Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-05-10

hfelesa The nsighhorhocd Of The hfty en-
ginss. therefore, is one spot whsss room is
always At . premium A spectacle worth
travelling miles TO behold n y, and
| power" Is the ono word tAAs affords a
key to the fascination. The engines charm
with their motion, and with the amazing
lightness and almost noiselsssness Of their
movement. But the huge dynamos fas-
cinate with the double force Of power and
mystery. The crowds are always thick
where the dynamos arc. Electricity is to
the masses an industrial occult. . mschan-
ical spiritualism- They eagerly follow the
mysterious cur1snt through all it mani
festations, and admire though they under
stand not.
One will always 1nd . largs crowd
around the printing presses. too. These
machines are used In the actual printing
Of real newspapers, and though the AT
which helps preserve all other Arts II no
longer u species Of necromancy, Il ID the
hight of the useful and the beautiful In
mechanics, and exercises strange fascina-
tion over the multitude. Then the crowds,
still loving power, go to zee the mighty
krupp gun. which TO most people Il q lit
tie disappointing. 1t Is not as large as ex-
pectation has painted it. No beauty com
mends it, either, for It il as ugly as war
itself.
A locomotive, though commonplace, is
always interesting, aud when Q hundred
thousand people get . chance to see the
first locomotive used In America, progeni-
tor of 2O, 900 more worthy sons, you may
be sure they will avail themselves thereof.
Hence John Bull No. !" Is always sur
rounded by admiring thousands. SO is the
English locomotive with it's lines which to
us seem so ugly. This is a real locomotive,
and the steamships which are shown near
by in the same building are mere models;
but the latter have beauty in their lines,
and they attract more visitors than the
land travellers.
If were to persist In telling you of the
things which attract crowds Of unusual
thickness-if l attempted to penetrate
every ring of humanity and show you
what was in their center in one letter /
should be called on to describe thousand
matters each one of which IL worth a col
umn. But in closing must say, as proof
of my theory, that beauty is the strongest
attraction for the masses, that the Japa-
nese temple on the wooded island, conced-
edly one of the most beautiful structures
in the exposition-not only temple but
picture, framed in sandal wood and bam-
boo and warmed with touches Of exquisite
color-is one Of the Columbian attractions
which nine visitors out of ten think they
must see during their first visit.
There are plenty Of people who spend
half of their time amid the glories Of the
statuary with which the grounds and
buildings are replete, or with the flowers
and plants of Horticultural hall and its
surrounding greeneries. Others never tire
of filling the eye with the things which
are simply vast and therefore typical of the
greatspower which created them. Since
beauty and power are the magician's
wands, the feminine and masculine Of
things inanimate, it Is pleasant to know
that the prestidigitators who created this
exposition have set in their park here in
Vulnerable things which speak one or the
other, and many which breathe both.
WALTER WEYIMAN