Smyrna times., 1876-08-30
MiSc eIIUW e OWS
For the Smyrna Times.
A Smyrnian at the Centennial.
PHILADELPHIA, August &c, 1875.


great enterprise like this, a magnificent
school of all arts, science and industries be
carried out to the delight, instruction and
lasting benefit of all who choose to come,
without a continual repetition of that ever
lasting American question "will it pay p"
1t will pay some parties in connection with
it. 1t will pay every visitor who attends it.
1t will pay any one who spends five dollars
for ten days admission and carries away
hundred times five dollars worth of instruc-
ton and practical benefit 1t will not pay
the Government, nor tho Commission, nor
the State of Pennsylvania, nor the city of
Philadelphia; but it will pay those who
attend,-itwill much more than pay all who
are so fortunate as to take a thorough
course in its more than collegiate halls.
Tho time has more than half expired and
the receipts are about million dollars,
over one-half of which goes for expenses;
and it is now improbable that it can clear
more that two millions even if it should be
extended two months beyond the appoint
ed closing time. Eight and half millions
have been invested in the work, and where
is it coming from? The people do not
seem to appreciate its grandeur and worth.
If the attendance were in proportion to the
vastness and magnifcence of the enter
prise there would be two hundred thousand
admissions per day instead of a little
average of about twenty thousand. Enter
the grounds and buildings at any time and
you have acres of spare room, room to go
where you please, to move as you choose !;
you are not crowded, there is no excite
ment, not half as much confusion as there
is at an ordinary County fair. Where are
the people? There is room for million
There is one great reason for this,-hard
times;-the people are poor, the world is
poor, the time is unfavorable. May wisdom
and virtue bring prosperity and peace to
our suffering Republic, as that our second
Centennial may be glorious success.
Everything here is in grand measure,
distances are great, heights are wonderful /;
we lose our accustomed ideas of space
and elevation, we cannot clearly compre
hend relative width and length. We shall
say nothing of the extent of the buildings,
only that if you wish to get a very correct
idea of the length of the main hall, start
at the corner of Methodist street and walk
down Main. south side, to the end Of the
pavement near the mill pond. To imagine
the height of the dome of the Art Gallery,
cast your eye to the top of the Methodist
Church spire, then thirty feet higher. Yet
all the proportions are so perfect, all out
lines SO graceful, all finish so elegant and
tasteful that all is agreeable and pleasant,
and nothing oppressive or overwhelming.
We walk into the Main building again !;
here we behold the wealth of the world, all
civilized nations have brought their trea.
sures, there is nothing mean, or cheap, or
common, everything is the best, the very
finest, the most costly. Ascend to the
balcony in the central pavilion, or TO the
organ loft in the east end, where you may
cast the eye over a sea of the worlds most
valuable productions millions Of dollars
worth of elegant articles of manufacture
and art, and you get an idea of what the
great living, acting workers have done in
order that you may be instructed and bene
fitted. We are surprised at the great guam
tity of unusual things, things difficult to
produce, for instance we are accustomed to
think of ivory in small pieces, knife
handles, keys of instruments and other
small things, but here we find piece Of
ivory ffty:fUe feet long and ten inches wide,
cut from the tusk by saw which goes
around it and takes off great slice just
thick enough to cover the key Of piano
We see bars of fine soap large enough for
cross girts for barn frame; indeed, one
fault in some exhibits is their quantity F;
we stop at a case of firearms, if we had one
gold mounted revolver at home, we could
examine it and note its beauty and pro-
fciency, but here are thousand or two
together, pistols in stars, shields and letters.
Too many, we can not get the eye on any
one article, We are bewildered by the pro-
fusion. Then turn TO a case of brass horns;
here are cornets, tubas, bugles, bassoons,
trombones golden, silvered, frosted, inlaid,
enough to start score of bands, prices all
the way from twenty dollars to a thousand.
This abundance of show is more noticeable
in our own home department than in
foreign sections; other nations exhibit
better taste in this respect.
Step from the United States over into
Mexico. Everything here is Mexican, and
displays Mexico's great mineral wealth IA
block of solid silver, shaped like saucer
with the hollow filed up, or like a wooden
coat button, the curved side down, seven
feet across and fifteen inches thick, worth
seventy-two thousand dollars I'VE naturally
ieel an affection for it an want to stay with
1t, as it will not go with us. There is a
slab of grey-brown marble fall of flowers,
lnlaid with natural pictures, beyond descrip-
uon in its beauty oh, how we want that
marble for a tabletop, but fifty dollars in
gold is too golden. Here are all the pre-
eous metals from Guanaxuato an Zacate-