Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-12-19
REST roa the WEARY.
Nov Worlds Fair Will Provide fer the Com
tort Of the Public.


Now Worlds Fair Will Provide fer the Com
tort Of the Public.
Cuue,,.o. Dee. ls.-There is-or was
once ON a tiple-an old hymn very mnca
in favor with that class Of itinerant
eyangelists known as Primitive Metho-
dists that dwelt in stanzas many inches
long upon the good time coming, when
there would be Rest for the Weary"
That hymn ought to be very popular at
jackson park next year, for there will
be many and many weary one among
the daily torrent of Worlds fair sight
seers-weary mothers and fathers and
little ones, weary sweethearts and beaux.
weary youth and old age that have
tranped up and down many miles of
avenues and threaded their way in and
out score or more of buildings of vaster
dimensions than they have ever seen be-
fore or even dreamed of, and explored
the mysteries of nuniberless side shows,
ana Skirteu tilr iiSooIs oi tIo"Hcu
launches until nature has revolted and
soliloauizes with itself, Where was
| att"
Then a place of rest will be in the ma
ture of a friend in need and friend in
deed-a haven Of refuge-where the
wornout sightseers, with minds bewil-
dered and confused by explorations
among the wonders that the nations of
the earth have gathered together, may,
TO quote a popular and learned divine,
sit twirling their thumbs and gazing
outwardly into vacancy or inwardly
into vacancy, as the case may be-"
And resting places there will be. The
exposition authorities have sensibly de-
creed that the two Rs, Recreation and
Rest, must needs be dependent one upon
the other. And SO we are to have a
Bureau of Public Comfort" What a
world of memories the name will =
lure up among old Centennial goers!
Who among them is there that has for
gotten the picturesque frame structure
inst back of the main building in Fair
mount park over which a welcoming
legend was embazoned in letters foot
high.
How many women came here to battle
their throbbing brows; how many lost
children We're restored to anxious par
ents: how many missing articles found
their rightful owners; how many home
prepared lunches were devoured in the
big rotunda; how many telegraph mes
sages telling of good times and good
health winged their way over the con-
tinent from the little pigeonhole i'll the
corridor.
| And here it was, too, that the Centen-
NAL news gatherers-how many of them
have now passed into the great beyond!
women as well as men (for woman
share in journalism is not, as good
many people imagine, an incident of
comparatively recent developmenD, and
who represented the leading publications
and press associations of three CONT
| nents, came together with each recur-
ring sunset to exchange gleanings, COM
pare facts and elaborate fiction.
But all this is "reminiscences. One bu-
reau of public comfort was sufficient for
the Centennial: a half dozen or more
| will be required to take care of Chicago s
visitors next year. In 1876 the enter
prise was private one, in the nature of
a concession, but the coming fair will
be so vast in scope that the directorate
has made the comfort and convenience
of its guests part of its own business
| and proposes to conduct it under its own
direction.
| The success Of the Centennial bureau
in all its details was SO phenomenal that
| the directory went to considerable trou-
bic to locate the whereabouts of its orig
inator and manager. He was finally
discovered away up in the mountains of
Colorado prospecting for silver and
finding sufficient. as he puts it, to keep
the camp in rations. 1t needed some
little persuasion to bring him to the
Windy City, but he is here, and so 1t
happens that the same old grizzled vet
| eran of Centennial recollections, Major
Marsh w. Kasson, is for the second time
chief of the public comfort department
of an American Worlds fair.
| As the result of his experience, com
| bined with new ideas, an elaborate
| scheme has been devised. The enormous
terminal building, through which every
visitor reaching the grounds by steam
car must enter, has been selected as the
main bureau and numerous others Will
| be scattered over the ground, as well as
| located in the larger structures devoted
to manufactures. mining and PROBABLY
! fisheries.
| In all of these there will be provision
| for what may be termed everyday neces-
sites. big resting rooms with comfort
| able easy chairs, ladies parlors, writing
rooms. lavatories, bootblacks and news
paper stands, and conmodlous eating
rooms. where those who bring their
| lunches in preference to patronizlng the
expensive menus of the restaurants may
eat at their leisure and get cup OF cot
| fee to wash down the solids. There Will
, be registers upon which the visitors
may inscribe their names, where they
came from, where they are stopping
when they propose TO return. so that
their friends and neighbors may round
them up, as it were, and have "a reunion.
away from home.
Polite attendants will be on hand
PINNED with information on about every
subject under the sun. Telegraphic dis
patches will be received and sent, tick
cts reserved for places Of amusement,
sleeping accommodations secured for
visitors homeward bound and hand bag
gage and parcels taken care Of. And III
relation to the latter convenience 1t il
interesting to recall the fact that Of
nearly quarter of million articles
handled by the Centennial bureau So
perfect was Major Kasson's system that
but single piece, and that lady's par
ssol, failed TO reach its owner, and thu
latter, womanlike, very readily accepted
a five dollar bill as an equivalent.
Last, but not least, the Columbian
bureau has perfected plan by which It
expects to be able to provide comfort
able sleeping place for every prospective
visitor that may seek its good offices to
that end, even if they were to swoop
down upon it a half million strong. But
that's another story.