Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-11-08
THE PARIS EXPOSITION.
Rev. q. w. James Writes Interestingly
of the Great Fair and of Scenes and
Incidents in the Old World.

To give the readers of The Iowa
County Democrat an adequate ac-
count of the Art city and the exhibit
tion of 1900, would be an impossible
task in brief letter.
London, the largest city in the
world, the Shrine of the Anglo Saxon
Christianity, and hallowed by the
blood of the martyrs; the city of the
vast banks and public buildings:
Cathedrals and Courts, Castles and
Colleges, Palaces and Parks, attract
attention and show forth the work of
human genius. Scotland with its vine
clad hills and fertile valleys, lofty
mountains and romantic lakes, furn-
ishes a page of natures book that is
charming to the eye of the traveller;
but Paris, unrivalled by beauty and
brilliancy takes one by surprise. Such
stately editices, prOlOnging themselves
in unwearying magniticence and beau
ty; lever and anon" as Samantha
would say, a long street with
triumphal arch at the end wrought in
memory of some great event. The
light stone with which the buildings
are erected, wholly untarnished by
smoke, puts London to blush, if
blush could be seen on her dingy face.
The writer never knew what a real
palace was until he had a glimpse of
Louvre and the Tuileries: never had
his idea of city been gratitied, till he
trOd those stately streets of Paris.
The Place de la Concord is a splendid
square, large enough for a nation to
erect trophies for all of its triumphs.
The Louvre is a palace of galleries
built in the 18th century by Phillip
Augustus, and rebuilt by Francois |
about 300 years later. The galleries
contain the finest and largest works of
art in the world. The largest gallery
is nearly a quarter of mile long and
is divided into four divisions, or
Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch
schools. Some of the best paintings
in the Dutch department are by the
great Rubens.
The church of the Madeleine was be-
gun in IVA but the work was stopped
by the Revolution in 1889, but was
completed in 1906 by Napoleon |.
This building Is like an old Greek
| temple, it is surrounded by 81 Corin-
thians columns, so feet high. The
| bronze doors represents the delivery
! of the Ten Commandments. The whole
| building cost three million dollars.
| Yet, with these costly church build
ings and many priests, religion has
but a small place in the thoughts of
| the people, but Paris can claim vir-
tue that is often classed next to gOdli-
ness, and that is cleanliness, for there
is hardly cleaner city in all the
| world.
But the neighbOrhood of Paris as
we'll as the city, abOunds with picture
sque and interesting spots, Offering
strong inducements to the visitor to
| devote some time to excursions in the
| surrounding country. Twelve miles
southeast of the city is Versailles,
with parks, palaces and fountains.
| Here stands the Grand TrianOn, the
| home of Louis XIV built in 1858. In
| this building stands the Coronation
carriage of Charles y: carriage
which cost 5000, 900 and weighs II, 900
lbs. No one should visit Paris with
out spending at least one half day at
Versailles.
But in addition to the manifold faci-
nations of Paris is the enormous at
fractions of the Worlds Fair. Doubt
less in artistic finish and elegance,
this Fair which is the 10th held in
Paris during the century, can eclipse
anything that has preceded it, even in
some respects our own Columbian En-
position at Chicago.
The main entrance to the grounds is
in itself revelation. On each side
towers a decorative Obelisk, forming
pillar of fire by night. Passing
through the beautiful gateway, the
visitor begins to take tn the build
ings, or rather is taken in by them.
The two buildings devoted to the Fine
Arts will occupy his attention for the
first day. A crystal roof admits a
flood of light to fall at proper angles
upon the art treasures of the world,
so that each picture gets its proper
share.
Leaving the building of Fine Arts,
the visitor looks toward the gilded
dome of Napoleon's tomb, and sees a
part of the exposition whose buildings
look like sugar-cOated Wedding cakes.
The central figure on the grounds is
the Eitfel Tower, 600 feet high. On
the banks of the River Seine stands a
whole street of nations; and of all the
buildings erected by the different gov
ernments of the world, the United
States building is the most beautiful,
COuNCulCuJ anu uOlG-llhC' IL - tllG
headquarters of our people. Thous-
ands and thousand frequent its rooms
daily.
But while the exposition is most
beautiful both in buildings and eX-
hibits, it is going to be financial
failure. The golden hopes of the
Parisians can never be realized; and
the authorities who expected riches
beyond the dreams of avaricce, see
nothing but bankruptcy. Everything
was prepared on the grandest scale,
and the nations of the earth were eX
pected to your wealthy pleasure-seek-
ers into the gay city, whose gold
would scatter like Nebraska sand.
Two million people were expected to
pass through the gates weekly; yet, as
a matter of fact, not one million en-
tered during any week since the open
ing of the Fair. The Is, 600, 600 tickets
sold to spectators before the show
begun, for half franc, ten cents were