Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-03-31
PHILADELPHIA LETTER.

At Vienna there were sevent
thousand exhibitors, it has been ca
culated that there will be sixt
thousand in Philadelphia. Early a
is the season, there are already nu
merous arrivals in the city both fror
Europe and from American exhibi
tors at a distance from the scene o
action. The foreign element is no
yet large enough to be a pronounceC
feature, but there are SO MANY En-
glish about the buildings that on,
cannot fail to notice them. Tn,
English delegation is in fact tn,
promptest, an6 the arrivals from tn,
British Isles and colonies of good
in every variety of case, hamper
crate, barrel and packing-box arr
large and incessent. One day it is
lot of cases of wine from the Cape
of Good Hope which the thrice un
happy jurors viii have to drink, anc
an enormous packing box containing
a great model of the fort at Caps
Town. The next day comes some
seVenty-five barrels containing
porcelain from Stroke-upon-T Trent
With that arrives few crates OF
terra Gotta and the poDderous mass
es of iron of sugar mill. And the
British exhibitors are flying round,
and putting up their cases, and sub
timely confident that the verdict of
the whole world will be for them and
their industries. But though they
are the most conspicuous aud the
most easily recognized, yet, after
all, they form but small part of the
stranger element that is streaming
into the Quaker City. For the town
is beginning to be little full, and the
hotels and boarding-houses are hav-
ing a foretaste of the happy times
when they viii receive money by the
cord and will be able to emulate the
charming practices of the aimable
horse-leech and his commendable
family. There can be no question
that Philadelphia is filling up, for
in the picture stores and other places
where the idle most eongregate,
there are now such swarms of peo-
pie that ingress and egress are alike
feats of conjuring, especially to gen
tlemen who have a due regard for
the skirts of the weaker sex. And
these ambitious artists whom the
world does not know, and moreover
cannot be persuaded to know, have
sent hither their pictures from every
part of the Union. They come
from Oshkosh and St. Louis and
Little Rock and Alexandria and
Skowegan.
The weather of late has, been cruel.
Every thing on the out side was
dreary, dreary. The turf, which
had grown beautifully thick on the
slopes of the great lake, and had
been wonderfully green and jubi-
liant, had disappeared completely
under mantle of light snow.
The bright colors of the Horticul-
tural Hall made that building look
abjectIy miserable, and all the gay
nondescript metalIc fagstaffs which
had been glorious with gold and
green and cobalt were now smeared
with snow and tipped with crystal.
The tiled roofs upon which NeW-Jer-
sey prides herself were completely
hidden with white counterpart. so
that the triumphs of Woodbridge
ware were quite overcrowded. But
the brick chimneys and the tiled ga
BILE front of the British buildings
rose superior to the circumstances,
and glared through the falling veil
of snow like the face of drunkard
through fog. The interior of the
model of monitor outside the Coy
ernment building was great refuge
place for the sparrows, who perched
themselves on therims of the quaker
cannon and chirped amazingly. As
a marvel Of marvels, there was rob
in among them, but he seemed quite
dazed and disconnected, ashamed
perhaps of his company, and aston
ished at the weather. The great
Colnmbiad fronting another angle of
the same building, which has been,
recently mounted in a traverse, (quite
feat showed its huge black mass
plainly through the storm, apparent
-ly was all the larger and fiercer for
the onset of the elements. Inside
the Main Hall things we're cheerful
enough, for the gas was lighted in
the crystalline and tin refectors sus-
pended from the roof, and created
an impression of warmth and COM
tort very agreeable to those who had
been exposed to the pitiless down
all OF the unkind snow. The deli
cate crystals drifted down upon the
hoor through the openings of the
windows in the roof, and attendants
were busy all the time scattering
sawdust and sweeping it away. The
place was more than usually full
The workmen employed by the Jap
anese were very hard at work put
ting up two foundations for trophies
Of Q diamond shape with queer de-
velopments at the corners.
Their show cases behind these are
numerous, but not very original in
shape or imposing in ornamentation.
The Egyptian department was a
scene Of activity also, and the Span
ish place was thronged with their
engineers and carpenters and with
eager Spanish visitors chattering
rapid Castilian and pointing to de-
tails ofinterest IN the escutcheons of
the colonies of the Spanish King
doms which have just been put into
position along the cornices. The
Britishers were in tremendous force,
and were putting up showcases with
great rapidity, as also were the Ger
mans. The Belgians and Netherland-
ers were we'll represented, and were
making preparations for great things.