb and worshipping place of the Vicerey
Of Egypt, hideously rich in cenataurs and liz
countenances OF bulls and idols, with mighty
overhanging corniccs, dark as Pharaoh's dark
ness the mosque of the great Turk the Osnan-
It's, with its slender towers and intricate inscrip-
tiOns of airy Moresque; the Lodge of the Fin
peror Of MOrocco,and the pagoda and tea garden
OF the Chinese. Very strange, elaborate and
sensuous Among all these, the rrchtectures of
but half civilized or barbarous powers, stands
this simple structure of deal planks erected by a
nation that could stiangle the Turk and Moor
tugether-a United States school house. such ms
they build on the banks OF the Muskingum or
Miami and at Its modest guisc the singing
Egyptians smilc, azily beating their tambourincs'
must give YOU some notion Uf what this Ey-
hibiton is like, though you will have seen a hun
dred pictures OF II before yon get this lette, IL il
IN the suburbs OF the town. but Paris Is built liph
up, in houses of many stories, so that lis TWO
millions of people cover little ground, and from
the center Of the city to the Fair is therefore
only mile and half. The avenues which com
verge there are broad as the Licking river. Car
riage fare from any point of the city Is only thirty
cents for two persons, and forty for four; omni-
bus fare is three cents on the top of the coach.
and six cents Within A steam railway pues
quite around Paris, describing a circle with many
curvings, to the heart OF the city, and this d..
livers you in half hourly trains. q Altogether the
facilities are about MS numerous aud us easy as Il,
commit suicide, and the routes are ALI very
interesting, curious and picturesque. The
Exhibition is in low-lying part or
ground 1t has been transformed into u series of
knobs, swells, streams and lakes by artificial pro-
cesses, and the whole ground Is overlooked by
the hills that face II across the river Seine. The
Seine is only four hundred feet wide very clear
and fresh OF current, and Is of itself n gracious
ornament-snch river Notwithstanding lis mar
rowncss, that the dying Napoleon asked to be
bnred by its side. The real Exhibition Is a circu-
lar structure, in shape like huge cheese, with
eight unequal rings passing within its crcumfer-
ence., Each Of these rings Is a grand gallery, de-
voted to some one general branch Of nanllfnc-
lures; the greatest of course, being filed with
machinery The outside circle is entirely made
up OF restaurants and II fronts upon the gardens
and parks. II You take your cheese and mark
these eight rings around 1t, put little flags around
the top edges, and mark through its centre about
forty straight lines, you will get fair idea of the
exhibition. The cross lines separate the nations
so that as you prefer, you can walk crosswise
see all that one people have to show, or around,
and see all the manifestations of one art. This
idea was Prince Napuleon's, and was very in
genious one He is the Emperor's cousin, ii the
Emperor is Bonaparte at all, and was appointed
the Chief of this Fair; but he is too high-minded
and manly TO be q stool-pigeOn or q butt and he
is now of coaslng in his yacht
However, inside the great cheese, which cheese
is an indi gesiible one, being made of iron, and
glass, and stone there Is pretty oblong garden,
with fountains and beautiful statues in It. Out,
side OF 1t is the park, which Is more than twice
the size Of the Exhibition-of the length of six
Cincinnati blocks, and of the width of four. Here
are erected fifty or more curious ediHces, illus
trating the domestic, religious or monumental
architecture of each country in the world, from
an Aztec temple to Protestant chapel. All these
buildings are Inhabited by people OF the country
they represent Among Them are hundred
colossal statues, representing the grandest
achievements of art in every aye. CAT,