Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1893 — SHOW OF MANY NATIONS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

SHOW OF MANY NATIONS

INTERESTING ATTRACTION AT THE WORLD’S FAIR. A Walk Through Midway Plohanre Is Equal to a Trip Around the WorldOriental People Living as in the OrientWorld’s Fair Note*. Congress of Nations. World’s Fair correspondence: The Midway Plaisance in <he World’s Fair Grounds will be one of the greatest attractions of the Exposition. The term, Midway Plaisance, merely means an avenue lined with buildings in which entertainments are given, and to witness these extra fates will be charged. This aide show avenue is a mile long and GOo"feet. wide. Near ihe entrance to the Plaisance a Tower of Babel is built, having a height of 01 feet and a diameter at the base of 100 feet This tower deviates from the plan of the original by having a double track electrical circular railway from the base to the top. A chime of bells is installed at the top, from which a good view of the glounds is had. The Irish Villa-c. One of the attractions of the Plaisance is a collection of houses, representing an Irish village. Towering over them is a reproduction of famous Donegal

castle. Lady Aberdeen, living in one of the cottages, will preside over the little village. Here are specimens of the work of Irish peasants and of some of tho people themselves. Laces, shawls, embroidery, etc., will be made and sold. A Kerry cow makes the center an illustration of Irish dairy work. Three of Hm cottages form a national museum, containing rare manuscripts, books and works of art. Tho City of Cfilro. Another Plaisance attraction is represented by a street scene in Cairo, in which 150 Egyptians figure. Dark-brown beauties from tho banks ot the Nile, who dance voluptuous measures, look

coquettishly upon the Yankee, their big eyes winning ids attention as soon as they flash them upon him. They wear spangles, chains, beads and gilt bands. Arab traders, donkey boys and camel drivers are thore. While the dancers are performing in the theater the merchants sell beads, turbans or shells from the Red Sea and other curiosities, all at Chicago prices, and the

snake charmers subdue reptiles and the magicians show their familiarity with the black art. There are performing monkeys, too, and parrots. An old priest goes up into the tower of the mosque at daybreak and calls upon all believers in Mohammed to pray. The people perform their ablutions and then bless the prophot. When they have done this the long-bearded merchants take their pipes and squat in the bazars, looking indolently at the pass-ers-by, Whll? the women and children gaze in wonder and smile knowingly at the ignorance of their ways betrayed by the Americans, who are as great a show to them as they are to purchasers of admission tickets. A of Stamhoul. One of the old streets of Stamboul is reproduced and tenanted with people from that city and from Constantinople, who show pretty much the same sort of entertainment as their Egyptian neighbors. One of their features is a fire department such as is in service at the City of the Golden Horn. The fire pump, which has a large capacity, is slung on poles on the shoulaers of the natives, who trot through the streets astonishingly fast. When they reach, the fire the water is supplied them by carriers, who bear leather bags that are refilled from the well as fast as their contents are used up. A silver bed, owned by one of the Sultans of Turkey, is on exhibition. A Moorish palace, modeled after one of the old-style temples found in Spain and in Northern Airica, is another side show on the Plaisanee. A restaurant(accommodating 500 people in the palace show that the Moors are a practical race. In the j building is an immense collection of gold coins. An Algerian merchant has put up a building in which are quar-i tered a largo supply of natives who maintain a bazar, in which are displayed precious stones, swords, pistols with antique flint locks, daggers, laces, brocades, cushions, and table oovers. •In another store are found, perfumery, sergalio pastilles, attar of roses and sweetmeats, though these are not half as sweet as the dreamy damsels who sell them to you. A Bedouin camp.

presided over by a real Bedouin chief, who, of course, would cut a throat with no compunction, is shown. The dancing girlewho sway and tremble with simulated emotion Keep the hall crowded with spectators. The Javanese Vl’,l ige. Javanese, to the number of seventy, have built a village in the style of their country on the Midway Plaisance. It is made of bamboo poles, split bamboo and palm leaves and thatched with native grasses. A screen of split bamboo and leaves encircles the village to keep out those who haven’t paid. The Javanese girls dance to the music of (in orchestra and puff cigarettes. They are little bits ot creatures with black shiny hair. In the center of the settlement are two big bamboo poles with holes cut through them. When the wind whistles through these holes a 6trange melody is produced that makes the Javans feel homesick and romantic All sorts of bilious and maudlin thoughts travel through their brains while the music is being played by the gale. They get more of the music in Chicago than in Java, as there is a greater supply of wind. A remarkable display in the Plaisance is that of feminine beauty. A building has been put up, and in it are stalled fifty young women, who represent the style of face of various nations and iheir fashions in costumes. They were got

together l y a Chicago beauty collector, who spent some months in Europe advertising tor types of the different races. Lovesick Romeos linger round the beauty building, and make the air resound with their mournful lamentations. There is a tacit agreement that none of Ihe girls are to get married until the Fair is over, and then they will be able to select any kind of men they prefer from the wild scramble that will take place for their hands. Germany has a village in which the artistic and mercantile tastes of her people are cpmbined. The Germans have put up a model of a town of the middle ages, and there are houses of the Black Forest and the other divisions of the empire. Tho houses are filled with original furniture. l)r. Ulrio Jahn, oi Berlin, manages a'German ethnological museum. A Wonderful Wheel. The Ferris wheel is the real triumph of the Midway Plaisance. It represents better than any other exhibit the genius of American invention. It looks something like the paddle wheel of a steamer, multiplied, however, a hundredfold. Instead of the paddles it bears passenger cars, and when it revolves the passengers get something of the sensation that a fly must have that sits on the side of the cart wheel and feels it revolve. The wheel is 264 feet high and 254 feet in diameter. It bears 36 passenger cars, each larger than a railroad coach, and with a seating capacity of 60 persons. When the wheel is “loaded” it contains 2,160 citizens. They are carried up and down like birds sitting in their nest, A model of St. Peter’s, of Rome, ie exhibited. It is of carved wood, coated : with a substance in imitation of marble,

and is constructed on a scale of onesixtieth. This makes it about 30 feet long, 15 feet wide, and 15 feet high. It is placed in a building of Roman style, which contains besides the models the portraits of many of the Popes. There are models of the Cathedral of Milan, the Piombino Palace, St. Agnese Church, and the Roman Pantheon of Agrippa. The attendants in this building are dressed in the uniforms of the Vatican guard. World’s la r Pick-Ups. The blarney stone is on the ocean and will reach Midway Plaisanee next week. John Boy'd Thacheb is getting the committee on awards in condi-

Hon to begin the examination o» exhibits as soon as the jurors have been appointed. The elevators are running to the roof of the Manufactures Building. The promenade there has a capacity of 12,0110 persons. Unless the courts intervene, Jackson Park will be open the world on Sunday, but the great buildings of the exposition will be closed. The price of admission to the grounds will be 25 cents.

COURT-YARD IN GERMAN VILLAGE.

THE ALGERIAN VILLAGE.

THE IRISH VILLAGE.

ENTRANCE TO GERMAN VILLAGE.