Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-05-19
HUMAN NATURE.
Avery Interesting Study at the
Worlds Fair.
Human Interrogation Points Seen All
Over Grounds and Buildings.
Don't Be Afraid to Ash Questions When You
Feel Like II.

WORLDS FAIR, May IS - rspecial1-
No part of the big show is more interest.
ing than the crowds which visit it. When
you read in the papers that there were
thirty, forty or fifty thousand paid atI.
missions TO the fair on a given day YOU
must not imagine that these figures con.
vey an idea of the size of the multitude TO
be seen wandering about the grounds and
buildings. In addition TO the paid adrnis-
sions there are all the time fifty TO seven
ty-tiye thousand persons within the gates
who did not pay. They are the exhibitors
and their assistants, watchmen, workmen.
newspaper representatives, the guards,
iiremen, guides and rolling-chair men;
also, commissioners, directors, both do
nestle and foreign, and their families.
Even on the dullest days we have as
rule upwards of 10000 human beings
within the enclosure. But there is no
crowding. The great exposition and its
mammoth buildings swallow them up as
a field of corn takes in the butterflies
which are attracted by its green and glis-
tening fragrance.
| Ii is curious to watch these crowds as
they go on their sightseeing rounds. If
you want to study human nature this is a
pretty place in which to do it. You be-
hold here not only representatives of all
races and countries, but about as great a
| variety of human animals rs it is possible
to get together in any one spot on the
earth S surface. The throng presents one
characteristic which stands out strongly
above all others. 1t is such a conspicuous
thing that after a day passed on the
grounds one goes away with vivid recol-
| lection of having seen large section of
| humanity in IL certain posture. The pos
ture is that of an Interrogation point.
| Wherever you walk or ride or CO. in the
buildings or without, it is the same. A
| specimen of the race TO which we all be
| long leaning forward, n look of expectancy
upon his face, the word of inquiry tremb-
ling upon his lips. This is world in
which it seems onehalf is put here for the
purpose of asking questions and the other
| half for answering them. Later in the
summer, when the crowds get bigger, the
| proporti ions will change. When the daily
| number of visitors rises to three or four
| hundred Thousand, as it is expected to rise
| in September and October, we shall see
| each exhibitor, guard or other permanent
| resident of the White City surrounded by
seven or eight strangers within the gates,
while streams of inquiries and answers
are sent running to and fro.
| This is as it should be. This vast expo
sitiOn is placed here for the education of
| the people. They are invited to come that
| they may see and learn. 1t is the right Of
| every man, woman and child to convert
himself or herself intoa special committee
| of investigation. A great mistake will
any one make who through timidity or in
difference fails to understand everything
upon which the eye rests and about which
the curiosity may be roused Fire YOUR
questions ut wbomsoever may be in sight
an exhibitor or his assistant if one is at
hand, and if not Mt n guard or even one of
thc public. You may learn enormously
by keeping the eye open and the mouth
closed. But you will learn three times as
much and remember what you do learn
ten times as long if You ask questions OF
people who may I've able to give you intelli-
gent explanations.
As a rule Americans are not backward
about asking questions. At least, western
Americans are not. The visitors who
f'itilt ittIti 'tNltlu tliltS are Dbu 50 Tree
with their inquiries. They have a sort of
| reservation of manner as a rule. They
are interested, and would not attempt to
deny that this is u wonderful school, but
they assume that they will be able to get
| all the information they want out of it by
simply looking. Not SO with the westerner,
the genuine, common, everyday Amer
lean. He is from farm out in Iowa or
mining town in Colorado He stands, for
instance before the marvellous machines
exhibited by a New England watch-mak-
ing company. He has never seen watch
made. All the ideas which he has ever
had about it are that most Of the work
| must be done by men who sit all day long
at bench with a magnifying glass
screwed over their best eye, just as he has
seen the watch-reparer sit in his home
iewelry shop. But the complicated ma
ture, the perfection of finish and the
rhythm of the motion of these machines
fascinates him. He must know all about
it. If he asks one question he asks fifty,
snd as soon as the attendant has explained
to him that the machines need nothing
but feeding in order to enable them to
| turn out all the parts of watch, he wants
to know all the particulars and details.
This is the true method. Permit me to
advise all my readers to come to the fair
in this spirit of inquiry and seeking after
knowledge. 1t is the way to get your
moneys WORTH and that is what we all
want. There is no difficulty about getting
it, either For it does not matter what
man may be interested in he will find it
here. Now and then you hear a critic
pass Judgment on this fair. In his opinion
| the buildings and grounds. their embell-
ishment with fountains and statuary,
their electric lighting and landscape
effects, are simply unapproachable. But
in the exhibits he finds great deal that is
commonplace. "What do / care, - he asks,
about acres of agricultural products or
long rows of pottery and silks and other
fabrics such rs | may see any day in the
shops at home? What do | care about
display of saYs and carpenter tools and
axes and all that sort of thing?" OF
course lie doesn't care anything about
them. 1t is not his line But if he hap
pens to be the publisher of a newspaper,
and a practical printer, and man who
-ioves his profession and his trade alike fas
every good newspaper publisher, in my
opinion, does wait till he comes to that
I part of Machinery hall in which the
| presses are at work, where five or six
uhlIl newspapers HFe printed TlEHL Dtlure
his face and eyes Wait till he comes upon
! the complete printing Office, the typeset-
| ting machines, and all the paraphernalia of
| his art. Then yon will see him prick up
| his ears, linger, ask questions. come again
after luncheon and return the next day.
He has simply come upon the part Of the
show which is Of acute interest to him.
| He has struck his line
Take, for instance, the undertaken,
the physician. the minister of the
gospel, the lawyer. Surely there isn't
anything here Of special interest to them?
O. yes, there is. They will find them
selves attracted TO particular spots just as
| the machinist. the electrician. the agricuI-
/ turist is attracted to his spot. For theun-
dertaker there is an illustration of the
/ burial methods and appliances of all ma
i tions including cremation and not omit
/ ting the mummies of a thousand or two
/ Thousand years ago, which must make him
marvel at the art of his ancient forerun-
( ners in the business. For the physician
! there are all the medicines and tools of his
trade, not only those made in his own
{ country hut those used by his brothers in
I all the lands of the world. For the minis
/ ter there are no end Of pulpits ancient and
modern, rich and rare, too, the beloved
+ Bible in all the languages of the earth-an
I the curious editions Of Bibles. the Bibles
Of the ancients and the moderns. even the
1 plates from which famous editions have