Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-05-19


scape as police. Two hundred and fifty
jurors, whose expenses viii be as many
thousand dollars, were upon the grand
stand waiting to begin their Iabors when
the President of the United States should
open the Exhibition. Nearly three times
the number of States originally assentiRg
the sublime insubordination of lndepen-
dence were represented by their commits
sioners. The speeches were short and
without indelieate individuality, and Amer
lea at peace with the world produced the.
martial tunes of every great nation, which
were cheered without discrimination by her
muitiudes. Beauty, as vel as rank, grae-
ed the festive place. There sat near her
husband the Empress of Brazil and daugh-
ter of the King of Sicilies. The Presi-
dents wife was neighbor of the beautiful
lady of the Spanish Minister. A Quaker
poet wrote he hymn of pious graduation;
our fathers God! from out whose hand
The centuries roll like grains of sand,
We meet to-day, united, free,
And loyal to our land and Thee.
The grand baSso voice of Mr.. Whitney.
of Boston, rose above the thousands Of
heads, producing an encore, while the tones
of PRAYER Of a Methodist bishop, ftly ex-
pressed the undiscouraged aspirations Of
the America Of the second century. "May
the new century be better than the past.
More radiant with the light of true Philos-
ophy. warmer with the emanations of a
worldwide sympathy. May capital,
genius, and labor be freed from all antago-
nism by the establishment and application
Of the principles Of justice and equity" One
thousa nd voices accompanied the great or
gan. In the interludes the military bands
doomed over the wide enclosure where
the soldiery rested on their arms. Then
there was a silent signal and shaken
out from minaret and flagstaff along the
vast profles of the buildings a hundred
banners blew in the wind. The exhibi-
tion of 1876 was opened.
Descending from the great stand, the
President walked through the two princi7
pal buildings on the arm of the Director
General, accompanied by his guest Of Bra
I'll and his family, and. followed by the
Chief Justice, the President of the Senate
and. the Speaker of the House. Cannon
saluted the advancing party, and before
each nations display of products the com
missioners thereof bowed to the American
officials. At thecentre of Machinery Hall
stood the giant engine, grim and silent,
its double levers yoked to the mighty wheel
which was to move all those miles of shaft
and betting and start to life hundreds Of
machines of every description, and thou
sands of spools, shuttles and spindles.
The President having taken hold Of the
valve-lever of one Of the engines and the
Emperor of that of the other, both gave the
turn simultaneously. In an instant the great
wheel started to motion, and the ohedient
looms began their round Of six months like
an ark of fmachinery set afoat for voyage
TO preserve the creations Of man. Mean
while the gongs and steam whistles, the
firing of one hundred guns on Georges Hill
and the music of the chimes of the bells in
the towers had been signalling the APP
proach of the grand finale. Then the vast
assemblage dispersed as they desired, and
the formalities were over until the Fourth
of July brings more splendid pageants, By
night the illuminated streets drew down
their crowded aisles the resident and visit
ing thousands, and it seemed Roman car
nival in the Quaker City. M
So the triumph of the formal openingex
ceeded the most sanguine expectations and
insured a magnificent success throughout.
It is impossible TO obtain an accurate state
ment of the number Of people within the
grounds on Wednesday, because the turn
stiles are not In perfect working order and
did not Register correctly, but estimates
range from $50, 900 to 25O, 900. Probably the
lowest estimate is rather high as thousands
upon thousands did not get in at all. A
change is evidently needed in the regala-
ton prescribed by the Department of Adj
missions, which. obliges every visitor to pay
a fifty-cent note The absurdity of refus-
ng dollar for two persons, or two dollars
for four, is too evident and annoying to be
long continued. Hundreds were turned
back from the gates, which they had gain
ed by patient waiting in line, and obliged
to fall in at the end of longer one at the
Office for changing money, or submit to the
extortion Of the spectators in fifty-cent
notes. This class made a small fortune by
means of this regulation. Everybody
sees the reason why the gatekeeper cannot
make change; but nobody understands the
reason why dollar bill cannot be put in
the box in payment for two admissions, as
well as two half-dollars. All that is neees-
sary is that the gatekeeper- should have as
much money in his box as the register on
his turnstile calls for. On Wednesday a
stalwart countryman, offered a 81 dollar
bill in payment for himself and wife, and
as,told, like thousands of other visitors,
that he must bring two ffty-cent notes, He
expostulated little while, with no. effect
but to irritate the gatekeeper. Then he
roared in a voice of thunder: ''Take the
money and let US in or I'll knock you
down." The affrighted official broke the
rule and allowed the couple to pass in.
From the experience so far it is pretty
clear that the facilities for accommodating
visitors with bed and board viii be ample,
and some of the greedy landladies who
have counted upon slowing dodgers away
in tiers four or five deep, at a charge of a
thousand dollars minute, will learn a les
son. Iti not likely that there win be as
many here at any one time during the
season, except the Fourth of July, yeL the
capacity of the hotels and boarding hous-
es was not fully taxed. Here are samples
of the statistics reported officially: The
Continental Hotel, in the heart Of the
city, has capacity Of about 200. On
Tuesday night they registered over 900, and
Wednesday there were only 100 depart
ures. The Girard House, also in the heart
of the city, also nearly touched its zero
mark, taking in $50 guests, its capacity
being 1000. The Globe Hotel, standing
as it does at the gates Of the Exposition,
dined 2,7OO people on Wednesday and
lodged 1, 400; 800 went away the following