The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1904-09-22
SEEING THE
FAIR IN DETAIL

Some Of the Surprises In the Alaskan
5uilding--E6ucationa Showing From
the Great Territory--Wild Flowers.
Fine Laees and Embroideries From
the Far North--comforts Of the Alas
kan Building The Alaskan Press.
The stereopticon Called into Play.
Fishing Tools Of the EsI<imos - A
Loan Collection.
ESPECIAL. CORRESPONDENCE by
MARK BENNITTl
Beyond the signal poles of the great
German railway exhibit stand the to-
tenn poles Of the Alaskan Indians.
Science and civilization stand beside
superstition and barbarism Enlighten-
ment says. "Howdy doY to mental
darkness and gives the hand Of friend
ship. which finds acceptance with hesi-
fancy and suspicion
We stride up the gravel walk between
hideously carved aud horribly painted
sentinels, whose first mission is to keep
off the evil spirits. Being good spirits,
we pass into the Indian cabin It is an
Indian cabin upon the outside only,
and is grated upon the stately Alaskan
building Of the colonial type, with tall
pillars in front and pediment above,
deliberately decorated with architecture
al terms
Within this graceful mansion that
might once have adorned a great es-
tate in Virginia or held the place Of
honor In the shady main street of a
New England town, suggesting afiiu-
ence and ease two words that no lon
ger keep company we ind tile great
collective exhibit Of Alaska Ii is a
building containing many surprises. 1t
IS characteristic Of the whole exposi-
ton, for surprises are all the while
jumping out and saying, "Hellol' to US
and drawing US away from any plan
which one may have formulated for
seeing the exposition
Aladdin of old rubbed his one lamp
it must have been a stereoptcon to
produce wonderful things Here we
must keep rubbing our two lamps to
be sure that we see Alright the wonder
full objects already created and pos
sessing material qualities of lasting
value. All the visions at the worlds
fair are maryelously real and full Of
meaning to one who aims to compre
head the foundation which is here be-
ing laid for a future growth and de
velopment extending throughout the
world.
The particular surprise to every vis-
itor to Alaska's building Is the educa-
tional exhibit. The chubby round face
of an Alaskan Indian may not show
the fine artistic temperament that lies
at the heart The Eskimo has been too
long linked with axle grease dinners
to permit US to think Of him as one
whose mind runs to poesy. But artists
they are the shore Indian OF the warm
region and the fur clad hunter and
fisher OF the interior country, whose
home the better part of the year Is an
icy hemisphere or rude hoyel overlaid
with snow. The torch of civilization
was introduced into the most remote
settlements years ago. Mission schools
for Indians have long been in exist
ence The United States government
has an established school system that
serves the children of both the Indian
tsnd the white settler, and now we may
see the practical fruits of sustained eff
fort
Feminine Alaska may claim credit
for the large educational display Mrs
Mary Il. Hart, hostess of the Alaska
building, has spared no effort to pre-
sent the home life and refinements. the
progress in education and the social
development Of the territory. TO that
end she appointed auxiliary bands of
women in every village whose purpose
was to secure exhibits worthy of a
place at the big exposition Here they
area story well told
In this composition by boy in the
juneau public school the American flag
waves in patriotic splendor, all bril-
| liantly done in colors. Another tells
the story Of Lincoln from cabin to the
presidency. This one tells Of the an
| gelus and illustrates the story with O
careful cutting from newspaper The
tale of Hiawatha and Mudjekeewis Is
narrated by another, with color illustra-
tons of tepee, CULVER, bow and ar
row, mittens and moccaslns. The same
story Is decorated by another with a
totem pole in colors AS we get to the
higher grades the work IS equally cred
liable, particularly in map drawing.
One pupil illustrates THE Lady OF the
Lake with a well drawn castle
Alaska is SO different only in our
imaginations. Spring comes with the
warm breath Of May. The snow slips
from the hills and valleys, anu all the
common wild flowers that we know
spring up as they do here aud give
gladness to the world You might see
blue forgetmenots by the acre II you
were there and double buttercups to
make your chin yellow as Of yore, The
ardent foxglove glows on the Alaskan
landscape, and the yellow throated col
umbine blooms coyly in its dells The
dewy cowslip and modest violet the