The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-09-07

PHILADELPHIA, Sep. l, 1876.
For more than three months l have
passed at least q dozen times a day the
building which l am about to describe,
and I confess I have shrunk from the
task, for 1 have looked upon it with
almost fear and wonder 1t is not sub
ject to be dealt with lightly, for within
this mighty building is concentrated
more of the brain power, by which the
world is moved than in all of the Cen
tennial Exhibition beside. Cross over
to the Main Building and there you see
the results; come back to Machinery
Hall and there you find the motive pow
er by which these results were achieved.
1t is true in the Chinese and japanese
Departments you see marvellous exhibi-
tions of handicraft. wonderful carvings
are there on which whole lives of unre-
mitting toll have been wasted; genius
which properly directed might have ri
vailed the creations of Praxiteles, here
produces nothing but monstrosities which
rather appal than crafty the imagina-
ton. You shake the dust of the past
from your shoes when you enter Machin-
cry Hail. Everything around you speaks
of the living present-not of a slow pres
ent, but a present that keeps reaching
out and grasping into the future-that
congresses years into months and months
into days, days into hours and hours into
minutes, and minutes into seconds which
ever appear too slow. Steam magnifes
its power million times, yet steam seems
weak and tardy, and now the restless
genius that whips us onward like pitt
less fend, dives down into the bowels of
the Garth and reaches upward to the stars
in search of some new motive power
which shall supersede that terrible agent
which for seventy years has been the
wonder and admiration of the world.
Machinery Hall is fourteen hundred feet
long, aud five hundred and sixty-eight
feet wide, and covers nearly thirteen
acres; the outside aisles are forty feet
high, and the interior aisles are seventy
feet. Walk right along with ME down
the main avenue, nor pause till we reach
the giant engine by which all this ma
chinery is moved. We are now in the
centre of the building; the hand is on
the hour of nine; the crowd around
watch in breathless expectation the
movements of two men who stand on
the elevated platform; one makes par
tial circuit of the sleeping monster scan-
ing everything with critical eye, he re-
turns to his post, and lays his hand upon
polished iron wheel; his comradc does
the same; he gives it gentle turn, and
the man on the opposite side has repeated
his motion; another turn and you sec a
gentle puff of steam; still another, there
is a thrill and vibration; still another
and the giant arms begin to move, the
mighty Ay-wheel, thirty feet in diameter,
sweeps round as noiselessly as ghost;
the whirr and buzz of n thousand ma
chimes break through the stiffness of the
morning, and the days labor has fairly
begun. But look down there to the
right, do you see that man leaning
against the platform? That is George
H. Corliss. of Providence, and the owner
of the giant before you. In person, he
is short and thick set, seeming capable of
any amount of endurance. Look at that
bull neck and mastiff jaw, and watch the
expression of his face, which at a glance
looks hard and stern. No carpet knight
this but one of your rough, solid work
ers, who stands no nonsense, who would
not thank you for compliment, and who
clcavcs his way through every obstacle
and never pauses till finally his object is
achieved He looks just exactly like
man who would kick a bcggar out of his
house and then fling FIVE dollar bill at
him from the sccond-story window
Work, work, work; not the dull plodding
of human muscles, but nerves of iron
and muscles of steel, controlled by Gods
most marvellous agent, the human brain.
Into these titanic arms, moving with the
uncrring certainty of fate, a power has
been put which lifts the yoke of labor
from the neck of groaning millions, al
most nullifying the curse which the crea-
tor proclaimed to the children of men
Sin the sweat of thy face shalt thou cat
thy bread"
Everything around you is suggestive
of strength, power, speed and intclli-
gcnce; no guess work here, no grasping
for chances in the dark; mathematics,
stern and unrclenting, furnish the base
of every problem by which these giants
arc moved. Come this way, do you see
that mighty lever which rises and falls
so noiselessly up and down that you
would never realize its power? Put this
bar of iron an inch thick beneath its
pitlcss jaw, see it cleave as though it was
tissue paper. Here is punching ma
chine that sends its bolt through thick
plate of iron just as the sewing machine
sends its needle through apiece of cam
brio. And here VIC have monster lathe
working all alone, no human being near
it. and yet observe the uncrring intclli-
pcncc that hour after hour works steadily
on and never makes Il mistake. Still
further on an uncomfortable shadow falls
across our path; we look up and find