Daily Republican., 1885-11-17
Letter from PhiIadeI dhia.

PHILADELPHIA, MONDAY, NOV. 3D.
Not one of your readers but will be.
glad about the rebuilding Of Wana
makers.
1t didn't burn. 1t didn't fall down.
IL didn't vanish out OF sight. 1t has
been full Of people ever since the Cen.
tennial. 1t was part of the show. Not
soul was here that didn't see II. IL
has been growing more and more the
show Of Philadelphia ever siDce-the
more because 1t was out OF the common
run Of city shows.
| 1t has been done over from bottom TO
top and nobody knows 1t. Next We'd
needay morning we In the city are GO.
ing 10 find 1t out. You In the country
will know 1t about as soon.
We don't, ali OF us, like Wana
makers overmuch, you know. Some
of US think ii would be vastly better If
all this trade could be scattered over
the city a. 1t used TO be-no, not exact
| ly as II used to be. And yet 1t il very
handy place. Some say we might as
well complain of our markets. There
isn't anything good that doesn't bother
| som mebody. We, men in business, don t
like it--can't answer for our wives
but we 60 to see 1t all the same; aud
| take our friends there. Because we
can't keep away from II ourselves, be-
cause we can't keep our wives away,
because we can: entertain our visitors
without going to Wanamaker'U with
them, and because people outside i'm.
agine that Wanamaker's Ia about all
there is OF Philadelphia anyhow-for
these several reasons thought would
tell your readers about this rebuilding
| without rebuilding.
We used to think Of the old place ten
years ago and before rs freight depot
Then 1t was grand depot, singular
name, but not more strange than the
medley Of use 1t was put TO. Now it
has taken on another phase-bare
beams and rafters no longer; plate glass,
white paint. mahogany, brass. air.
light, wide, lofty, spacious, clean; not
In place TO whistle in; one leaves his
pipe at the door without thinking.
And yet it has all come about with
out any body's knowing 1t.
Several years ago they began to put
up galleries. They Dever take anything
dowH there-what has become OF then?
More galleries; then wider; then two
got together into one. Nobody has
thought Of galleries there for years.
They have grown into stories.
/ We remember a little bit of a cellar.
There were trunks in 1t. Somebod y
said he would rather have that dark
little cellar to sell trunks in than the
biggest store on Chestnut street. There
was another cellar where boxes and
bales were opened. One day, when no
body was thinking of any such thing,
long lines of wheelbarrows dumped
the dirt that lay between those cellars
In carts on the street. and what became
of 1t nobody knows but the cellar got
together, just as the ga lIeries did. Gel
lars no longer-We have known a man
to 90 through that basement over and
lover again and wonder when he got
away how the sunlight got into It
: Nobody has thought OF cellar there
for years. There is a cellar there still
, Down, down, dowu-the big chimney
comes out of 1t. There is FIRE and steam
and CRIME and lightning down there
! Nobody sees that subterr anean re-
, gion.
eI There was toy room down ther,
once. 1t was stuffy. A great man.
i people wanted to see the toys. Children
r use air up as we'll as we, elders. No
] body thinks of the basement as stutfy
8 It's ont. of.doors in Indian summer
I Florida in winter sea side or noun
tam llOh ~ uhO W ooPbChibCl anu ASu
lgland where the poets May com,
from in spring.
After all these stealthy transforma
n Itions done before our own eyes, q store
II full of people and merchandise, trading
o looking, wondering, chatting, RettinI
done up Into parcels, in bale, out In
, bundle suddenly the roof leaps up Il
I the air, the walls stretch up, q littl
tstreet gets caught IN magic and dis
lappears, q cry stal roof shoots oyer Il
and Robert Morris and Stephen Girar
ell look quietly down from the ends c
stained glass Windows.
VI And now In the place Of the roug
9 ,old building, made all the rougher an
q meauer by breadth, and the low dar
% beams and boards overhead, there
4 Hight and air and opon space and loft
> leeiliDg. And nobody knew 1t WI
Z looming. Ten acres OF modern store OF
: of less than three of timber and dirt.
vi You know how our Oity Hall h'
gone up. You saw its walls about te
n feet high when Wanamaker's bega
J. above ground, working down like
mole, and up like the pyramid builders
n The statue isn't yet on the top OF VI
'. tower.
If Wanamaker's had grown like ths
Y it might have become q statelier bull
AZ ing; but we shouldn't have had it
v. look at and take our friends to. Pcs
NJ bly, people might have waited for 1t al
l.. when 1t was done, rushed In and ov'
whelmed 1t with trade. Possibly n sto
III can't be built while people ars waittu
'is Possibly people don't wait. 1t h
IN gro wn In the night, every night. VIII
adj the rest of us sleep, ,tireless builders ha
w built the wonderful place. WIRES