STATUE OF THE REPUBLIC AND MANUFACTURES BUILDING.
“From various sources. The States and territories appropriated nearly $5,000,000, and foreign countries nearly $6,000,000. The capital stock amounts to $5,000,000, the City of Chicago Bonds to $5,000,000, the Souvenir half-dollars (appropriated by Congress), to $2,500,000, and the Debenture Bonds to $4,000,000.”
“What is the total value of the exhibits?”
“It is estimated to be $300,000,000.”
“What will the Fair cost?”
“The total estimated expense is $21,250,000.”
“How many visitors are expected?”
“It is expected that there will be about 20,000,000 visitors.”
“The gate receipts from them would amount to $10,000,000. How much ground does the Fair cover?”
“The total number of acres in the Exposition Grounds is 633, of which Jackson Park occupies 553 acres, the Midway Plaisance, 80, the space available for buildings, 556, and the Interior Waterways (61 acres) and Wooded Island, 77.”
“Now I wish to know something about the size of the different buildings. Which is the largest one?”
“The Manufactures Building is the largest. It is 1,687 feet long, and 787 feet wide, covering 44 acres of floor. Its cost was $1,600,750. Of the other buildings, the Stock Sheds cover 25 acres, the Machinery Building and Annex, 23.2 acres, the Agricultural Building and Annex, 19 acres, the Transportation Building, 17.9 acres, the Electricity Building, 9.3 acres, the Building of Mines, 8.5 acres, and the Building of Horticulture, 8 acres. The total number of acres covered by buildings is 240.”
“How much did they cost, Judge Bonney?”
“Twelve million two hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars.”
“How many other World’s Fairs have been held, and where?”
“Between the years 1851 and 1889, eight World’s Fairs were held,—two of them in London, four in Paris, one in Vienna, and one in Philadelphia.”
“How does the size of the grounds here compare with those of the other World’s Fairs, Judge Bonney?”
“Of the previous World’s Fairs, that of Paris in 1889 covered the largest area—200 acres—which is not quite one third the size of this.”
“How many visitors had that Fair?”
“Twenty-eight million, one hundred and forty-nine thousand, three hundred and fifty-three.”
“Now, Judge Bonney, tell me about the World’s Fair Auxiliary and its Congresses, of which you are the representative. When do the Congresses meet, and where?”
“There are nineteen Departments of the Congresses of the World Fair Auxiliary. Each lasts usually a week. In May we held the Congress of Woman’s Progress, Public Press, and Medicine; in June, will be those of Temperance, Moral and Social Reform, and Commerce and Finance; in July, of Music, Literature, Education, Engineering, and Art; in August, of Government, Science and Philosophy, and Labor; in September, of the Departments of Religion; and in October, the closing month of the Fair, those of Sunday Rest, Public Health, and Agriculture.”
THE ART PALACE.
The good judge took the trio into the Hall of Columbus and the Hall of Washington, and the various art rooms in the Palace where the Congresses were to meet. The engines shrieked as they passed the sunny windows, and the blue lake rolled afar as in fathomless distance. The world seemed on the march in the great avenues below the balconies. Near by rose the Great Auditorium, and near it a colossal bridge led the way to the steamers and cars.
How bright and happy the world looked from the open windows of the smoke-colored Art Palace. As they passed one of those windows, the White City some miles distant, gleamed afar over the blue lake like a radiant vision. Constantinople from the Golden Horn was not as celestial and beautiful.
“White, Judge Bonney,” said old Ephraim.
“Yes, my friend, it is built of Staff.”
“Judge Bonney, what is Staff?”
“Staff is a mixture of plaster—often called plaster of Paris—and a small per cent of cement, into which are introduced frequent fibres of hemp, jute, or Sisal grass, to give it toughness, so that it may be bent, sawn, nailed, or bored, at will.”
“How is it cast?”
“It is cast in moulds. The plaster and cement are first wet up to the consistency of thick treacle, a layer of which is spread on the well-lubricated mould. Then follows a layer of the long, tough fibres; over this is poured another coating of the liquid plaster, covering in the fibre and filling the mould to the required depth.”
“Are there many moulds?”
“Yes, there are a thousand or more of different patterns and sizes, from those for casting plain staff-board for walls, to those for the most complex, beautiful, or fantastic ornamentation.”
“Are statues ever made of it?”
“Yes, both statues and statuary groups. The moulds are first fashioned in clay, then coated with staff.”
“How long does it take to make it ready for use?”
“Oh, in the course of half an hour the composition hardens sufficiently to be handled and taken away to the buildings in process of construction.”
“How long will it last?”
“If kept painted, it will withstand the weather for a number of years. If it cracks or crumbles off, it can readily be repaired with a brush or trowel, from a tub of the liquid mixture. It is fireproof, and, to a great degree, waterproof.”
“They say, Judge Bonney, that there is a sidewalk there that goes all by itself. Is that so? Tell us all about it.”
MICHIGAN AVENUE.
“The Multiple Speed Sidewalk is also called the Travelling Sidewalk, or the Locomotive Sidewalk. It is a mechanical device for facilitating travel on the long pier—nearly one half a mile long and two hundred and fifty feet wide—near the Peristyle, thus enabling the tourist to make the trip over the pier in ease and comfort, refreshed by the lake breeze. The sidewalk, which traverses the entire length of the pier on one side, returns on the other, making a loop at each end. It is on low wheels. There are two parallel sections, or platforms, one moving at a rate of three miles an hour, about ordinary walking speed, and the other at six miles an hour, an easy driving rate. One may ride on either section.”
The Judge led the trio back to his room. It was crowded with people seeking information.
“I am obliged to you, Judge Bonney, for those bits of information. But what are these few things that I have learned to a Fair like that? I’ll call again, Judge Bonney, and give you a chance to tell us some more. ’Tisn’t often that I find a man so well stocked with information about the world.”
Judge Bonney did not look tired. With a serene face he met the crowd awaiting him, many of whom would ask him these questions over again. Our fancied interview is but a picture of the Judge’s work for nearly a year.
The Marlowes, under the influence of the officers of the World’s Auxiliary, who invited them to a literary reception soon after their arrival, arranged to spend their home-life in Chicago with Mr. and Mrs. Edmand, who led a Folk-Lore Society which met at their home on Michigan Avenue. The Edmands family were from New England, and had known the Marlowes by reputation, and received them as their guests. It was agreed between the Edmands and their guests that the Folk-Lore Society should meet every Saturday evening, and that, on these occasions, the Marlowes should relate as a part of the exercises Folk-Lore stories.