The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1893-05-05

UNPACKING THE BIG PICTURES FROM PARIS
so far as their end of tharwork 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.
ASH 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
a workman has climbed one of the tall
fiagstaffs on a 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. It Is simple operation, and here
very commonplace one; for workmen
Laundering about at dizzy nights, on
domes and iron arches and towers and
spires, have been familiar scenes for many
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
tracing their attention there? Investiga-
ton showed that they were watching Il
Frenchmen 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 for future exposition managers These
great affairs are fully as interesting in
their process as in their completion.
10 large proportion of the people the
work of b. lding is more fascinating than
the result. have heard a score of Chicago
people speak in this fashion: "Well, this
is wonderful show, but have seen the
best of 1t already. saw them dredging
out the swamp. I saw them digging the
foundations. I saw them laying the floors,
raising the mammoth arches, putting on
the spreading roofs, piling up the monu-
ments and statuary. I 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 a time for my
visit" Why not make the preparatory
stages of future exhibitions as popular as
the final? Why 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
constructions There is something almost
universal in the mind of man which leads
him to want to know how 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
magnificence and the vastness of the out
door picture. For short time he wanders
in one direction or another, aitnlessly,
with his eyes wide open and his lips fire.
quently uttering EXPLANATIONS Of sur
prise, delight, amazement. Then he con-
cludes to take walk through the whole
show. "To-day," he says to himself.
"I'll not stop to look at anything, but lust
rush through from one end to the other and
get the lay of the ground Letme warn Wis
itors against this mistake. I blundered in
that way myself. One afternoon thought
/, too, would see the outside of everything
in single journey. I walked and walked
and gaped and CAPPED till my neck ached.
After some hours l felt consciousness of
great fatigue and concluded to sit down
and rest. bought q Doesn't guide-book
containing map of the grounds, and per-
ceived that as. yet had seen but one
fourth Of the buildings Of the main exhi-
bition, and had not entered the Midway
plaisance at ALL Then I measured on the
map how far had walked, and found that
my eager feet had carried me no fewer
than seven and a 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 kaliedoscopic
views that one ever beheld. If T were
coming here this week for the first time I
should spend the first day OH 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.
tions, and take in one section each dav.
WAITER WELLMAN.