Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1890 — THE GRANDEST OF ALL. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE GRANDEST OF ALL.

WILL BE THIS YEAR’S SIOUX CITY CORN PALACE. The Resources of the Great Northwest to Bo Shown in Great Grandeur—Exhl bite From Many States to Be Seen—lce Kiner With His Floats to Visit King Korn—An Ode to Mondamin. The management of the Sioux City,, la., Corn Palace, which opens 'Sept. 25 and closes Oct. 11, has determined to make this year’s carnival tho grandest of them all. To this end the fourth annual Corn Palace festival will in every respect represent the resources of the great northwest. The building itself Is a stately structure, covering an acre or more of ground in tho very heart of Sioux City. Exhibits from a dozen or more different states are now being placed in position. There will be many county displays from South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and lowa. One of the features of a Corn Palace is the novelty of its interior and exterior decoration. Tho entire outside Is ornamented with the various species and colors of corn, while tire interior is trimmed and beautified by the nimble fingers of 300 ladies. A description of its beauty would be next to an impossibility. Tho Palace this year will be illuminated day and night by thousands of incandescent lights and arc lamps. Upon entering the Palace one feels as if in a fairy land, the coiling being studded with Incandescent lights, twinkling from a back ground of a soft blue hue. To the extreme end fartherest from the entrance is a fortyfoot water fall, carrying with it all tho effects produced by numerous lights of various colors. The palace will bo open every day and evening. During each afternoon and

evening there will be concerts by the celebrated Elgin military band, Prof. J. Hecker, formerly bandmaster of the Eigty-second regiment Prince of Wales volunteers, director. This band is considered one of the finest musical organizations in America. Tho repertoire of tho band consists of 6,000 pieces and they could give two concerts a day for a year and not repeat a single number. This splendid organization is made up of seventy skilled musicians, and in itself is a grand card for Sioux City. There are so many features in connection with this year’s Corn Palace, that space will not permit extended notice. Tho trades’ parades consist of novel floats representing the various industries of the city and the great northwest. These parades occu* in the morning shortly before tho noon hour, and pass over tho principal streets of tho city. On days not devoted to trades parades, there will be the celebrated King Korn carnival pageant, something unique and never before witnessed in tho northwest. Tho dazzling and novel pageants will bo designed by the French artist, Francois Dubois, who has been brought over by the Mardi Gras authorities to desfgri and equip next year’s carnival at New Orleans. It will be impossible at this time to say just what this parade will be, and, indeed, in a great measure tho matter will be kept a secret, but the assurance is given that no such parade and no such magnificent costumes and equipments have ever been seen north of New Orleans, as will be witnessed during the Corn Palace carnival. Several hundred costumed horses and plumed knights, with glittering chariots and floats will take part in these pageants, and give amusement to tho thousands who crowd the streets. Every railroad centering at Sioux City, as well as all tributary lines have made a rate of one fare for the round trip, and it is safe to predict Sioux City will, between the dates of Sept. 25 and Oct 11, have the largest gathering of people ever assembled In any lowa city,

What Is a Corn Palace?

The Sioux City Corn Palace —and there was never a Corn Palace outside of Sioux City—is a palace covered and embellished, as with tapestry, outside and Inside, with products of the field, corn predominating, Ingeniously and fancifully arranged. In building the palace a large structure is first erected of lumber, in a shape that will carry and show to advantage the multiform decorations with which it is to be adorned- It is in form lofty, with brokafcllnes, pinnacles, buttresses, bridges, games, ornamental windows, etc. Over every inch of this wooden surface are laid corn and kindred plants In architectural harmony, in a multiplicity of designs. The corn is employed in the stalk, the ear, the kernel, and even the husk has its decorative uses. All the grains and grasses of the field lend themselves to the beautifying of the palace/ The walls are covered on the outside with ears of corn, cut lengthwise or crosswise, and nailed on in geometrical figures or other designs. The various colors of the cereal permit of a wide range of shading and coloring, while its artistic possibilities, developed from year to year in building the palace, admit of the production of effects that are as startling as pleasurable. High over the entrance ot the palace

