The Portland daily press., 1894-04-16

spectres of the past. The sister State
buildings adjoining them on the west
have flown and the bright spring sun
shining on pyramid OF tangled IRON
and mortar revealed in vivid oolors the
contrast between yesterday and today.
Farther toward the lake, huddled to-
gether as though frightened at the
hustle of destruction around them,
still stand Massachusetts, Connecticut,
Rhode Island, Delaware and Maine.
Delaware, her little white face bronzed
with the rough touch OF chicago win
ter, and Maine with her solid granite
pillars erect and mistaken still, en-
blematic of her record in the republic.
Virginias fac smile of Washington
home, and the little green-blinded New
Jersey, have been sold, and are being
raised from their foundation preparatory
to being rolled to their destination;
and by their side on temporary tracks
stand the crude locomotives built over
a half century ago, whose speed. so mar
velous then, can hardly compete now
with the rapidity with which Chicago
syndicate can move building, whether
that movement be horizontal or perpen-
dicular.
The art building still keeps its males
tic white wings spread, and is now gath
ering under them those relics of the
ervation. The organizers of the Field
Colum bian Museum" took advantage OF
the most golden opportunity ever offel ed
to mankind for the establishing of a
museum that could be not only magnifi-
cent in promises but swift in their ful-
fllment.
The Illinois building whose vast dome
was conspicuous object to millions OF
eyes last summer is today but shadow
of its former greatness. Fire has de-
stroyed the east wing and the huge
structure is fast being leveled to the
ground. But / have not the time to
speak in deuail of the State buildings.
They are all today's disentegrating part
of yesterdays grandeur.
proved the prophecy OF her architects.
She stands today roped in her coat OF
many colors. Still as intensely German
in appearance as in the zenith of her
glory in mid summer, with apparently
no tarnish on her firm surface.
On the front door of England staring
placard shouts For sale" at you as you
pass. Appropriate indeed would it be
to hang beneath it placard reading
"For shame" for situated in manner
to be of service to the citizens of Chica-
go, when the park resumes it's normal
condition as a resort for the people, 1T
would not be an extravaganza gift from
Il Kingdom 30 rlCn.
The Fisheries building with its innu-
merable lizards and frogs and reptiles,
still running over it, is securely barred
to the intruder, but as we peer through
its window; revealed an interior filled
with piles of rock and sand, as though
when the great tidal wave of public in
terest had subsidized, it carried with it the
left stranded in the big building the
stones and sands of oblivion. The in
terror of the government building pre-
sents a startling effect as you suddenly
enter it from the understanding and
deserted wings on either side. 1t is as
though walking llstlessly through an un-
inspiring field of brake, an unexpected
garden Of roses. The beautiful sinner
circle" OF this building is still intact
with the exception of the big tree, which
now reposes in the agricultural depart
ment at Washington. The polished pill
lars of marble and staff, the remarkable
fresco paintings. the harmonious blend
ing of varied colors-so refreshing to the
eye tired with the white glare without
the majestic dome rising 229 feet high
and mingling its own hue with that of
the sky beyond, all these bring back the
days of '93 more wildly than anything
now remaining. One needs but little
Imagination to turn from its beauties
today expecting to hear the long avenues
that lead into it, echo again with the
hum of human activity and see the good
natured crowds jostling each other in
their laudabls anxiety to miss nothing
of the governments display. AS one
turns from this beautiful spot, SO at
tractive, built SO substantially, the
dome resting ON pilings driven thirty
feet into the earth, the delicate interior
hn M ~ of
the elements without-that thiC charm
ing spot, through false ideas of economy
on the part of commissioners, the gov
eminent, or both, may be forever lost to
the people of Illinois, who are the sole
owners of the ground on which it stands.
The huge Manufactures building is
dying. Like many of the great, dying
at the top first. The observer who, with
aching neck looks far upward toward
the sky, discerns that large sections of
it's roof have disappeared 1t is tenant
less, save by the omnipresent, destruc-
tive, yet indestructible English sparrow,
f1ocks of which audaciously whirl
through it's empty halls. when Eng
land in 1856 shipped to this country
do us more harm than came from her
first ship load of red coats?)
Fire, ever indifferent to sentiment in
man, has completely destroyed the beau
tiful music hall. with it's multitude of
pillars below and its shameless figures
above, and has licked it's greedy way
through the very heart of the Agricul-
tural building. leaving in its wake, that
saddest of all material sights-piles of
cha-red beams and twisted iron. But to
the west'still stands the great palace of
Mechanic arts-the bevy of angels that
nearly year ago alighted on it's top
have their pinions still spead, as though
struggling to free themselves from their
surroundings; and the naked figures
at it's side that needed no clothing last
summer to cover the exquisite grace of
their polished limbs, surely need it now
to hide the ugliness of their Scared legs.
The site of Buffalo BiIl's great side
show is as quiet as deserted Indian
village. No longer do crowds surge at it's
high board gates No more is heard the
sharp crack of the rife. the inimitable
yell Of the Cossack, or the blare of the
cowboys horn. With the usual Chicago
enterprise, the grounds will soon be sold
off in city lots, and a palace will yet
stand on the site of the Indian Tepee
/ am reliably informed that the owner
of these grounds, shrewdly leasing it on
a percentage of gross receipts, realized
S1 0OO n dav durino the autjre nariod of