Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-04-09
WORLDS FAIR BUSTLE
PREPARATIONS FOR THE BIG snow AS SEEN
BY WHERLIEGITE.
The Dsafsning Sounds Of the Saw, Hammer and
tho Chissl-SOmsthing About the Part West
Virginia Will Play-Ths EnOrnity
Of the Exhibition, and How
il Strikes One.
sp<eiaI Corre,ponasnes 70 tie Rsgissr.

Special Corresponasres to the Rs0tssr.
CHICAGO. April THE headline OF
this article might seem suggestive, as
though usurping the province OF the
modlste, but the term is here used In
another sense TO indicate the push and
untiring activity, the rush Of people
and the general scramble incident to
the opening Of the Worlds Fair. In
Just twenty-four days the gates OF the
Worlds Fair will be thrown open.
After a general survey Of the grounds
and buildings, and after carefully view
ing the interiors, it is difficult to see
how by any conceivables plan they
can get the exhibition in readi-
ness by the first of May. There looks
to be weeks Of work yet upon the e1-
terror of many OF the buildings, while
the interiors present
A PERFECT CHAOS.
The inside of that mammoth struc-
ture, the Manufacturers building, Is
network OF staging, and here and there
at intervals all over the building are
boxes upon boxes Of goods towering
twenty and thirty feet high, yet nn-
opened. The greatest progress in the
erection and completion OF booths In
this building seems to be made by the
foreigners, England and japan being In
the lead.
Scarcely any Of the State buildings
are fully completed, and two or three
are but half constructed; the road ways
and promenades are not yet rolled and
graded; those great picturesque foun-
tains that are to glow with electric light
and prismatic colors, are yet young;
there is an avalanche of unopened boxes
in the Art Building, and all about the
great enclosure there is 8 constant
scene OF rnsh and confusion.
In the enormity Of the work the labor
of 10. 600 men can scarcely be discerned
by the casual visitor as he drops into
the grounds from day to day. 1t is the
general belief that the. actual compile
ton OF the Fair will drag along through
the month OF May. Visitors have all
along been admitted to the grounds,a and
for twenty-five cents. But on the plea
that they interfered with the workmen,
the admission has recently been placed
at fifty cents. 1t seems to have no
marked effect upon the attendance.
They crowd in just the same. Last
Sunday there were
TEN THOUSAND VISITORS
TO the grounds, and the limited train
service now employed can scarcely cope
with the people on the six secular days.
While the grading has been going on
no teams have been allowed in the
grounds, and 1t is quite comfortable
constitutional to plant foot on 633 acres
OF soil. Much has been written about
the Worlds Fair, largely proceedings OF
Managerial and Executive Boards. sup
plemented here and there with arith-
metic, geometry and geography, but
all is forgotten, and facts and
figures fade away In the stern realiza-
tion of this mammoth affair. 1t must
be experienced to be appreciated.
Whatever may be said concerning
fraudulent proceedings, extortonary
tactics and insufficient accom- modations,
there is no bellttllng those giant struct-
ures.
Standing face to face with buildings
that tower in the air, and almost fade
away in the perspective, OF mammoth
and classic proportions, alive with en-
bematic statues, grace and beauty In
every architectural line, one cannot but
be filled with awe. Those, who recall
the art building in Philadelphia in '76,
will note the seventeen years progress
In the structure Of to-day. The Art
Building at the Worlds Fair is one OF the
great features OF the exhibition. One
of the wings would make good sized
gallery, but In the distance at the other
end of the building, go feet away, Is
just another wing. It's an exhibition
in itself.
But
THE PARAMOUNT ARCHITECTURAL AT
TRACTION
is that leviathan pile, the Manufactures
and Liberal Arts Building. Some idea
of the size may be gained from the fact
that once and third around it is
mile. 1t is the largest exposition build
ing ever constructed. Standing just
outside the entrance, midway OF the
buildin 2, and within the rows Of corln-
THAN columns, you look along the
loggIa to either end. People en-
terlng the doors at the ends
fairly seem diminutive. But the
awe-inspiring spectacle OF all is
the point OF vantage in the centre of
the building, and under the great sky
scrapIng roof. 1t scarcely seems posi-
BILE that this great engineering feat was
the work OF human hands.
1t is said that the great Auditorium
Hotel, tower and all, could be comfort
ably placed inside the building, along
with score of other hotels. In the
contemplation OF this structure you
feel an individual insigni6cance akin to
the study Of astronomy. As you stand
within and look up at that mammoth
roof OF iron net work, you can think OF
nothing comparable to 1t, lest
1t be one OF those huge
circus tents, something like that
of Barnum's or Forepaugh's, but many
times multiplied. Here alone will be
weeks study.
THE GREATEST PROGRESS
made in the arrangement of the exhib-
its is seen in the Horticultural Build
ing, where a great mountain Of vegeta-
ton and foliage in the centre attracts
the visitor as he enters. Here the ex-
hibits are about two-thirds arranged,
and rare and beautiful plants from
every cline greet the eye, while the air
is agreeably fragrant. The only res
taurant now on the grounds is in the
III. k..Ildi-.. DIT d<.-lt