Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-08-04
THE FAIR AT NIGHT.
SUPERB ELECTRIC DISPLAY AT
THE EXPOSITION.
Dazzling Effects Which Transform the
Lakes and Buildings Into Fasci-
mating Wonderland-Scenes Of
Enchantment Never Equaled.

pageantry this vale of tears affords.
The stage of the pageant Is floor OF
smooth landlocked water, $50 feet in
one dimension by 1000 in the other,
bordered on all sides by great white
palaces that are vaster and more spec
tral by night than by day.
On one of the shorter sides it is
backed by the domed Administration
Building so set back as to leave an
ample foreground some 200 feet in
depth by the width of the great basin,
and as soon as darkness falls this fore
ground is packed with people waiting
for the show. Directly in front is the
monumental fountain, the Triumph of
Columbia On either hand of 1t Is a
circular basin filed with heaps Of
stonework that represent by day what
at night become the electric fountains.
As the darkness deepens, and the
blue of the sky behind the colonnades
of the opposite peristyle becomes
dusky gray, suddenly serried row OF
lights appears to mark the cornlce line
of the buildings that border the basin,
and of those that are withdrawn from
it at the west side and flank the Ad-
ministration Building This uniform
line was one of the devices agreed upon
by the architects to secure unity and
totality to the sum of their various
constructions, and it is emphasized in
a wonderful way by the row Of level
lights that is broken only at the centre
of the Manufactures Building by the
higher row that marks the cornice of
the central arch, and by the definition
in lines of light, of the gables Of the
buildings of Agriculture and Of Elec-
tricity, and by the continuation Of the
line around the semicircular portico
of Machinery Hall.
Far below, at the waters edge, an
other continuous line OF white lights
springs to view, completely surround
ing the great water court, mirroring
itself in the scarcely rippled surface,
and Illuminating, as the footlights Of
the spectacle, the procession of ghostly
launches and of gondolas gay with
Chinese lanterns that continuously
makes its way from left to right around
the basin.
The best place from which to see
the coming show is from one or other
of these craft From the water the
Administration Building is the domi-
nant feature Of the whole spectacle.
The two terraces from which the dome
rises, the one a spreading square, the
other Withdrawn and truncated at the
corners that bristle with groups Of
statuary into an irregular octagon, are
bounded with rows of electric sparks,
while cunning arrangement OF un-
seen lights illuminates the red back
ground, against which the shapely
Doric colonnade is relieved. Above,
on each of the four long sides of the
octagon, is row of eight brazen
standards bearing torches that burn
with lurid, waving, smoky glare
against the white drum of the dome,
and that contrast with the white and
steadfast lustre of the rows of light
below and of the train of light above,
for the base and the ribs of the soar
ing dome are outlined in light and a
crown of light surmounts it.
From the lake, from the basin, from
lagoon, and from the grounds this
diadem of fire is dominant, 50 efec-
lively lit that it seems to have been de-
signed expressly for the illumination.
As the launch slips noiselessly along
over the lighted water, one of the bands
on either hand of the Administration
Building breaks forth into martial
music, and from the ridge OF the Manu-
features Building the vivid white bulls
eye of a searchlight is turned upon the
scene. 1t brings out into sharp relief
and an intenser whiteness than that of
daylight the 1.-THE and defiant figure of
the seated Columbia, with her attend
ant oarsmen, the plunging horses of
the basin, and the jets of foaming
water that shoot between and over
them. Then it sweeps down upon the
huge Republic" at the other end, an |
tho sheen of it upon the figure and the
drapery induces one for the first time
to forgive the sculptor for permitting
his work to be gilded.
Again the spreading white swath Of
light is lifted and veered 30 as to bring
into sharp visibility in turn the pure
lines of the Agricultural Building, the
groups of sculpture that relieve its
skyline, and the low domes and in
crusted steeples of Machinery Hall,
and then sweeps upward toward the
zenith, followed by the widening belt
ofdarkened sky, that the contrast turns
from purple to black
"Full half the height Of heavens blue
That monstrous shadow overflow.
And now the playing Of the electric
fountains begins, play of water and
of fire. A central jet is surrounded by