Milford chronicle., 1893-07-07
ADVANCE OFF MAN.
Object Lesson of Progress at
the Worlds Fair.
VISIT 70 TIE DAHOlEY VILLAGE

specimens OF Savage Life Gathered from
the WiIds Of Africa-A Cute Little Black
Baby which Everyone Wants to See
Tie King of the Yillage-The Theater
ard Musical Instruments.
WORLDS FAIR, June 27. Il lSpeciall =
II this great exposition teaches any lesson
it Is Of the wonderful progress made by
man n the arts and sciences, in the knOwl-
edge OF how to live and behave. It shows
how step BY step he has advanced from
savagery to his present high estate. As If
TO make the picture more real, more strik-
ing and impressive. here are a large num-
Der Of specimens Of savage life, gathered
from the forest, the jungle and the desert
Of all the earth. Thus it is that here in
this ideal city, this city Of palaces, this city
in which modern man has displayed the
best Of which he is capable in all fields OF
human eaersy, the primitive man comes
In also TO afford graphic contrast in the
obiect-les on Of progress.
hone OF these savages are more interest
ing than tie Dahoneyites from Africa
From the very center Of the dark continent
they have come, through the enterprise Of
a Trench Snowman, TO exhibit their per
sors and their customs. A village has
been built for them on the Midway plais-
ance. il IS as large in area as an ordi-
nary city block. Visitors pay 25 cents
each for the privilege Of entering, and the
show IS well worth the money. One finds
the village 70 be a hollow square. Run
ming all round the inclosure is line OF
huts Of native construction, built Of trees
and bougls with rude mud walls. As
looked at these hnts could not avoid the
thought Of how in the building OF the
White City itself modern man has merely
initiated the methods Of his savage ances-
tors. The palaces Of the Worlds fair are
simply mud-covered buildings. But their
mud is white like marble, and it is
moulded into all the beautiful and express
sive forms " hich art can give it. Well,
the huts Of the Dahomeyites are not
pretty, but they are comfortable. They
have floors Of wood, and their thatched
roofs do tolerably well to keep the rain Oh
There is very little furniture within them,
and no glass in the small windows. In
the climate Of Dahomey cold is not an ele-
ment thai must be guarded against. The
inhabitants OF these huts sleep on the
floor, rolling themselves in rude blankets
Of their own construction and in the skins
Of animals.
One Of the huts is kitchen-an open
house with tables and modern cook
stogel To this extent at least it must be
presumed the village IS not ''true TO ma
ture, " for in the savage life Of west Africa
the coOk-st0ve IS an exotic. Some of the
huts are workshops and dwellings com
bined, for even the DahOmeyites have their
industries In one a blacksmith lives, and
his principal business, which he carries
IN front Of his dwelling, himself seated
squat upon the ground, Is that Of sharpen
ing spear heads and repairing the spikes
whieh proirude in such an ugly fashion
from the w..r-clubs Of the Amazons and
fighting men. Another workman sits
cross-legged doing embroidery, curious
admixture OF savagery and art, OF war and
peace. In DahOmey the women do not
embroider, neither do they sew or cook. |
That Is the work Of the men. The women /
nurse the babies and then go forth to till /
the soil and to fight
In one Of the huts there is the queerest |
little black baby you ever saw. It / s
wholly naked On a SKIN thrown down i
,he floor. Like all babies in the world it
passes most Of its time at sleep, and when