Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1876-12-01

One hundred thousand people mourn
fully betook themselves on Sunday last
to the park to gaze upon the remains OF
the great exhibition. The Commission
had not intended TO throw the gates open,
but the Mayor of the city insisted that
that body no longer had any prohibitive
rights, so far as the park was concerned,
and that the people must be allowed to
wander at their own will over the
grounds. SO hundreds Of poor fathers
and mothers, who had not been able to
90 during the fifty cent period, went and
shifted interestedly about the exterior OF
the buildings, and all said--poor souls
Amt 1t beautiful" Meantime the
mule and the packing box were making
dread havoc with the charms within the
edifces. Our foreign friends, hitherto SO
courteous and DESTROYS of explaining ey-
erything, had suddenly become gruf and
disagreeable. The exhibits were fenced
round about, and the guardians cynical
ly informed any one who by rare favor
was admitted to the Main Building that
the " Exhibition was over"
No previous exhibition has ever had
quite so many paid admissions as ours,
and none has on the whole had anything
like the same financial success. The
Board Of Finance at Philadelphia ex-
pended about seven millions of dollars
in erecting the building and improving
the grounds. This colossal expenditure
was covered by the following receipts :
The appropriation Of Pennsylvania,
81 100000; that of Philadelphia a mil
lion and half of dollars receipts from
concessions, from gifts, and from interest,
about half million from stock sub.
scriptions, s2,500,000; and the National
appropriation, at s1,5O0,000 The total
cash receipts amounted to s3,850,000 for
the time that the gates remained open /;
and the expenses Of keeping the grounds
and the buildings in order, well policed,
! lighted, ETC., and of maintaining an i'm
mense army of officials and doorkeepers,
has not been more than 81 5000 A
surplus of two millions of dollars is
therefore confidently counted on-that
is, provided the National Government
does not insist upon the repayment Of
the million and half dollars which il
advanced toward the enterprise. o.
course there will be plenty of men mear
enough to demand that the money be re
turned, but they ought not to be listened
to. The Government ought to be com
PEELED to contribute its share to the finan
oial success of the Exhibition.
If the Government that is, if we, tn
people who have seen and profted b,
the Exhibition = do what is right tn
original Centennial stockholders, tn
men who backed up the project when i
seemed to have but small prospects 0
success, and when good many of IL
we're scoffing at it, will get about eight,
per cent Of their money back, ANT
that is all that the Exhibition can pay
even if the Government does not insis
on the return of its million and hall
The festivals to have been inaugurate(
by each of the "0ld Thirteen State
we're marred by the persistent refusal 0
Virginia, North and South Carolina an,
Georgia to participate. This noble sis
terhood seemed inclined to sulk, althoug
!, it would be difficult to imagine any goo
reason why it should do 80 It's highl
creditable TO the patriotism of Generi
n Hawley and other gentlemen prominen
/ ly connected with the Exhibition ths
e they did everything in their power I
: induce and encourage the Southern pc,
pie to participate in the fair, and the
I. efforts were crowned with at least partil
q success. The attendance on the day
voted to Delaware and Maryland wa
with the single exception of that
:, Pennsylvania Day, the largest seen
n the Exhibition, and the South offered OF
|, of the most curious and, in many T
Z" spects, most entertaining spectacles
Z the whole period-the tournament at Il
" foot of Georges Hill
J. But it is not by money that one CT
measure the success of a gigantic u
dertaking of such far-reaching, sor
, searching influence as the Information
Exhibition of 1876. Pecuniary profit
Of small consequence in comparison wi
: the rich spiritual harvest which has be,
- garnered in, with the vast culture wifi
= has been lavished upon our people
: the past six months, and of which th
" have been so quick to take advantag
All the subtle and harmonious inhuenc
n of older aud richer civilizations ha
4 been at work here, and with astonishil
,e success. The young world has sto
a face to face with the old world, and
az not been ashamed. Neither has she be
in in any sense abased, We have Civ