Year: 1876

PHILADELPHIA, April q, '76.


Probably the busiest place to be found
anywhere at this time is in and about
the Centennial grounds. A village of
bee hives, on a very large scale, too
large almost for comparisons sake, is
the idea conveyed 10y general view of
the acres of buildings, and the thou
sands of workmen engaged upon and
around them. The main buildings
are pretty much completed, lacking for
the most part only those finishing
touches which must wait the tardy mo-
tions of exhibitors. There are. howev


er, innumerable smaller structures in
all stages of advancement, some of
which have scarcely risen above their
foundations. Some of the States in
fact have jus. begun their separate
preparations. These main buildings
have been written about so much al
ready that your readers are undoubted-
ly as well acquainted with their dimen-
sions and general character as L could
make them; besides it is impossible for
fair to obtain an adequate comprehen-
sion of their immensity from brief
pen and ink sketch. a description of
the various forms and types of archi-
lecture so commIngled would give the
impression of discordant jumb!e, but
the effect produced upon the mind is
patchwork quilts our aunts and grand
mothers used to make in the country
and they make them yet for all the writer
knows-there is a certain harmony of
effects in the whole picture in spite of
the many apparently inharmonious de-
tails. An American log-cabin does
not seem appropriate in the neighbor-
hood of Moorish palace like the Hor-
ticultural Hall, nor Japanese dwell
ing in the shadow of an Elizbethan Ma
nOr-house, nor an uncouth structure of
corrugated iron by the side of the per-
feet granite proportions of the Art Hall
nor modern Italian villa in sight of a
construction in the medieval German
style; and yet one does not get the idea
of incongruity in looking at these struc-
lures. Perhaps it is because there is a
sense of fitness i'm their presence there.
A world s fair is Kaleidoscope of the
products of all nations; and nothing
that is developed by human skill and
genius is foreign or out of place. AS
all colors blend to produce white, so all
these various architectural forms unite
world which it is one of the chief aims
of such an exhibition to present.


Less than twenty days now remain
before the time appointed for formal
opening of the exhibition, and so much
still remains to be done that it is doubt
full whether any impression can be at
tempted on the 10th of May further
than the uncompleted displays in the
main building of Machinery Hall. This
Will HOO DC oO huOh ehO iouhe VI ehN
Centennial authorities as of the ex-
hibitors, who have delayed everything


by their own tardines. The foreign ex-
hibitors, are far ahead of our home de-
partment, and this is an American
characteristic. Your Yankee man of
business has so many irons in the fire
that he cannot even arrive at the thea
ter or an evening entertainment until
the first act is half over, so that he jostles
and disturbs his better regulated neigh
bOrs. 1t has been "a question with the
authorities whether pOstpOnement of
the opening day would not be prefera-
bic to an inauspicious beginning, but so
far the motion to postpone has not pre-
nailed, though most outsiders incline to
the opinion that such course would
be wisest. Another question that has
bothered the gigantic intellects of the
Board is the price of admission and the
dead-head problem. 1t was held by
some that if there were absolutely no
free tickets the Price of admission
might he reduced to twenty-five cents
for all. But the noble army OF dead