Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1889-12-28
THE EIFFEL TOWER.
Murat HaIstead Considers 1t Marvel OF
Artistic Work.

Murat HaIstead Considers 1t n Marvel OF
Artistic Work.
The Eiffel Tower is the pride oi
France and one of the wonders of the
world, and l do not agree with those
who do not think it is a structure re-
markable for beauty. The lines of it
are exquisitely drawn. and that portion
which seems most impressive, the base,
has been very earnestly criticised by
writers with talent for fault-fnding.
No more impressive structure was ever
reared BY human hands than the tower
up to the first platform. This part
consists of four gigantic arches, joined
and sustaining each other, and the i'm
posing proportions thus far do not re-
late exclusively to height. The eleva-
tors which run in two of the four feet
of the tower are of American design,
and when one looks upon them crawl
ing up the steep places they seem to
move with provoking slOwness, but
when one steps on the elevator and
goes up, and especially when one comes
down, the speed seems quite sufficient.
Arrived on the first platform there is a
great space in which there is an extern
sive restaurant, and beer and wine are
administered over a large surface while
the promenades are spacious, accom-
modating thousands. From this eleva-
ton one beholds with awe the rise tof
-Trfe elevator to tile second platform.
There is a ladder in what may be
termed the shaft of the elevator, and it
makes the sensitive shrink to see the
great cage crawling, as it were, upon
this ladder until it reaches the dizzy
height of the second platform. 1t is
from this that the view is finest.
The Seine is a blue ribbon through the
heart of Paris, the surrounding hills
are dwarfed, the Arc de Triomphe, the
gilded domes of the Invalides and OF
the Pantheon, the old cathedral of No
tire Dame, and even the TrOcaderO, in
deed all the structures for which Paris
is famous. dwindle into apparent in
significance. One can see the whole
city and the country round about; and
there is a misty horizon that looks dim
and far as if it might comprehend half
dozen of the provinces Of France.
From this point of view the elevator
starts that carries one half way of the
remainder of the giddy ascent. When
up that far an iron door opens and the
tor to another, and then, in due time,
the tip-tOp platform is reached. One
can comprehend the comparative eleva-
ton of the platfOrms-the second $50
feet in the air, and the one at the top
by remembering that this distance is
greater than the total height of the
Washington monument. The view
from the extreme height did not i'm.
press me as equal to that from the sec
ond platform. There is something al
most awful in the altitude, though there
is a sense of security regarding the
construction of the tower. The re-
liability of the strength that has been
given it is obvious, and there is no sen,
sation to a reasonable person of being
in critical situation. Paris seems
small and the great park-the Bots de
Boulogne which contains II, 900 acres
looks like ten acre field, and the
famous forests seem to be lot Of gar,
den shrubbery. The trains that &c
crawling about the country appear a:
though they might be toys manipulated
by children. From every point of view
the Eiffel" is most interesting anC
majestic object; and nothing is more
striking than the immense beams O.
light cast from the summit upon the
grounds of the exposition and the il
Illuminated fountains in the evening
made to glow by electric lights through
eolored glass that changes like kalei
doscope and surprisingly glitters with
all the hues of the rainbOw-unless i
is the sudden vision when many mile!
away, approaching Paris, of the ligh
on the top of the tower, which seems
like some new and glorious star sud
denly come in midsummer to rival the
splendors of Jupiter Com
mercial Gazette.