The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-05-29
PARIS EXPOSITION.
Some Unique Features Of the
Great Worlds Fair.
The Most Elaborate and Magnif-
cent Exhibition Ever Held.

A correspondent Of the New York Sun whe
is doing the Paris Exposition says Of the
great show: Ihave seen most Of the great ex-
hibitions Of recent years in different parts Of
the world, but have no hesitancy in saying
that I have never yet seen an exhibition
which even approached in magni6cence and
in elaboration Of detail the present exhibition
in Paris The public will not walk from one
building to another in mud and on newly.
built roads for the grounds have been laid
out in fashion that will last for centuries.
The steps and the terraces are.of marble and
granite. All walls are Of stone, the fountains
are magnifcently constructed, and all the ce-
tails of the great work have been carried out
on scale which suggests future ages as well
as the year 1889. The exposition grounds form
a world which is destined to last
Perhaps after the Eiffel Tower, one Of the
most unique features of the exposition is the
"History of Human Habitations" which has
been organized by Charles GARNER, the emi-
nent architect Of the famous Grand Opera
House in Paris. This is an exceedingly curl
GUS exhibition, and, as 1 fancy, must ever
have the germ Of novelty. It runs parallel
with the Champ de Mars, and the facsimile
Of habitations of mankind which it exhibits
date from the remotest periods when men
lived in holes and caves, to the ele-
CANT marbles of the Renaissance. In
order to arrange his history more
clearly GARNER has divided it into two
parts-the prehistoric and the historic. In
the first division are included the subter-
ranean dwellers and the savages who lived In
caves, while the second division includes every
form of architecture known to history. In
this valuable collection GARNER traces the
progress of men from the dim periods OF the
Stone and metal ages to the frail shelter of
49, Co,kl, Gao 1c1opdarc tha snow hutS
of the Esquimaux, the straw. hut
rall Of the African, the gloomy
villa of the Arab, the gaudy palaces of Peru
and Mexico, the Oriental, Grecian and
Roman forms of architecture, the Tudor
mansions and so on up to the modern houses.
All of these specimens Of habitations have
been built with the greatest care, are abso-
lutely faithful to the original models, and
represent, so far as human knowledge can
tell it. the entire development and evolution
of the human race, as far as its habrtatlons
are concerned. 1t is of course impossible to
20 into the details Of such a superb scheme
as this in the space Of short newspaper artl-
Gle.
The energy of the American Commission
has had the effect of pushing the United
States section almost to completion. It's
far in advance Of most Of the other de-
partments. 1t is not unlikely that this
portion of the show, by the way, will re-
ceive less attention from Americans than
any other section, for most of US are
familiar with the character OF the exnlolts.
A big show, which will afford food for re-
Election to a very large number Of American
citizens who are at present in Europe. and
who do not return to their native land for
reasons not unknown to Inspector Byrnes, is
asection representing the prison systems OF
the past and present, for every concelvaole
variety of prison cells from the day Of the
airlesS dungeon to the sanitary prisons
of to-day, are on view. lnclden-
tally there is a collection Of thumb
screws racks, and implements OF torvuIe
which would make the fantasies Of drunk
ards nightmare appear pale ond Insignificant
by comparison. There are several huge thea
tres In the grounds, and one of them Will be
given over to curious national dances, which
are to be performed by the natives them
selves. Il is worth noting here that
they will not be reproductions Of French
dances. but huge troupes are to be brought
from Sumatra and other lands too dlhcult
to remember for enumeration here. There
are to be ten or twelve troupes Of these peo-
Die. They viii be accompanied by their own
musicians, and the stages will be set todrepre-
sent the land where the dancers came from.
Some of the most pretentious buildings in
the Exposition are the pavlllons OF Vene-
zuela, Mexico, and Ecuador. 1t is the Gus.
tomary thing to see the smaller States of
South America making more pretentious
exhibit at expositions Of this character than
the United States itself.
Perhaps it will give some idea Of the size Of
the Exposition when explain that an army
of nearly II, 900 laborers have been at work
on it for months and that this force was con-
siderably augmented toward the closing days:
One building is huge palace constructed
entirely of wood, built in the italian style:
Woods of every known variety are employed
in the construction. Columns are formed from
absolute trees, which have been brought intact
at enormous expense, from various quarters of
the world, packed so that the bark is not dis
figured by so much as q scratch. The ex-
terror is entirely Of unhewn wood. but SO skill
fully matched that it has all the effect Of
sculpture. It shows that man in modern
times, drawing his inspiration from the
forests alone, can construct building with
out the use of any other tools than saws
and hammers, which rivals in beauty
the marble palaces of modern France. The
architects Of Paris claim that this style Of
building will become the rage after the eS-
hibition, and that country houses and shoot