The Lake County star., 1876-05-25
Centennial Letter.

If the success of the Centennial
Show could be fairly measured by
tho attendance during the first week
after the opening it would be good
time now to take back some of the
glowing and cxtravagant things that
have heretofore been said. 1t has
really been an exceedingly dull
week, with considerably less than
10000 average daily attendance.
But this state of affairs is simply in
the natural order of things and not
in the least discouraging. The cold,
wet and disagrccable weather has
of itself been enough to keep every
body at home; and then the impress
sion has got abroad-and it is COR
rect too-that the Exhibition lacks
good deal of being ready. The
unfinished condition of the walks
and numerous buildings, together
with the mud and rubbish and the
work of unpacking one has still to
encounter about the grounds, are
by n0 means features calculated to
attract. When it is known that
tons of exhibits are arriving daily,
people naturally enough feel that
there is no hurry. But this is no
iudication that they won't come by
and by. The success of the exhi-
bition is assured both by its i'm
mcnsity and the interest and cuthu-
iasm manifested everywhere, cspcc-
tally on the opening day. 1t is
stated that considerable ,lisappOint-
mcnt is felt by the Centennial di-
rcction and in business circles gem
orally at the limited number, and
what they arc pleased to term the
severe economy of visitors. So far
as the exhibition is.conccrncd there
is no occasion for misgiving. When
the pressure offspring business shall
be over, and the Exhibition COM
plctc for inspection, the people will
come from every section, not to pa
radc the streets and gaze in the
shop windows, but to cluster about
, tlc great fairy-land in the Park and
study its beauties day after day,
until they are content, and then
most of them will 60 away to return
for a farewell visit in the autumn
to what this generation can never
see again. 1t may be that the cs-
Inmates early made of the millions
of visitors will prove little Jules
Vcrncy, but the people are certain
ly coming.
But for the thousands Of spccu-
lative schemes organized solely to
pluck the unsuspccting people who
are to come here nobody will have
sympathy. They went upon the
theory that fool and his money
are soon parted, and that the city
would be overrun with people anX-
ious to spend their accumulated
wealth; or that they would be naked
and hungry and they would take
them in; aud there was to be a fam.
inc of provision and a harvest OF
grecnbacks. But they counted thcil
chickens before tho eggs were laid,
and with no rooster in sight. Tho
cafes and refreshmcnt places inside
of the grounds, which charge treble
or quadruplc prices for ordinary
meals and drinks, will fail disas.
trously, as they most justly deserve
to fail. l have seen bills rendered
for ordinary dinners amounting tc
from three to four dollars, which at
any Of the best restaurants in Phil
adclphia would not have cost moro
than a dollar, and if any one is sc
stonc-blind as not to see by this
time that fifteen cents for glas.
of soda-watcr and fifty cents for q
sandwich will make visitors abso
lutcly withhold their patronage
they will learn it finally to thcil
sorrow. The boarding. houses ant
cxtcmporizcd hotels promise to bt
not the least of these sufferers, ant
| am glad of it. There are man,
hundreds Of them all demanding s:
to S3 per day for the most ordinar,
accommodations, such rs can be OBJ
tanned in any other city, Chicago
New York, or even Washington, fol
from 81 to so per week, and they
insist always upon putting two in ;
room at that. | saw % statement
in ono correspondents letter tina
good board could be had here fol
S5 per week, and | know severa
persons who have been Industrious
ly hunting the author of that fiction
for the past week. But these thing.
will all be forgotten one hundred
years hence.
TO me the United States build
ing is one Of the most intcrestin,
within the inclosurc. The war an,
navy department display, with al
the munitions and engines of wal
arraycd in view, is quite intimitat
ing. But the neatcst and most per
feet and curious of all is the little
engine and envelope machine turn
ing out "Centennial Envelope
all complete and stamped at cacl
evolution. The agricultural dis
play is male mainly in large glass
showcases, and comprises in all fv,
divisions, namely, chemical, cntom
illogical, botanical, microscopica
and the general museum. lIangin;
on the wall near which the show
cases stand are four large maps o
tho limited STATES. oll heinz divide,