The Progress., 1893-08-26
GETTING READY FOR BUSINESS.

and sealed by the officials The charge is
that the exhibitors have been selling and
delivering at once, contrary to the rule
that no articles sold can be delivered till
the close of the fair There is certainly
bronze enough still to be seen and the eX-
hibitors tell me that the peculiar charac-
teristics of each nation come out even
more strongly in their bronzes than in
their paintings. Taking either as a guide
/ must say that some of these Europeans
have characteristics that / do not like.
Among the Russian paintings, for in
stance, are some in which the magnificence
of czar and mobiles is brought into striking
and painful contrast with the rising of the
common people. True, perhaps, but only
Russian, l fancy. would have advertised
it in such brutally realistic way.
z&z
Among the Spanish paintings is one
which holds the crowd, but makes them
shudder. 1t shows line of African slaves
chained together and fastened to posts
firmly set in the ground at intervals. The
idea is that the MOors have fixed the ne
grOes in that way to break the charge of
the Christian cavalry. But the latter
with waving banners and spears fixed are
galloping on and just beginning to tram
pie down the living breastwork. Over the
cavalry the standard of the cross is raised,
and this picture is called-of all things in
the world!-"The Triumph of the Cross"
1t is the concentration of cruelty, bias
phemy and the whole bloody history OF
Spain in those dark days. Possibly the
artist meant it for that.
#*#
was much surprised to find in the Con
vent of La Rabida (as reproduced here) a
bell which is claimed TO be the original
given by Queen Isabella 20 Columbus and
yet belongs to the congregation of little
negro church in Haleyville, Cumberland
county, n. j. IL sounds ''fishy," but the
history is pretty straight. In 1445 this
bell, which is of fine metal and weighs bus
siXty-four pounds, was in the Alhambra
The Spanish soldiers who captured
Granada presented it to the queen. who
gave it to Columbus, who dedicated it to
the cathedral at Carthagena in New
GSapada. When the buccaneers looted
tlS city in 1897 they carried off the bell
and after a century or more in the West
Indies 1t was purchased by Captain New
all, an American, who presented it to this
colored congregation.
Strange as this story is, it is but par
allel to many known to be true; for when
the workmanship is worth much more
than the material in an article, even free
bcoters will preserve it while all monu-
ments and curios of which the chief value
is in the material are soon destroyed. The
famous golden candlestick or lamp frame
of Solomon's temple escaped all the sieges
and plunderings of seven centuries and
was taken to Rome by Titus after the last
siege of Jerusalem. Four centuries it re-
mained in Rome till that city was plum
dered in its turn. The rest is uncertain,
but the best evidence indicates that the
relic was taken to Africa by the Vandals
and broken D for division. So the story
of this bell is probable one
In this LaRabida are also the first map
of the new world ever made, relics of the /
first Christian church in America, coins |
from the first American gold, the Oldest /
known picture of Morse ship, facsimiles /
of all the curious inscriptions attributed
to Norsemen and other pre- Columbian dis .
coverers, original of the contract between .
Columbus and the Spanish monarch, orig /
inals or facsimiles of the most noted let 4
ters relating to Columbus and many hun
dred curious pictures, manuscripts, maps
and relics of those times. In short the
quaint little convent is miniature
worlds fair i'm itself and naturalization
of early American history.
T. n PARKF