Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1901-10-15

cage, and never.coaSlnG rOunu Ol Crlck'
for the amusement of feeble man? Undel
the eye and the lash of their trainer they
cover. Yet II only one Of them shoult
some day turn on him -
am forced to admit that was dis
appointed in the House Upside Down
It seemed entirely artificial, and the ex
pected illusion I did not realize. But
when we stepped down from that VIZ
went into hall of illusions, where wert
living heads of women without bodies, rea
pickaninnies through whose semi-trans.
parent bodies you could trace the pat
tern of the wall paper, and various Other
decidedly realistic but unexplainable
phenomena.
OF those shows which make use 0i
optical and electrical effects for the
spectators amusement, the Trip to the
Moon is the most elaborate. Here, after
viewing the airship Luna in her return
flight, we embark upon her, and soon,
with gently rocking motion we rise
above the lights of the city into q thun'
der storm. A man told me that the
illusion of fight through the air was SO
good to him that he actually began to
feel seasick. The thunderstorm was
what took my fancy. My boyhood is
not SO many years behind me but that ]
like stage thunder about as well as
ever did. At length we arrive at our
destination, and disembarking, wander
through the bowels of the earth-beg
pardon, of the moon-discover wonder.
| full sublunary fires and giants and
gnomes, and are entertained by sprites
with song and dance. If perchance,
while you are leaning against the rock
wall Of the cavern, you should feel
something rattling on your shoulder
and should look around and discover
that the canvas was torn and the mortar
behind it was tumbling over your
clothes, brush it off and look the other
way, and let the illusion 60 on. 1t will
make the sunlight 80 much the brighter
when you are on the midway again.
The Land of the Midnight Sun is an
electrical trip to Dawson City in a Sc
ries of wonderfully realistic pictures. In
no other spectacle in the exposition has
electricity been employed with more
varied or striking effects.
But further description would weary
the reader almost as much as the doing
wearies the sightseer. There are nu-
merous other shows. II you would do
them all, faithfully, you will need at
least two days time, three would be
better. And If you want to purchase a
few little souvenirs at each place, in ad-
dition to paying your fare in, you will
find at the end that a very large hole has
been eaten in that fifty-dollar reserve
fund which you tucked into your inside
pocket when you left home.
After all, there is sort of semi-fake
air about the midway, which you can not
entirely ignore. Whatever the national
ity represented inside the gate, the
"barker" who stands outside. frequently
reinforcing his strident voice with a
megaphone, is generally strong-lu nged
American. The rush-covered huts of
the Philippine village have genuine and
satisfactory look on the outside; but
when YOU look inside and see that under
the rushes are hemlock timbers and
boards sawed in Buffalo, the building
doesn't have exactly the same look. In
the executive Office of the Japanese VII
lage is a young man of unquestionable
Japanese origin, garbed in strictly up-to-
date American clothes, even to the
three-inch collar which saws his ears
and chin. On the other side of the
quadrangle are three boys of perhaps a
dozen years, in complete Japanese cos
tune, and the one in the middle has a
fair skin and red hair! Darkest
Africa" is not so benighted that an
American band may not play popular
airs there to draw custom. There is a
band at every third show, and through.
out the length of the midway the cry OF
the "barker" is never silent.
With this we will leave consideration
of the Pan-American, though a later
letter may be devoted to Niagara and
other points visited on the trip.
A. EF.