“Mr. Plant resides in New York much of the time, in an elegant home, but is also to be found a good deal in Florida, while he takes trips to Jamaica and other places where he has business to transact.

“Personally, he is a delightful conversationalist, and remarkably young for his years, which are not few. He is quite up to date in every way, and never lets a business chance go by him. The magnitude of his orders may be understood from the fact that he has recently given an order at Newport News for the largest coastwise steamer ever built, 440 feet in length, and having every comfort and modern arrangement for safety. He is deeply interested in the Cotton States and International Exposition, and has a building of his own at the grounds, with a comprehensive exhibit.”—New Haven Evening Register.

“THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION.

“We hardly think the Northern Press has been as generous in its good offices to the Southern Exposition as it might. We have just returned from a visit to Atlanta, and were delighted with the beautiful landscape order of the grounds, the large and elegant buildings, and, above all, the wonderful exhibits they contained. The farm products will astonish our Northern visitors. Canned fruits and garden produce are varied, numerous, and luxuriant. The manufactures, especially of cotton, were very fine, and their machinery equal to the best in the country—was so pronounced by the Manufacturers’ Committee from the New England States. The Art Building; is a model of artistic taste and elegance. The Industrial Building, in which France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and other nations are represented would require an entire day to explore. The minerals, fossils, photo plates, gold and silver ores, coal, salts, lime, and peculiar clays found in the Southern States, will repay close inspection. I saw beautiful china made from a white clay found in Florida only four months ago; also great blocks of salt as they were taken from the mine, that needed only to be crushed to fit them for immediate use.

“One of the things that has given a great uplift to the Cotton States has been the improvement of its railroads. A quarter of a century ago these were in a very depressed condition, crippled, bankrupt, and unremunerative, and about this time, H. B. Plant, of New York, interested Northern capitalists in them, bought, combined, reorganized, and improved them in every way, adding steamboat lines to the West Indies, and perfecting an express system unsurpassed in any part of the country, for the whole South. This so increased travel to the South, especially in the winter season, by health-seekers and pleasure-seekers, that better hotel accommodations were demanded. These were soon provided, at a large outlay, giving the South, especially Florida, the finest hotels in the world. St. Augustine, Palm Beach, and Tampa Bay, especially the latter, are unsurpassed for healthful, comfortable, and luxuriant appointments. Hence, Plant Day was one of the great days of the Exposition, when some two thousand of the more than twelve thousand employees of the Plant System came to do honor to the man who had done so much for the Southern section of our country. Receptions, addresses, silver cup, compass, and flowers, and a grand banquet in the evening at the Aragon Hotel, were cordially tendered to this benefactor of the Cotton States. Labor and capital clasped hands in the most friendly accord, and this problem of the age was here solved, where peace and good-will abounded among these men. We saw the man of war, the admiral of the fleet at Hampton Roads, pay his respects to this man of peace, whose guest we were, and whose power for good has been so widely felt in our land.”—An East Orange Dominie, East Orange Gazette, East Orange, New Jersey.

“EXPOSITION ECHOES.

“Mr. A. B. Wrenn, special agent of the Southern Pacific, who has been in Atlanta for the past few days, returned to the city yesterday, and gives a glowing account of the Exposition. He says that the number of people who visited the great show on President’s Day was something over 78,000, and that on Atlanta Day the number will be considerably more.

“‘One of the prettiest sights I saw while in Atlanta,’ said Mr. Wrenn, ‘was that of the thousands of the employees of the Plant System, when Plant Day was celebrated. Mr. H. B. Plant, president and owner of the Plant System of railroads, gave the thousands of his employees, who could possibly get off duty, a free trip to the Fair, and on Plant Day there were several thousands of them present. A grand reception was given, and section bosses, freight agents, clerks, and even negro laborers who worked on the sections, were given an opportunity of shaking hands with Mr. Plant, who is now an elderly gentleman. Mr. Plant made a speech and expressed his satisfaction at meeting so many of his men, and the affair passed off most pleasantly.’

“Mr. Wrenn says that the Exposition is well worth seeing.”—Daily Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana.

“THE ATLANTA EXPOSITION.
“BY THE REV. GEORGE H. SMYTH, D.D.