Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-09-07
Centennial Letter.
from our Regular Correspondent
PhiLade7pIhio. Sent 3 1876.

another OF the C6ntennlal cele0ra-
tions' which come along in rapid sue
cession here, occurred on Tuesday
This time it was the knights of Pyth-
ias-the youngest of our benefcient Sc
cret organizations, founded on the prin-
clple of true brotherly love as exempli-
fed i'll the story of Damon and Pyth-
las. The parade on Tuesday was almost
as brilliant and imposing as the
Knight Templar and military demon
strations that have preceded it. Fully
10000 Knights we're reported in line
Of course the Exposition has benefited
by their presence. in the city by a
largely increased attendance, as all the
visiting Knights, many of whom were
accompanied by ladies, availed them
selves of a few days stay to see the
World fair. The stream Of visitors is
nov larger than at any time heretofore
and one meets more sight-seers wander
ing about Independence Hall, Fair
mount Park, the Geological Garden,
the Mint and other places of interest,
the Penitentiary not excepted. This
week Thursdey witnessed the attend
ance of the largest delegation of foreign
ers so far during the season. There
were several thousand Of them, and
they came from New Jersey The
boating regatta has ais been feature
of the week, furnishing en- ertainment
for those who enjoy the sport.
One Of the most curious Of the re-
cent arrivals in the Agricultural Bull
ding was received and placed in posi-
tion in the Oregon department, last
week. 1t is a chart about p feet long,
dy 2 IL feet wide presenting in unbro-
ken forms the complete history of man
including the record Of every nation
from the Garden of Eden to the pres
ent. Upon tie scale adopted the ma :
tions' empires, Kingdoms, republic
and States; the manners customs and
dress the progress civilization and
discoy cries the invention of steam,
electricity, mechanics ; the introduction
of letters, the progress of langTage,
the spread Of literature the name, ma
sionalities and distinguishing characters
istics OF eminent men the names ard
dates Of all important battles, discover
les and inventions the rise and fall of
ancient empires, dynasties and peoples;
the names Of all the sovereigns, emper-
ors, kings, rulers Of the earth and their
authority; the area, population and
number to the square mile to each
country, with an epitome of ancient
and modern history, together with a
facsimile of ancient coins, medals,
stones, monuments, obelisks and pyra-
mids of Egypt, Syria, Ninevah and
Babylon of implements of warfare
and husbandry, alphabetical letters and
hieroglypfics Of mythology-the Gods,
temples and priests OF geology---th the
stone age, the iron age, the brass OF
bronze of navigation-the compass, the
galley and the clipper ship f; Of astron-
omy--the size, the distance and number
Of heavenly bodies are all given in their
proper systematic relation to the worlds
history. As the atlas shows the place
where, so the chart shows the time
when, and the relative position of one
event to another. In this work the au-
thor evidently does not assume to be
responsible for the facts Of history, but
gives them simply as they are found on
record in the several histories of the
various nations Of the earth. Every
student of history has experienced the
difficulty attending the effort to eIim-
mate the salient facts of general history
from the voluminous network cf subor-
dinate facts and details with which
they seem inevitably entangled. with
out something Of this kind to assist in
separating the important facts of histo-
ry from the confused IDEAS and tumble
of uncounected facts, can we hope to
make accurate progress in understand
ing che full record of our race? This
chart shows what is going on at the
same time, the world over, in all the
nations One of the chief features of
this work Is what Is termed synehron-