The Rutland weekly globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-11-10
A Centennial Letter.
ALBANY N Y. Nov. Z, 1876.

ingly too late. But TO vary the programme
little l am going to tell them principally
what did not see in Philadelphia, as all
others who have written have only de-
scribed what they did see, and of course
my efforts ia that direction would be most
thinking over the numerous things one CEN
not find at the centennial, which would be
of great interest to every one, l have como
to consider the whole affair one gigantic
fraud. OF what interest is it to me to
spend a week of time and halful of money
to see lot of trinkets and gew-gaws of
fered for sale by a lot OF half-breed ltal-
fans and Frenchmen from Mulberry street,
New York city, rugged out with q red
smoking cap or horse lair quene, to repre-
sent Turks, Cinnamon or JapaBeseH Why
/. must wade through the main building till
quiver with fatigue and my
head swims, to see merchants display
which the shop windows of the Broadway
cf our metropolis afford any day for an
hoHrs walk, at an expense of nis D.? | can
didly ask any mal who hiss "dd the thing"
II all tie glories of horticultural hall can
,osa noment compare with the sublime
AsutyDf one meadow full Of daises and
u 'lover viewed in the dewy fresl ness
Fs July morning, or the blazing splen-
dor Of sea of golden rod as it reflects TO
our eyes the dazzling sun of an autumn af-
teruoon from its wind-rippled surface in
come neglected meadow? And l ask in all
sincerity why did they not show US in that
pofusion of green and growing things just
one sprig of wild thyme from the hank
whereon Titonia lay or leaf from the olive
branch that the dove brought to Noah, or
Amaryllis sported or from which was cut
The stick which GOody Blake stole from
Harry GilI9 And l might enumerale the
stsS11-s not to be seen there till had list
as long as the moral law but l must re-
FRAN
But there IS no excuse for my being
obliged to search the geological department
in vain for Poes Raven, and Whittington's
cat, and the COW with the crumpled horn,
and the dog in the msnger, and Baaam's
ass, and the wolf that ate little Red Riding
Hood, or its ancestor that sucked Romulus
and Remus, and Bryants waterfowl, and
one of mother Carey's chickens, and mother
GoOae (stuffed,) should certainly have been
found in the show, which they were not as
l found to my disappointment. But l
could have forgiven all this ha1 not other
departments been equally meagre. Ag-
ricrlurd hall contained no apple of els
c..fsven 10 war, DO specimen of sulphur
/; NRclAssya from Dothebuya Ian, no frag-
new OF Bots wife, hiac1inery hail Vvs
full OF machines | admit. There were ma
chimes f0f saving AID planning, and drilling,
and bpliuE, AID cutting, and hosting, and
pumping, and crushing, ard grinding, and
sorting, and stamping, and growing, ami
morticing, aad molding, anA punching, and
carving and polishing, and securing, and
rolling, and moving, and boiling, and bias
ting,and stamping aud vene ring and liStt-
ing and reapiug, but II at Uondersciipt ma
chine about winch the political papers have
said 50 much for the AT few moths and
which | was so anAilus to see was net
represented even by model.
The shoe and leather building was full
Of pretty things There were CATERS of
every hue ard shsda, slippers with tas e's
ard fringe, shoes with the heel in the mid
die and moccasIns OF al Dimensions, but
the very things cared 10 see were missing.
There was no place there for such ali-sh-
soibilg objects Cf interest as CirderlllA's
slipper the seven league boots, the last oi
the Mccbicans or a shoe made from it, or
the saddle on which Join Gilp'n rode. TIE
glass department WAS keWlsp, aud con-
mined either Aladdiu's lamp or father
ines hourglsss or iiele's cup, or p ece
of the Lady of Slal, t's mirror The Va
rous state buildings too, con aimed 10 en-
blem of the territory Cf which they rep
resented. Wisconsin had no badger, Mlcn-
igan no wolverine, ArkaLsa, no bear, Con-
utctcut no nutmeg, North Carolina no tur-
p,ntine, Illinois no sucker, Texas no lone
star, Iowa no Hawk, Massachus It's ard
Mississippi neither bay or bayon, At ceterd
to the end of the list. The main buid NJ
was my last hope and | wandered amol <
its musical displays, feeling sure | wou d
find there the harp of Thousand strings.
OF Nero's fiddle, or Orphcus' Tyre, or Mig
mons tambourine; among its dry goods
display for piece of the field OF the clCth
| Of gold, or Ce'ars mantle or tie robe in
which Cleopatra stepped down to meet the
| begRar maid, or the rags OF the man all ia =
tered and torn, or the garter that was drop
ped when twas said "HOni S0t Qui mdI q
peRSe !" among its warllke weapons for Don
Qllxote's lance or Robin Hoods arrows or
Mambrino's helmet or lthuriels spear or the
knives of the conspirators Of La File de
Madame Augot or Flgaro's razor or some
of the many swords of history such as the
one which Demosthenes suspended over
his shoulder by hair, or the one with
which Brutus pierced the heart Of Caesar;
among its drugs and chemicals for the Elk
| ir Vitae or Niobes tears or Cleopatras asp
or some poison like that winch the apOth-
ecary sold TO Romeo, or some alcohol
strong enough TO preserve the eyes of the
| green eyed monster, or water from the
Styx or some of the Antcyrian helebore
which TheOdoras gave to Gargsntua Ia
''cear ont his brain, OF the medicine with
which Helena cured the kings Fistula
among its displays of jewelry for the phil
osophers stone or the golden fleece.
Among It's sundlles iOr such Cuiloslles
as Diogenes tub or Fatima's keg or plank
from the bridge of sighs, or board from
the castle of Incidence, or the pail which
Jack and Jill went after water with, OF tho
wishing cap Of FoItunatas, or Pandoras'i
box, or an ear from the Colossus of Rhodes
but in each and every instance | was griev
ously diappointed. Even the side show,
were tinged with fraud, snd no man neet
talk to me of living reasonably after have
paid seyenty-fve cents for one little omele
at the "restaursnt q Frois Freres," snC
waited two hours and a quarter for a cur
of coffee at the Vienna bakery. The onlI
redeeming feature OF the whole show ia th,
display OF pictures in the art gallery anC
annex ANY New Englauder who car
gaze unmoyed on such painting as "Yan
kee Doodle" OF any man of whatever clim,
who does rot admire such il ccs of sculp