The outside on't wuz splendid enough to almost take your breath, with its strange and gorgeous magnificence. It wuz sech a contrast in its construction to the Exposition Buildin's that lift their domes in such glory on the East.
But if the outside struck a blow onto our admiration and astonishment, what—what shall I say of the inside?
Why, as I entered that magnificent arched vestibule, with my faithful pardner by my side, and my good cotton umbrell grasped in my right hand, the view wuz pretty nigh overwhelmin' in its profusion of orniment and gorgeous decoration.
That first look seemed to take me back to Spain right out of Chicago, and other troubles. I wuz a-roamin' there with Mr. Washington Irving, and Mr. Bancroft, and other congenial and descriptive minds, and surrounded with the gorgeous picters of that old time.
I wuz back, I should presoom to say, as much, if not more, than four hundred years, when all to once I was recalled by my companion.
"Dum it, I didn't know they charged folks for goin' to meetin'!"
"Hush!" sez I; "this is not a meetin'-house, this is a palace; be calm!"
And comin' down through the centuries as sudden as if jerked by a electric lasso of lightnin', I see that old familiar sight of a man a-settin' a-sellin' tickets.
And Josiah with a deep sithe paid our fares, and we meandered onwards.