The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1876-09-07
our eENTENNIAL lETTER.
Pn1nApELrnIA, Aug rs, 1876.

day the bufTding which 4 am about.
SO dascribe, and / confess I have
shrunk from tie task, fof L have
looked upon it with almost fear and
wonder. It's not subject to be
dealt with lightly, for within this
mighty building is concentrated more
of tho brain power, by which the
world is moved than in all Of the.
Centennial Exhibition beside. Cross
over to tlie5Main Building and there
yoasee the results, come back to Ma
sclinery Hall and there you find the
sinotiye power by which these results
were achieved. Il is true in The
Chinese and Japanese Departm entst
gou see marvellous exhibition of,
handicraft, wonderful carvings are.
there on which whole lives of unre-.
niilting,toil baYe been wasted; genius
(which properly directed might have
Fivaled the creations of Praxiteles,
here produces nothing but monstros>g
olies which rather appall than gratify
the imagination. You shaketh dust
otthe past from your shoes when you
enter Machinery Hall. Everything
around You speaks Oft Lying press
gent--not of a slow present, but a pre-
sent that keeps reaching out and
arasping into tue future--that COM
presses years in'o months aud mtnths
INTO days, days into hours aud hours
8into minutes, and minutes into sec
onds which ever appear to slow
Stcam magniiics It's power q million
times yet steam seems weak and tar
saF' ana now~tAa restlessz zgenins--4lLAt"
M bips MS onwa' d like "a pitiless nefIT,
dives dowR into the bowels of the
ear'h and reaches upward to the
STARS searching for some new motive
power WHICH shall supersede that Ter
sriblea agent which Tor seventy yems
slas been thg Sonder and admire ati9n
Sof the ,wcflw Machinery HAN is
h,nrteen hundred feet long, and five
Hundred and sixty eight feet wide,
and covers nearly thirteen acres; the
antside aisles are forty feet high the
interior aisles are seventy feet. Walk
right along with me down the main
avenue, nor panBo till we reach the
giant augine by which all this ma
sehiRery is moved; we are now in the
centre OF the building, the hand is
on the hour of nine. The crowd
4Eound watch in breathless expeeta--s
ton the movements Of two men who.
I.etand ON the elevated platform, one.
aslakes q partial circuit OF the sleeping
nlonster, scaning everything with a
rfitical eye, lie returns to his post,
and lays his hand on a polished IRON
Wheel, his comrade does the same.
Kle giSes3it Q agentle turn, the man.
gn the opposite side has repeated his
motions another turn and you see the
gentle paH of steam, still another
There ia q thrill and vibration, still
spother and the giant arms begin to
hoge, the mighty ay wheet, thirty
feet in diametor sweeps rosnd as.
l'oiselssly as a ghost; the whirA and.
buzz Of g alhonsand machines BeakI
SFbrough the stillness Of the lnortk No
s,nd the days labor has tairly begsS {
Eut look down there to The right II,
5ost see that man leaning against thss
atttofrl, that is George I'll. Corliss,
soyidenee, and the owner ot the
gialit before You. Ia person he is
short aad thick SET seeming capable
ri any amount of endurance, Look
,at tliat bull neck and mastiff law,
sAnd watch the expression of bis face
which at 9 glance looks hard and
ptern. No carpet knigb this but tone
yonr rauah solid workafe. Nhoj
lds no 5hsense, who @ould noti
yotl for 2 cornplifnoiif, and who
S his way through eyerY obsta,
sls ~ sssi slleyeF passes till finally hig
gGbI6nts is ilslsieVe f sS III q 8loe,1.a