Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1893-05-05

UNtAChlNG THE PICTURES PARIS.
SO far as their end of the work was con
cerned, but they detailed several hundred
men to hurry up the exhibitors. Innum-
cradle letters and finally kilograms were
sent out, and during the last two weeks
most of the energy of the administration
department has been expended in hustling
the private exhibitions into place.
As l have said. the crowds of this second
day of the fair spend most of their time
looking at the exterior show. An acre of
people stand near the Administration
building, with their faces turned upward
y workman has climbed one of the tall
fagstaifs on corner of Machinery hall
He is all alone, and has no helper at the
base. Neatly balancing himself in his lit
tie swing, he pulls up by a cord golden
ball. which he attaches to the top of the
staff. 1t Is simple operation, and here
very commonplace one; for worhmen
clambering about at dizzy nights, on
domeS and iron arches and towers and
spires, have been familiar scenes for many
a month. Yet with all the wonders of the
world spread out for their inspection ten
thousand people preferred to stand and
watch this rigger at work.
In front of the Art building another
great crowd was seen. What could be at
tracing their attention there? Investiga-
ton showed that they We're watching the
trencEmen unpack the big cases in which
the Paris pictures had been shipped across
the water. a simple everyday part of the
work, yet strangely fascinating to the
visitors. These and many other similar
incidents taught but one lesson, gave one
hint forfuture exposition managers. These
great affairs are fully as interesting in
their process as in their completion.
To large proportion of the people the
work of building is more fascinating than
the result. l have heard score of Chicago
people speak in this fashions: well, this
is a wonderful show, but l have seen the
best of it already. l saw them dredging
out the swamp. I saw them digging the
foundations. / saw them laying the floors,
raising the mammoth arches, putting on
the spreading roofs, piling up the monu-
ments and statuary. l wouldn't have
missed that part of it in order to see it as
it now stands. If given my choice would
have preferred the construction rather
than the completion as n time for my
visit" Why not make the preparatory
stages of future exhibitions popular as
the final? " by not arrange special de-
vices, such as open railway trains and
movable platforms, which will enable mill
ions of people to witness the wonderfully
fascinating and instructive methods of
construction? There is something almost
universal in the mind of man which leads
him to want to know how a thing is made. |
The small boys first desire on taking a
watch in his hand is to tear the insides out
of it so he may ascertain what makes the
wheels go round.
When the visitor from afar first steps
upon the grounds he is dazed with the
maguificence and the vastness of the out
door picture. For q short time he wanders
in one direction or another, aimlessly,
with his eyes wide open and his lips fire.
quently uttering ordinations of sur
prise, delight, amazement. Then he con-
cludes to take walk through the whole |
show To-day he says to himself |
III not stop TO look at anything, but just
rush through from one end to the other and
get the lay the ground Let me warn Wis |
itors against this mistake. / Numbered in |
that way myself. One afternoon thought |
/, too, would see the outside of everything
in q Single journey. j walked and walked |
and CAPPED and gaped till my neck ached |
After some hours felt a consciousness of |
great fatigue and concluded to sit down |
and rest. / bought a 10-cent guide-book !
containing map of the grounds, and per- |
ceived that as yet l had seen but one
fourth of the buildings of the main eXhi- |
bition, and had not entered the Midway |
plaisance at all. Then l measured on the |
map how far l had walked, and found that |
my ger feet had carried me no fewer |
than seven and half miles.
The best thing the visitor can do on first |
arriving is to take several rides around the |
elevated railway. That runs from one end |
OF the grounds to the other, and gives the |
most magnificent set of Kaleidoscope |
views that one ever beheld. If l were |
coming here this week for the first time |
should spend the first day on the elevated |
trains and in the gondolas or launches on
the lagoons. The next two or three DAYS |
should simply walk about the grounds and
through that great international circus |
and museum, the Midway plaisance. After
this / should divide the show UP into sec |
tons, and take in one section each day.
WALTER WELLMAN