The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1893-05-11

OUR CHICAGO LETTER.
The Great Worlds Fair Colum-
bian Exposition and what Our
CORRESPONDENT Says Of 1t.

| Inc Urcdt " OIIu . Il OH NA"A
bian Exposition and what Our
Correspondent Says of 1t.
! Especial correspondence of the Gold Leaf.
! ". D. BoYCE's CORRESPONDENCE
| BUREAU, ADMINISTRATION BUILDISG,f
! WORLDS FAIR GROUNDS, May 3rd.)
a cloudy, raw day. but without rain,
| was so much better than the weather
|, the past week gave reason to expect.
that the great exposition can be said
to have opened under favorable aus
pices. A brighter day would have
made larger attendance, but every
! spectator is ready to make affidavit
that the attendance was sufficiently
! large for comfort.
The opening was notable in many
ways, not the least being that no other
public occasion outside of Washington
has ever brought the President, Vice
| President and all the cabinet, with a
single exception, to participate.
Add to this the Duke of Neragua,
| only eleven generations from the dis
coverer Of Chicago or America (Which
means the same thing today, and
| there is combination worthy of oc-
curing once in 400 years. The Duke
is accompanied by his brother, but as
he attracts little or no attention, | have
been wondering how many more gen.
erations distant he is from Columbus
than the Duke.
But waving abstruse questions, the
fair has been opened on time and there
now seems no reason why the exhibit
tors should not 60 ahead with their
work and in the course of a few weeks
have their wares and inventions in
readiness for the public.
While the exhibits are already CO.
lossal, they will be vastly increased
when the remainder comes on the
| scene
| THE EXHIBITION STARTED.
Aside from the fainting of several
women and children, and possibly in
urging some in the crush among those
who gathered to see and hear the Pres
ident, opening day was not marred by
disaster. 1t is not an easy matter to
handle $50, 900 to IT'S, 200 people when
all are trying to occupy the same posi-
ton. The brevity Of the Presidents
speech was commendable, and the
comfort of the crowd would have in
creased if Rev. Milburn had divided
his prayer into five sections, and omit
ted about four and a half. 1t was three
or four times as long as the Presidents
address. But the wheels 90 around
and by some mistake it only threatened
but did not absolutely rain. When
Chicago has first-class pleasant spring
day there should be a special celebra-
ton of the event. Opening day might
have been worse weatherwise.
THE SIDE SHOWS.
Midway Plaisance is part of the
Park system Of Chicago, being quite a
wide strip Of land just one mile long,
connecting Washington and Jackson
Parks. The plaisance is portion of
the Park grounds which your so cent
ticket of admission entities you to visit.
You can enter the viaduct in front of
the woman's building, or you take the
| Seventy-tirst street Wabash avenue
cable car to the Washington Park en-
trance and, walking through the plai-
/ a
viaduct already mentioned. Midway
Plaisance is what the side show is to
the circus, the extra "touch." There
are forty different exhibits nearly all
| of which charge an admission. Two
or three are free, but make up for that
by having something attractive to sell.
Nearly all charge 25 cents admission
but few are so cents, and from $40
to $l2 is required to see all the sights
in the plaisance.
The collection Of people from distant
parts of the globe in their various cos
tunes and style of living is a curiosity
of itself. There are Turks, Egyptians,
Arabs, Javanese from the Isle of Java,
Cinnamon, Ceylonese from the Island
of Ceylon, Laplanders, residents Of the
Barbary States, Dahomeyites, Jap
anese, Persians, Siamese, Mexicans,
Indians, Zulus, Swiss, Corlans, Ger
mans, Irish, English and Americans,
each with some characteristic exhibit
or show.
The side shows, like the big exhibits,
| are still in somewhat chaotic shape,
but when the plaisance assumes more
definite form little later l will take
walk with my readers among the vari-
Gus and curious people here congre-
gated.
THE MINING EXHIBIT.
The Liberty Bell is not the only at
tractive feature of the Pennsylvania
exhibit. The much criticised coal
barons have sent from the Reading
mines a model of an anthracite coal
crusher which stands thirty feet high.
The crusher is accompanied by mina-
ture engines and but for the dust the
machines might do practical work in
the Mines and Mining building where
it is located. That state also contrib
utes solid blocks Of anthracite weigh
ing eight and ten tons. The Pennsyl-
vania exhibit in the Mine and Mining
building occupies 1907 square feet.
With the exception of Michigan, which
occupies 3,30S feet, Pennsylvania ex-
ceeds any other state in the union or
foreign country in the space occupied
by her display in this department.
CONDITION OF GROUNDS.
Visitors who do not find the grounds
IN apple pie order the first week Of the
exposition should not shoulder all the
blame on the management The very
nature of the work, the receiving Of ex-
hibits on temporary railroad tracks and
by trucks. precluded the clearing up of
the grounds until the last moment. In
the last eight days prior to the open
ing, seven were rainy and some regular
down-pours The exhibits are still pour
| ing in so that the tracks cannot be re-
moved and roads and walks put in per-
manent order. While some portions
of the grounds are in good shape to-day,
! other n9rtS are most ironaSS hla for tb q