of 1830 was King Corn’s crown as tht nucleus of a snubirrsti while below wal the national flag in graceful folds—all wrought in varicolored corn as true and as beautiful as if painted by an artist’s brush. The roof is overlaid with corn leaves. Pinnacles and columns are capped with the sorghum plant, or with grains and grasses. The irridesccnt walls, seen from a near distance, seem to be a rich mosaic of polished woods, while with the “Banners, yellow, glorious, golden,” that “From its roof-tree floiyt and flow,” the palace enraptures the beholder as one who looks upon a cloud-painted mansion that may dissolve before his eyes.' The Interior work Is finer and more elaborate. Here the kernel of the corn is largely employed, producing amazing and lovely effects. On tho walls are wrought pictures, illustrating farm scenes, legendary and nursery tiles, etc., with a fidelity that is calculated to raise a doubt that the material employed is the homely utilitarian growth of western faring. Frescoes and flowers, figures of persons and animals, draperies and thousands of surprising and beautiful things are made of field plants for the delight of the visitors to the palace, astonishment Is succeeded by admiration of the genius that conceived and developed so much of art and beauty from such homely fabrics as are employed.

A COHN PALACE POEM.

Mrs. Isadora Baker’s Admirable Offering at the Altar of Mondamin. WHITTEN FOR THE SIOUX CITY DAIL TTIMES BY MRS. ISADORE BAKER. “Sing the blessings of the coruflelds."—Longfellow. In the season of the autumn, Of the golden glad September, When thoTiai vests all are garnered, When the corn Is fully ripened

When the birds have had their full fare Of this product of th? plow-share; When the squirrels know the secret Of Mondamin’s golden treasure, When the Farmer's heart rejoices That the grain Is safe In shelter,— Then the people of the prairies Of the valleys and tho by-ways, Of the cities, plains and highways, Say with look of proud complaisance:— “We will build a stately palace Like unto a castle olden With its turrets high and golden, With Its ramparts and embiasure, . And from parapet to flag-stafl ' It shall bo of Maize, sweet ripened, By the sun and wind of summer, By tlte ozone and the dew-fall, By the magic wand of Ceres And the sturdy hand of granger. When the harvest moon shone fairest. When the crickets chirped in covert, And the locust wings were tuning All their harps in summer nooning, , When the larks were In the meaftow And the cattle drowsed In shadow,— j Then was mother earth In secret Busy with her Chemlc forces In fruition of Mondamin, For the palace of Mondamin, To be reared In western city Proud and prosperous Sioux City. For unique designs in landscape, z Pediment and arch In fresco, Motto, monogram, and story Statue, bric-a-brac, and corn-bloom Wild verbena, morning-glory, Flowers sweet In song and story ' , Pansy, rose and golden lily, Purple iris from the squaw corn. Tiny seed-pearls loved of children, Who around the winter hearthstone Love to watch the glowing embers' Ttirn to flake, these gems of Ceres. And the throng In vast procession ] Shall with music, song and triumph, , Crown this king of fields and harvest Monarch of a boundless kingdom; E’en to verge of mount and forest And areas stretching seaward f This domain, of trade and commerce. And the palace, fair and stately It shall be to palmer’s vision To the pilgrim of true progress In the onward march of nations. In the legends of the nations, Chronicle of song and story In the rune of Hiawatha Measure of the Kalevala. Song of Mondamin. Oh, I am the king of a grander realm Than monarch or czar may own. i The forces of nature my vassals are And the wide, gray earth my throne. My banners hung on a thousand hills Their radiant oriflamme; And the air was athrlll with resonant song Of welcome, when I came. And none but I the miracle knew; How from tho humble seed The mystic wonder of harvest grew In answer to human need. The song of vintage resounds at eve, And echoes at early mom. But the sweetest melody of the year * Is heard in the rustling corn. And I am the mystic warder That stands at tho autumn's gate— Mondamin, the carnival spirit " ’ That rules at the Palace fete. And my song is of joy and gladness— : A rune without favor or fear— The mlth but never the sadness That comes witiTthe waning year. For I am the king of a grander realm Than monarch or czar majFown. The forces of nature my vassals are And the wide, gray earth my throne.

The Corn Palace this year will be Illuminated both day and night by thousands of incandescent and arc electric lights, a feature that is In Itself new and worth traveling miles to see.

Sioux City Corn Palace.—Opens Sept. 25; oloses Oct. 11,1890.