The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-29
WAITING For THE
FAIR TO OPEN UP
Lovers of the Beautiful and
Useful Will Have Surfeit
stS4 Louis.
Globe Bureau,

mighty fair is in a nervous hurry. The
face of the earth has been so changed
ana reconstructed, so many acres have
been covered with palaces, such
schemes laid, such ambitions built, such
dreams dreamed-the vast chrysalis
is so nearly a butterfly that the crea-
tors are feverish lest this child of their
imagination and energy be not fully
ready for it's initial bow. These few
pre- natal days will be a race with
Time. And the thing will be accom-
plished; the fair will be ready. Wis
itors now look upon a spectacle exter-
nally complete except for the touches
of a weeks time and thousands of
workmen will add.
The St. Louis fair has beaten previ-
Gus expositions by at least a month.
To the gazer from the pivotal point, the
Louisiana Purchase monument, it is
as finished as the Pan-American was
month after the opening. The principal
walks are asphalted; the buildings
painted and whole; the scaffolds cling
only in isolated places. The. lagoons-
beautiful as a dream of Venice-are
filled with blue water. and before now
the streams have travelled the length of
the steps of the great cascade. The
turrets and towers of the state and
foreign buildings Beyond the main vista
give a feeling-of breadth and perma-
nence to this city of a season. Every
where the servants of the landscapists
are f1inging sod over mud holes and
carpeting the terraces with foliage and
flowers nursed into bloom by hot
houses during the winter and brought
here to present their rich maturity
Fine Statuary.
To a lover of the beautiful. as he
enters the main gate and travels down
the Plaza Of St. Louis, a wonderful
group of statuary is poised over the
portal Of the palace Of Liberal Arts.
1t is Victory" charioted, carrying in
one hand a tense Mercury, and in the
other the flaming torch of Progress.
The goddess looks down across plain
Of workmen digging ground, planting
shrubs and--placing statuary to the
buildings Of varied industries, with it's
row Of freight cars before the door,
They are discharging great machines
of steel, loads of lumber and wagons
| full of crates through the mammoth
| portal. When car is emptied it is
| rolled on, another drawn up, ransacked
and hustled past urged by the insistent
cry Of the superintendent: Hurry"
The plazas are filled with foreigners,
some wide-eyed; others cynical, but
each grasping his neighbours arm at
some turn to cry: Look"
The Louisiana Purchase monument,
where the architects designed the on
locker to stand to inhale his first breath
of the beauty of the place, is being
| dnnriWQ6 nf he fol
| hidden 1t for Tnenths. Now the golden
eagles and garlands stand out plainly
about the noted group at its base-the
| figures of the three singers of the great
| treaty: Monroe, Livingston and Mar
| bois. Above these men, on the foremost
| shield of the monument and dimly
foreshadowing the meaning Of the pur-
| chase are these words: "The instru-
nlent we have signed here will prepare
| centuries Of happiness for innumerable
| generations of the human race. The
] Mississippi and Missouri will see them
| prosper and increase in the midst of
equality under just laws"
Appearance of Festival Hall.
Festival hall, the. heart of the exposi-
| ton, is also stripped of it's shroud Of
| timbers but for small patch over the
( pOrtico. The sun today strikes it's
| white columns, and the naked goddess
4
| to come. Below, the plaster shell which
will protect the fountain head of the
waters, is inS position, and within a
| week, water will gush forth. The
broad steps, now spotted with workmen
| laying the last pipes and valves, have
been painted green to furnish a color
| full background to the leaping water.
| On the opening day, the lagoon below
will sustain a parade of the exposition
| water craft-nOt alone the conventional
| Venetian gondola, but the same idea
| worked into hundreds of shapes of sea
monsters and land animals.
Across the grand basin, which is the
| center of the exposition, and made to
express the highest beauty of civiliza-
ton, are the mute, sculptured protests
| of the Indian Six groups of the
abOrigines gaze across the water at
| these glimmering emblems Of the prog
resS of man and seem to defy advance
! Each figure is strained, anxious, and
holds before his breast as q protection
| some rude symbol of barbarism.
young girl gazes with frightened eyes
| at the beautiful nude figure of Light
| on the cornice of the palace of cleo
| tricity, and protects with her robe the
crouching, lowbrowed mother from
| the influence of the unknown. An In
dian pony, with wind-tossed tail
1 and name, seemingly alone on a great
prairie, shelters beneath his belly the
| PROSTATE form of a chief Across the
steps a cowboy, also shielded by
| saddled pony, looks with steady eyes
| at the Greek columns ahead And close
| by four feathered chiefs, in an agony
| of self-defense, writhe in the tribal
war dance.
Worlds in Contrast.
| The buildings of the foreign nations
| emphasize the essential difference be-
| tween America and the old world. Here
! the exhibits exhale art, poetry, ro-
nance. The state buildings show me-
| chanics, ingenuity and material
achievement. To place side by side,
for instance, the state Of Washington's
building and the palace Of Belgium is
| to realize just what makes the differ
| ence IN the spirit of the two peoples
The Washington building is built with
out architectural effect for this sole
| purpOse-to show the material re-
| sources of the state. Every stick OF
| timber in the building was brought
| from the fir forests of Puget sound.
| There Is not an inch of plaster on it:
the edifice is of as genuine construc-
| ton as If 1t were to last a generation.
| Great cylinders of spruce support the
building, and 1t is sanctioned by four
| logs of solid fir more than 100 feet long
| 1t is the exponent of vast energy and
| resource; 1t is a claim to the activities
| of anyone.
4 Of a. &c .4,...z