Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-07-04
ON THE PIKE.
John Quill Listens to the
IireIess Bankers.
Also Rides in a Rickshaw and
Sees the Sights.
A Mile Of Midway with q M;,,;o, m,
wells and Mysteries and Many Man
ners OF Merrymakins at the St. Iouis
Exposition.


the exposition may have to col,
the wonders of modern life ana r,..,,,'',
after days of such study Won vii,
piuilse mo the mad whiri of the Pike !"
AS PRESIDENT Francis is "a pretty SAT.
man To tie to, l took the hint the other
day. after finding my head fulI of.
Wheels, and my vcrtabrae warned look
ing up at the tall buildings, | took :,
llycr down the Pike. The Pike 10 =,
great. big. overgrown midway uh.r,,
all the piebald elephants and hot .,i,.
artists abide. It's a long avenuo ~
street, something over u mile i'm lenptb
ana the various attractions line zach
size from one end to the other. The
street IS laid out in the form of a 10.
Il, with Doth ends open, and the nan
woman, or child who cannot 6nI
amusement here must be hard TO suit
From five to six millions of dollars bav.
been expended OH this mile of attrac-
ton. and judging by the activity
shown and the longing on the part of
lhe promoters to possess portion, at
least. of my good old State of Maine
collateral the lid must have been oft
or raised several inches, when l started
i'll to come down the Pike. Yet, amid
AL this splendor, this tinsel and
Spangles, it WAS nothing like the
worlds fair at South Windsor, and 7
yawned for the sight of Perkins AMI
his famous three-leGSed calf. There
are some forty attractions strewn along
the Pike. and IA man to feast his eyes
on the whole bunch individually and
collectively, must go down into the
cadaverous depths of his jeans to the
metallic tune of some $50. Like tho
boy at home, who told the merchant
one Fourth of July Ito give him "A
cents worth Of peanuts. as he didn't
mind the cXpensc.' | took in the list
and can safely say without fear of
contradiction. I have graduated and
got my diploma. in other words have
seen the Pike. The Pike censor COM
ruted that Pikcrs may take their
Whirl down this mile Of marvels in five
hours and forty minutes, if they follow
iii" pace of modern America. The
Cardiff giant, that much abused old
fossil, that has ,lona duty at every fair.
since the days when Noah. bumped his
ark on Mt. Ararat is conspicuous by
his absence, POSSIBLY he has gone the
way of the world, and crumbled to
dust. Let us hope SO, at least
In entering the grounds from the
Lindell avenue entrance, one crosses
the broad plaza and finds himself at
the threshold of tho street of conceS-
siOnS. At ones right, are the Tryolean
Alps. covering some seven acres, with
castles and Alpine villages. a typical
Swiss Sccn". with snoW-capped noun
tainS in the distance. Next is the
Irish village. with it's reproduction nf
the old house of parliament at Dublin.
Carnsac's castle on the rocks of cashcl
the Rlarn"y castle, and others, all
characteristic of the Emerald Isle.
tn" jauntinG car. the Irishman's auto
mobile. is all right for a man with
pneumatic makeup. or with dyspepsia.
but as pleasure vehicle it is dizzy
failure. Irish games and pastimes
we're in full blast when I was there,
and I have no doubt l saw many a
future Boston policeman among the
Eossoons at play. Our next was mys-
FERROUS Asia. across the street which
covers large tract of territory ana
embracing scenes from India, Ccylon.
countries The original, Toby. whose
donkey. Mary Anderson. won rcnown
on former midway now OWNS Bedclia.
The animals appear to be in the best
of spirits. very sociablc. and wanted
to eat me up. The keeper apologiZed
by saying that they were very fond of
green things. The next on the list is
Over and Under the Sea. Here one
takes trip in his mind. by submarine
boat to Paris and returns by airship.
Haganbecks, is always good. We
fingered here some time. and watched
the half human animals go through
their antics. The Siberian railroad
took us across the Russian steppes
much quicker than 1t takes the Rus
sian troops to go to the relief of Port
Arthur. There are all sorts of vehicles
on the Pike to ride in. So the Weary
Willie, or the born-tired man can do
the Pike without much eXcrtiOn. Find
ing that spring feeling coming on. |
chartered a Japanese rickshaw, to the
I will say. rickshaw is 4
crosc between hokeypokey wagon
and an Italian push cart. the prOp"llinG
powcr being one seven-horse power
Jan. who as soon as he got me seated
in the vehicle. started down the Pike
like the mill race of tOphet. 7 have
vet to find ont whether he got frighton-
ed at the elephant or had fit, any
way the rickshaw man and l parted
company at the end of the race. Over
in the streets If Cairo there is always
something doing. Fhkirs galore. all
at once. Their war cry is
ride camel. ride a camel" My
friend and fellow-traveler insisted up
on my crawling up on the hurricane
deck of n camel and taking ride in
the cabocse. which politely but firmly
declined to do. The camel may not be
the strongest, in point of strength
among the fur bearing animals. the
elephant may outclass him. but i'll
smell he outranks him two to one.
The moving pictures were more than
good GalvestOn's flood is realistic. 1t
calls to mind the great calamity of two
wears ago. ConstantinOple is repro
duction of part of the BaZaar's OF
Shamboul. The entrance to this at
ira action is through the Mosque or No
uri. Osmanich. The main street or
avenue is Kalpakiilah Dgediss q got
If ho ci ri on1