Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1893-10-12
A Day on Midway.

1t is a rarely beautiful sight on
Midway. 1t costs IS cents to go
in, The canvas is circular and is
excellently painted. 1t took thirty
months and twenty-five artists to
execute the work. 1t is the
exhibit par excellence on Midway.
It has obtained a medal from the
jury of fine arts. Alpine singers
and genuine Alpine horn players
furnish music that seems to come
from some far away mountain
valley. A gentleman in attend
ance points out the Jungfrau and
other peaks, and gives interesting
descriptions Of the wonderful
scene where glaciers, snow covered
mountains and fertile valleys are
side by side
Near here are the Libby and
Venetian Glass Works. We
visited the former and saw the
marvellous glass dress. It looks
fine as silk and delicate as cob
web. Here we see pretty souvenirs
made from molten glass and sold
for a dime or a dollar. Hagen
becks trained animals are wonderful
performers, but if ones time is
limited there are other things that
one may not have chance to see
again. Circuses will, in course of
a life time, fill every desire for
seeing trained animals, however,
Hagenbecks is a most desirable
feature Of Midway.
| The Moorish Palace was the
next place our party visited. On
our entrance we found ourselves in
a veritable garden of palms. In
this garden we stopped a moment
to gaze in the bottomless well, and
a step further on the Moorish
Castle with its Alhambra-like
effects. There are apparently
endless colonnades and long vistas
seen before one while in reality the
distance can be measured by a few
feet and inches. Cunning arranged
mirrors delude us and we become
completely bewildered by illusions,
repeatedly begging pardon and
addressing in most engaging
manner our own reflection. This
department furnishes no end of
fun, but the cave remains to be
seen and one must not linger. In
the cave, which costs a nickel to
enter, his Satanic majesty reigns
and rides on the razor. This is a
kind of chamber of horrors and
somewhat gruesome. It is here
that the Wild West Indian one
day recently became alarmed for
his own safety and attacked his
imaginary pursuers with his battle
axe. Seeing his reflection in
glass the illusion terrorized him
and he struck out with all his
force demolishing hundreds Of
dollars worth Of mirrors before he
was captured. On the second
floor is a reproduction Of the
world renowned Castan's Panopti-
cum Of Berlin. Among the wax
figures that are real enough to
deceive one are the Sleeping
Beauty that seems to actually
breathe; The assassination of Lin
coin; On Guard; Mozart, Grant,
Beethoven, Shakespeare, Napoleon,
Washington, Lincoln, Garfield,
| Gladstone, Victoria and numerous
others. This is rare chance for
familiarizing ones self with the
personal appearance of the worlds
most noted characters. The
varied expressions on the faces
show to what an extent high art
may be wrought in simplest
material. There are over sixty of
these life size wax figures. In
another room are shown some
wonderful optical decisions, among
them the transformation of the
marble statue Of Galatea into a
living image; woman poised in
mid air absolutely unsupported;
and others equally beautiful.
A little farther on in the grounds
is the great Ferris Wheel. It has
received SO much notice heretofore
that we will not stop to describe it.