St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1899-11-01
A JUNIORS LETTER.
Aboat the Omaha Expoaition-A Month
of Fourth Of Julys.

Junior, in the interest of the school chill
dren of that city; and it has also award
ed prizes for the writing of stories by the
CHILD The following letter was
written for the Journal by Miss BRITAIN
Streeter, daughter of W. S. Streeter, for
merly of this place.
Omaha, Neb., Aug. 25.-On the first
day of July, 1899, opened one of the
great expostions with which the people
of the United States have been favored.
l was fortunate enough to obtain pass
to the grounds the week before the OPEN
ing, and was struck with the immense
amount of ground one has to cover to
see the exhibits. felt the desire to rush
through the buildings as fast as possible,
and my feelings were very plainly ex-
pressed by girl of twelve, who carried
a child oftwo in her arms, while another
of four loitered behind. He seemed |
rather reluctant to leave a certain ex-
hibit, and she finally called to him, DO
come along, Tommy, this amt the only
building"
Icannot begin to describe all of this
large exposition, but will tell of few
features which l think Juniors would 0e
specially interested in. The government
building contains relics from all ages of
the history of the United States, but at
the best, can only tell of a few of them.
In the gallery are pictures OF our great
men and women, most of which were
painted from life. There are also pictures
Of famous battles. Then there are flags
of every shape and color; flags that have
been in the thickest of the civil war; and
one or two that foated in the revolu-
tionary war. think the flag which l
was most interested in of those Of the
civil war was the one which f1oated over
the Merrimac at the time of the great
naval battle of the ironclads. 1t seemed
to bring the scene of battle so close to
me that | could fairly see the smoke and
hear the roar Of the great guns But to
my mind the very best flag, and surely
the one that brought the saddest memo
ries, was one that lay by itself in glass
case, near which was card bearing the
folio inscription: This pennant
was flying on the battleship Maine at
the time of the disaster" Before this
case the people always stand, awed and
reverent, and seem to be thinking OF the
vast number of men that were hurled
into eternity without minutes warn
ing on that awful night.
There are parts of trees full of bullets
and pieces of shell. There is the chair
and rife which Jefferson Davis used when
he was president Of the southern coniede-
racy. There are chairs and piano used
in the White House at the time of Lin
coins administration the coach that he
rode in; and tall silk hat which he
wore then the chairs which he and his
party occupied in their box at the theater
the night of his assassination the bed
upon which he died and the flag that was
wrapped about his body when he was
taken from the Peterson House to the
White House. Next are bricks and odd
relics of Libby Prison, and the door Of
that awful place is so arranged that one
can pass through the entrance where
, over 10000 prisoners passed. There IL
! the table upon which the papers for Lees
surrender to Grant were written at APP
pomatox. AS glanced down the great
hall for something more that would in
terest the Juniors | was startled to SCI
: | hurried to the place and found twenty
or more wax figures, dressed in uniforms
of both army and navy, with the suit
+ worn from the time of the revolution tt
>. the present date.
{ Starting to leave the building l raj
{ across a number of old-fashioned car
S toons that was very much interested
Q in. After spending quite time in tn
e government building, went out in from
Of the lagoon and looked at that Lowell
o sheet of water, while the fountain direct
Il ly in front of me sparkled and shone il
q the sunlight. Later in the evening, whe
e I again saw the fountain, it was a yer
table rainbow of beautiful tints. At tn
q base of each spray is an electric globe
IS aad many others are seen scattere
through the water around the sprays {
diamond drops. The exposition
beautiful in the daylight, but when ever
ing comes fairy city springs into exit
is tence, each tower and palace brillian
q with flashing, changing lights. Aroun
k. the court are beds of plants and at nigh
N lights in each bed are so clustered as
in illuminate the foliage and flowers.
,e great many palms and other plants frol
+ the tropics give brilliant color to tt
ID Court of Honor, and are contrast
81 the stately WHltS puiiuiiSS anu 'ei'Ne
v, lawns.
ID On the Midway land l suppose all tt
is Juniors know that the Midway is
$. street with many different shows O
n. either side) are many shows whic
would greatly amuse the Juniors. Thel
to is the Moorish Palace, containing bea
O., tiful wax figures representing sue
10 stories as Sleeping Beauty" and oth'
er fairy tales. Next, the streets OF Carr
M where one sees Arab smoking their Ion
is pipes and talking in their native tongu
and sometimes they give dance. whie
means that the old men take hold
hands and hop around in a circle, SIM
IL ing the most dolefu song all the tim
n Those that have desire to ride cam
ms can do so at small price.
to Shooting the chutes is very similar
ne the water tobogganning, which was
nj popular few years ago. You go TO Il
Ill. top of high slide in a car. From the
ial YOU 90 to the other side OF platiorr
Ill and, getting into boat, you are pusht
ny off and go whizzing down to the waite
in There are so many of these Performance
ne and entertainments, however, that
ng cannot begin to tell about halt OF ther
lin The fireworks, too, are so much nan
somer than any ever saw before. Ar
to think of seeing them every other mig
in the week 1t is like month
s;r Fourth OF Julys.
- A CIcrgyman's Experience.