The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-07-23

ureS in Il magnificent building so
large that the floor space is equal to
FIVE acres and so fine in interior dec
oration that | viii not attempt to de-
scribeit. One not very large room
cost S65 900, which will give some
idea of its beauty. 1t is 50 much be-
yond anything we saw at St. Louis
that there is no room for compari-
son; and this is solid stole and mar
BILE that will endure for all time, while
the ST, Louis buildings are plaster
and lath-staff. they call it; makes a
brave appearance, but is crumbhng
even before it is completed. And
the art collection is far ahead OF that
of the fair. We spent some time in
the Fine Arts building at the fair
and saw acres Of canvas and statuary,
but saw nothing there equal in beauty
to the display at the museum. The
Vanderbilt and Lorillard collections
of paintings ny the old masters and
by more modern masters, such as
Turner and GainsbrOugh, are so fine
as to justify the term masters, .
and Justify all that have ever read
in praise of thei" work. OF statuary
| should say that there was twice as
much as at the fair, and originals,
not Implications. We saw how Plato
and Socrates, Alcibiades, Augustus
and Julius Caesar and all the great
est OF antiquity and of the centuries
looked, and of gods and goddesses
there was an overstock. Every form
of art, ancient and modern, from
every part of the world, in every
form of painting, sculpture or as dis
played in the making of every kind
of utensil, pottery, porcelain, glass,
fabrics, tomhs and what not, mum
mics included, are all gathered here,
and it is all free for all. That is the
greatest glory Of it. We saw the
obelisk brought from Egypt at such
great expense Of time and money and
set up here so far from its home 1t
is not a beauty and never was and is
getting less so. Square at the base
seven feet diameter or there
abouts, tapering to four at the top
and fifty or sixty feet high-appears
about that; | don't know the exact
size. Was covered with carved
cranes and other impossible Egyptian
birds d reptiles and hieroglyphics,
but most of them have vanished,
scaled off in the damp and freezing
of this climate. They have washed it
over with cement to preserve it and
it does not look imposing now, if it
ever did. But then, it's an obolisk and
from Egypt and cost heap, and
we feel as though we ought to admire
it if we don't.
Another marvellous park place is
the Museum of Natural History. The
building is about 25O feet wide and
400 feet long -Four floors are filed
with everything that pertains to
natural history. To fifty describe it
would require volume. If one could
live as long as Methuseah is said to
have endured, it would pay to spend
a few years Of such brief sojourn in
an intense study Of this exhibit of the
worlds natural history. Here are a
few things that you can see:
Everything that an Indian ever
made, from the artic to the south
pole, in historic and prehistoric
times; all the gods of the North
American Indians, Aztecs, Central
American and Incas, and relics
and curios of every description
from every part of the earth and
from under the earth, dug up at
Babylon, Nineveh, in Egypt, Pales-
tine, Asia Minor, Greece and Rome
and in other less noted precincts.
Then there is a section of every kind
of tree on earth that win make lum-
ber. All the animals and birds and
fishes and reptiles and insects, or, to
be more exact, one or more of each
kind has been secured and stuffed
and mounted. The insects are all
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