The herald., 1893-11-05
DEATH OF THE WHITE CITY,
Harbingers of Decay and For
getfulness at Jackson Park.
A Melancholy Panegyric Of the De.
parting Splendors.
The Last Days of the Greatest Show or
Earth-A City That VIII Soon be
Entirely Removed from
It's Site.
Special correspondence to the HERALD

special correspondence 10 the HERALD
CHICAGO, Oct. %, 1898.
These last days at the fair are almos
sad, as the worlds Columbian ex
position will all be over ON October 90th
notwithstanding hearsay and promises o.
continuance. The gates close officially
at noon on that day and no exhibitor
can be prevented from beginning to pack
mp his goods as soon as the hands of the
clock meet at the dialed meridian. But
few of the buildings are supplied with
steam heat. Before long northerly gales
will lash the waters of Lake Michigan
and the roofs will be leaking; the pass
ages to the snow-bound countries will be
blocked with ice foes, 30 the sooner the
structures are abandoned, the better for
the displays.
But the people! How do they look at
it? Every paper and magazine is col
umns deep in lamentations; everv SIM
lie and metaphor has been employed,
thesauruses overhauled and the vocabu-
larry exhausted in bewailing the going
out of this eight of the world." Per-
haps more beautiful things have been
written, more exquisite thoughts clothed
in poetry and prose, and sincere regrets
expressed on this occasion than on any
other of similar nature ever known.
Men of great minds have voiced and
penned sublime sentiments, and the
lesser scribes have striven to follow in
their footsteps and match their shadows.
The nations people mourn the fair
that perlehes with the flowers and
throng in this last week to bid long
and fond adieu to their radiant favorite.
1t is very hard to say farewell to the
ivory temples, unmatched vistas, rare
picture gardens, wealth of ages and art
treasures OF the world that only six pale
crescents and six full silver moons have
ehone on. The erstwhile verdsnt lawns
have lost their refreshing smiles, the
trees have turned to russell, crimson and
gold, and now their ever falling leaves
chant requiem for the fading blossoms
they oversprinkle. Long, zigzaggy cracks
and gaps have begun to show the grin
ming teeth OF the laths underneath,
while in places the plastering has
loosened and fallen, leaving unsightly
patches along the walls. Dust has set
tied in the high reliefs, chased friezes,
panels and pediments, which the lake
breezes and fall showers cannot dis
lodge. The gay flags have retsined
their colors bravely, yet fly and tiutter
to the wind in ribboned shreads and
pennants. Alas, "the silent harbingers
OF decay and forgetfulness have begun
to sift ashes of regret over the fair,
white lovelinees of Jackson park"
The days are growing shorter, early
dusk having fewer hours wherein to
view the thousand wonderful objects
collected from the four quarters of the
globe and to minge with the mighty
multitudes from every zone, who, on
pleasure bent, are centered in this tiny
area.
This city at Jackson Park is a world
in miniature and full fedged munich
pality, yet all builded upon the sands OF
the sea. 1t is city within a city,
wherein all the builders of the tower of
Babel have worked and built their
homes, makinga population more varied
and picturesque than any other spot on
earth and the nomadic throng that is
constantly flowing through its highways
and byways is more kaleidoscope than
the shifting scenes of a panorama.
Like all cities, it has it's high officials
who clash. 1t has its own court of JUS
tice, police force, fire stations, poetoffice,
schools, life-saving station and hospi-
tails. 1t has it's own water works. cleo
tric light plant, street department and
ghthouse, its daily and weekly papers
and photographers. 1t has its own
dairy, fish hatchery, stock barns,
orchards, conservatory, restaurants,
cafes, coffee and refreshment houses.
1t has its own museums, art galleries,
bands, shows, concerts, amusements,
theaters, dance halls, natatorium and
churches. II has mad its balls regattas,
receptions, lawn parties, banquets, teas,
al frssco entertainments, sermons and
lectures. There have been PROFESSIONS
and pageants, fete days, pyrotechnical
and electrical displays. 1t has had &C.
cidents by fire, food and field; wran-
giles, quarrels and disagreements, en-
vies, jealousies, joys, sorrows and trage-
dies. People have died, been born and
married within its limits, also eloped to
and from it. 1t has had its banks that
have failed, its concerns that have gone
into the hands OF receivers, its strikes,
riots and financial panics.
49,
PANEGYRIC.
o dream city, Venice of the new
world! o city of delight, fair Bohe-
mia o mirage city OF white palaces
Phantom flower of the ages! Cloud
built city OF the mind, why must thou
vanish like mist? Reared in night,
like the palace OF Aladdin, why must
thou perish in day? Why must the
future ravages of time demand thy
demolition? o for the age of the
Greeks Medusa, that thy structures
might have been turned to stone by
her gaze! For thou art thing without
a soul; living in today, thou knoweat
no morrow nor yesterday, have no past
nor future, thy life being spanned by
the half year of thy present. Thy
gilded domes and slender towers, thy
imperial colonnade and many-columned
peristyle, thy symmetrical bridges arch
placid nature, wherein lie mirrored a
miracle by day and dream by night.
Thy realm has been reckoned the court
of Valhalla, thy sculptured images the
spirits of the immortals. Thine isles,
cleaning at eventide with the mystery
OF electricity, have been ceded to the
fairies, the enchanted shores seeming
the home of an army of fre-tiles and
glowworms sporting with the sprites.
Thy silvery bells, Ginning in the twi-
light, soothe thy weary guests and pre-