The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1876-06-10
CENTENNIAL.
Our Philadelphia Letter.
PHILADELPHIA, May Is, 1875

~
ing the middle of the opening
week was immense. Cots were
placed in all the parlors and CORR
doris and many Of the weary Cen
tennial sightseers would have
been willing to pay for blanket
to lay down upon the kitchen
range or in the dingy attic and
hundreds wandered the streets all
night, not being able to find lOdg-
ings anywhere.
The cause of this was not that
the accommodations of the city were
all exhausted, but the visitors did
not know where to go and no one
was around the crowded hotels to
tell them where they could find
comfortable quarters for the night.
All was confusion and hurry and
the natural result was that hum
dreds were literally left out in the
cold, when a little fOrethought
and care would have made them
comfortable.
The numerous lodging house
agencies were not busy, for they
had not advertised extensively
enough to make themselves gen.
orally known and as result pre-
dict most ingloriOus future of
our National Exhibition. The
Centennial Lodging House Agen-
cy, which has tickets at all the
principal railway stations in the
country, expected to take the lead
in the business, but have so far
done scarcely anything. Most of
the others tell the same story, but
one. The Boarding House Asso-
citation, No. I'll Arch Street, has
succeeded in satisfactorily placing
several hundred visitors The as :.
ISOLATION place those coming to
them, free of extra charge, and as
they have Geographic communi
cation with all parts of the City,
visitor can get costly settled in
his own room about as soon as he
could upon registering at seaside
hotel out of the season. On Sat-
urday it commenced to rain and
drove every one from town, at
least every one seems to have
gone, the attendance at the EX-
position grounds has been small,
the main hotels have reduced
their rates, the decorations are be
ing removed and now the central
part of the City is as quiet as if
the Centennial were a thousand
miles away. The impressions
seems to prevail that the show is
not yet ready, and every one is
waiting to come next month or in
the Fall.
This seems to me great mis-
take, as now the weather is cool
and there is no crowd and all that
would be lost would be part of
the Russian and Turkish exhibits
and the summer exhibits Of Horti-
cultural and Agricultural Halls.
Places of amusement are COM
planning of dull time. The thea
tres are not full and the concert
halls are often bare. Operifs
Tropical Garden near the grounds,
having accommodations for 1000
persons was opened on Monday
evening. The orchestra stand is
in the centre of the hall, and is
surrounded with beds of tropical
plants among which is a delight
full labyrinth of paths and pro-
menades, while at the head of the
room is an artificial cascade about
40 feet in height. On three sides
are the spacious galleries, in which
the guests listen to the sweetest
italian music, while slipping their
coffee or chocolate or RECALLING
themselves with ice cream or
strawberries. Ofcourse every one
who comes here visits the Nation
al Museum in Independence Hail,
where the 'only and original De-
claration of Independence rests in
the fire proof safe, and the indie
pendence bell is waiting to send
forth its welcome peals once more
on the approaching fourth"
Portraits in oil of most of the
Signers of the Declaration and
many Revolutionary heros decor
ate the walls of the museum and
the cases are full of martial trap
pings, bridal trOuSSeaus, bibles,
autographs, of the renowned of a
hundred years ago. More relics
connected with the personal his
tory of Washington are to be found
here than anywhere else except
at Mount Vernon.
LAmerique, of the French line
of steamers arrived in this port
Wednesday night with all the
French Commissioners on board
and 1000 tons of French exhibits.
Since the day of opening the
Custom House officers and term
inal men have been busily engag-
ed delivering the goods of tardy
exhibitors. At the time of open
ing, the U. S. Government build
ing was the most complete, but
since then the other huiIdinpS