The St. Johns herald., 1894-04-19
A WORLDS FAIR IN 1860.
It Win Ee Held in the Gay French
 Capital.
Preparations Are Already Under Way for the Great Event Some of the Big Attractions Which VIII
 T,e Gpen.

Ee Seen.
 Already the air is filed with rumors respecting the exposition of 1900, says a Paris letter in the Philadelphia Tel graph. Already are the moans of the Parisians rending the air beforehand, for it is 9 Parisian peculiarity to detest worlds fairs in general. andthose held in their own city in particular. Quoth d miserable native ia heartrending ac- cents: Whichever there is a great ex- hibition all OFT taxes go up-tcmpo- rarily we are told. but never by an ac- cidcnt do they go down. I paid three hundred and eighty francs in TT, and for the same premises my taxes are now three thousand and odd. We are overrun by tourists; we are crowd cd out of al tho thcaters; the cabmen all go on strike; the cafes all put up their prices. For several years before all the streets one wants to go through arc closed to the public because the ex- hibition is being prepared, and for at least year after the same streets arc closed because the exhibition is being demolished. All your country cousins come to town and expect to stay with you in an apartment you have always found too cramped for the require ments of yonr own family; and if I am not lucky enough to be dead I shall certainly move away before this large misfortune falls upon this unhappy place"
 Happily all Paris is not so pessi- mistic as my friend, and the architects are busy with their plans. All the ground comprised in the exhibition of 'S9 is to be included. as well as the DOT tion of Cour Ia Reine that will inclose the Palais lIndustrie and it's surround ing gardens. We are to have an addi- r1onar bridge across the Seine which will open vista from the Place de la Concorde straight through to the palace of electricity, which is to be the cen tral feature. Our rulers are greatly bored about the Eiffel tower; but as the concession was granted for twenty years it has got to stand; but the arch itects say consolingly that they will try and hide it as much as possible.
 The sight of it vexes poetic souls, and Francois Coppec, the author, who is, by way of being, aesthetic, wrote a formal protest to the government at the time of it's erection to request that the plan should not be carried out on the ground that the Eiffel tower, being ugly and ungainly, and furthermore being visible from his windows, inter fered with his flow of inspiration. However, the tower was built never theless, and, although we are deadly tired of seeing it about, Coppee con- tinues to write, so evidently his flow of inspiration was only impeded and not permanently plugged up. Further more, we are to have a branch exhibit at Versailles, which will rouse that sleepy little town from it's chief occu- potion of listening to the grass grow ing in the streets. In the splendid park of Versailles, on either side of the grand canal, is to be the retro spective history of gardens throughout the ages.
 The Hanging Gardens of Babylon, that were counted among the wonders of the world, are to be reproduced in miniature; Japanese gardens, Persian gardens, the Italian garden of the renaissance and French and English gardens of different epochs. The Grand canal itseiT IS Vo used for the exhibition of one of the floating gar dens cultivated by the Aztecs in Mex leo before the Spanish conquest of the country. The center of the canal is to be occupied by 8 large island built on piles, with bridges connecting it with the two shores, which is to have aquaria, grottoes and cascades, with cages for aquatic birds, and the great sheet of water is to be additionally or namented by an exact reproduction of the little fleet of elegant boats that Louis XIV. launched on its surface when Versailles was first built. All this sounds most imposing; but we arc devoutly thankful that the time for it has not yet come. 1t is like the story of the philosopher who was to teach the kings donkey to speak in years time, on pain of death, and never bothered about the penalty on the ground that the king might die, the donkey might die, or he himself might die, and whatever hap pened he had year to the good. So, as we have seven years before us, we do not yet as rule wall about future contingencies.