Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 April 1904 — TO STUDY THE FAIR. [ARTICLE]

TO STUDY THE FAIR.

Excellent OpportunitiM For Publio School* to Attond the Exposition In Bodio*—Special Rate* to Bo Arranged. The school children living within a reasonable radios of St. Louis will have opportunities in connection with the (World’s Fair which never before have been offered by any exinisltion. As this Exposition is to be distinctively educational In all its departments, special attention has been paid by the management to the development of the study Idea in connection with the Fair. The correspondence of the officials shows that the teachers or directors of many public schools In Missouri and other states not greatly distant from the Exposition are desirous of making arrangements to bring their pupils in bodies to the Fair in order that the children may pass a few days in studying the features of the great spectacle for their own intellectual benefit. Already a number of such trips have been planned, those in charge of each school making arrangements with the railroads for special transportation rates and securing hotel or boarding house accommodations In St. Louis, not too far from the fair grounds, at reduces prices. There is overy probability that during the summer vacation, and also in the spring and fall, there will be numerous excursions to St. Louis of school children who will attend the Exposition in charge of their teachers and give particular attention to the features which are best calculated to aid them in mental development.

Teachers ns well pupils cannot fall to derive great benefit from a study of the Exposition. In the I’nlace of Education will be arranged an enormous mass of material collected from the schools of every state and nation, scientifically classified and showing an invaluable comparative exhibit of the work of school children the w orld over; also there will be a vast amount of material serving to show the best methods of teaching, sanitation of schoolrooms and other things of interest In this connection. Special facilities are to be provided at the Exposition for the comfort and convenience of such visiting bodies of teachers and pupils. Jefferson Guards or other competent guides will be detailed to pilot the parties through the grounds and buildings, pointing out the objects of greatest interest to the children. From time to time there will be lectures along educational lines. But the entire Exposition Is to be a vast picture of universal industry, and with its many marvelous machines In motion, its factories and mines in operation, and its thorough exposition of the processes of producing finished articles from the raw material, It will furnish object lessons to both teacher and pupil which will be entertaining as well as highly Instructive. The child’s natural Interest in seeing how things work will be one of the greatest aids toward the acquisition of knowledge. It Is safe to assert that there will be thousands of children at the World’s Fair who will learn more in one day’s observation of the great moving panorama than they could imbibe from a whole season's teaching through the medium of text books. Suppose, for instance, that a teacher desires to give his pupils information as to the products of the various states of the Union. A walk along the Plateau of Shites, where the state buildings are located, suggests itself. In each of these handsome buildings the children will be able to gain information which might require months to obtain in any other way. Further information may be acquired by visiting the exhibit palaces and studying the displays of the products of the states that will be found therein. If it is desired that the children learn something about the actual workings of mines, a trip through the great mining gulch on the Exposition Grounds will furnish the Information. Here the pupils may see gold, silver, copper, lead and coal mines In operation, all the processes of taking out and reducing the on>s being shown. A considerable knowledge of history and a taste for historical reading may be Imparted to the school children by

Antwerp townhall. Mexico has a patio, or Inner court, In its buildings. Louisiana reproduces .the Cablldo at New Orleans, where the formal transfer of tbo Louisiana Purchase Territory from France to the United States took place. New Jersey supplies a replica of General Washington's headquarters at Morristown. Connecticut presents the fine Sigourney mansion at Hartford and adds mantels and woodwork from two other Connecticut mansion homes. Virginia’s pride Is gratified in Montlcello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. Mississippi builds Beauvoir, the home of Jefferson Davis. Most of the other states adopt the style of the big exhibit paluces on their buildings. The transition from the architectural dignity of the Plateau of States to the gayety of the Pike is made by the building of Texas, shaped like a five pointed star, and by the wigwams of giant trees which Washington and Oregon supply. Color is used sparingly on screen walls and In shaded places in the exhibit palaces. The facades are a uniform ivory white, with color on the roofs, domes and towers. On Concessions street, however, color is used more freely, and the forms of the “art nouveau” abound.