People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 February 1893 — WORLD'S FAIR GOSSIP. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORLD'S FAIR GOSSIP.

Notes on the Leading Features of Interest at Jackson Park. sh« Bustle of Coming Spring Hna Fairly Begun—Exhibits from All Lands Rapidly Coming In—Some Odd Displays. [Special Chicago Correspondence.!

ILTHOUGH the unusual severity of the winter has to a great- extent impeded the progress of j building at the world’* fair grounds, the workmen have 1 not been idle, 1 and the amount of labor performed has been little short of m arvelous. All during the coldest weather the men have kept steadily on, all h o ugh compelled to

bundle themselves up so with clothing as to be greatly hampered in their movements. They all stood the extreme cold very well except the Turks, who seem to be very sensitive to cold, and some of these children of the orient who were sent over to work on the buildings of their countrymen, suffered so during the zero weather that they gave up the job in disgust and betook themselves

back to the more congenial climate of their far eastern homes. The most hardy and patient plodders at the fair grounds are the Japanese. Nothing seems to daunt them in their work. They are incapable of even a near approach to haste, yet in their leisurely, haphazard way of doing things they accomplish wonders. These people will undoubtedly have some of the most curious and interesting displays to be seen at the fair. Among them will be a Japanese well at the Horticultural building, constructed from material taken from one of the oldest wells in Japan, which will show the primitive method of drawing water in use in that country. The stone used in the construction of this well is a kind of red sandstone neatly put together by the deft fingers of these skillful artisans. This well and a rustic bridge constructed by the Japanese gardeners will undoubtedly prove of great interest to visitors from all parts of the western world. Some very neat and handsome work in handcarved native hard-woods, metal orna-

merits and bronzes for their pavilion in the Liberal Arts building has just been received by the Japs, and their exhibit in that department promises to be very attractive. There is much mourning among these people just now on account of the death of the famous Japanese dwarf • eedar, which was one of the greatest curiosities they possessed. This tree was only three feet in height, although it was three hundred years old, and was thought to be the finest specimen in existence. It was sent to the fair by the emperor of Japan, and every precaution was taken to preserve it from harm, but all efforts were unavailing, and the only use it can now be put to will be to serve as a relic of its former self. Another unique exhibit will be a mountain of rock and sand, with forests, caves, streams of water, etc., erected by the state of Pennsylvania. , Upon this mountain in various attij tudes will be found a stuffed specimen I of every beast and bird that is to be

found in that state, and of every fish that frequents its waters. Among the animals represented will be a huge lion that was shot in the Quaker state in 185 A. This mountain will be one of the finest and most striking natural history displays ever made, and it is given out that the state is ambitious to surpass anything of the kind to be seen at the fair. As a work of

art it will most likely outclass anything of the kind ever produced and will prove a very interesting feature of the great exposition. Among other oddities which will be seen at the fair are a lot of mummies from South America, of which there are more than a hundred at present stored away on the grounds. These decayed memleri of a race that once roamed the forests of the great land below the equator are thickly swathed

in straw and sfewed up snugly in canvas bags and are piled up in long rows in one of the warehouses, where they will remain for several weeks, then they will be shucked and removed to the department of ■ ethnology and

archaeology, under the charge of Prof. Putnam, of Harvard. The professor and his assistants have for several years past been ransacking the earth for mummies, and the lot now at the fair grounds is but a first installment. There are many more coming from different parts of the world. The professor says that mummy hunting is quite a fad among American tourists in Peru. They go out and pry up the stony remains of respectable old-time Peruvians just as they would dig fossils out of a shell bank or chip chunks off from some sacred or historic pile. There may be some profit or amusement in thus grubbing up the caput mortuum of ancient humans, but it seems like ghoulish business at best. From British Guiana there has been sent for exhibition at the fair specimens of native woods and other

products showing the natural resources of the country. There is also a large quantity of gold-bearing quartz and raw gold and quartz rock which will appear in the colonial exhibit in neat wooden casea Among other objects

of interest from that country will be shown a charcoal kiln such are used by tbe Chinese coal burners of the Demaru* river, and a “rice hustcer,” modeled from those employed by the Mongolians who have colonized there. One of the most interesting displays that will be seen at the fair will be that made within the “Ruined Palace of Mitla,” by the department of ethnology. Prof. E. H. Thompson, who has been consul at Merida for eight years, has prepared papier mache molds of the ancient scnlptnres found in the deserted cities of Yucatan. Thirty cases of these molds have been received at the fair grounds and will be installed as soon as the Building is completed. The ruins of Uxmal will be reproduced on an extensive scale, and among them will be a perfect sac simile of the temple and figure of the god Kukulan, or the great feathered serpent The body of the serpent is wrought in the stonework all around the building and this will be represented entire. The original materials were principally marble and coarse limestone, and the work shows that the ancients of that country were remarkably skillful in mechanical workmanship, though their industrial arts were but poorly developed. The great forest or jungle covering the supposed kingdom of the ancient Mayas is about the size and shape of the state of Ohio, and covers portions of Yucatan, Guatemala and adjacent Mexican states. There once lived in that area from five to ten million people, according to Capt. Del Rio, who explored part of it late in the last century, and other more recent explorers. The ruins of their cities are now spoken of as buried. They are in fact buried only in dense masses of tropical growth. One of the finest reproductions by Prof. Thompson will be an arched gate of the ancient palace of Labra, which was literally chopped out of the jungle. The transportation exhibits will embrace everything in the shape of a conveyance for travel by land or water from every country on the globe. Those that cannot be obtained will be represented by models. A stuffed llama, used as a pack animal in southern lands, has arrived, and with it a stuffed mule from the Argentine Republic. The 'mule is to be shown equipped with a milk crate with a dummy Indian milk-girl mounted on its back. There will be Sicilian carts, Chinese junks, rafts, boats and barges of state, in fact a complete and comprehensive list of every thing that moves to bear the burdens of mankind.

THE DEAD JAPANESE DWARF CEDAR.

JAPANESE WELL.

PENNSYLVANIA'S MINIATURE MOUNTAIN.

CHINESE JUNK.

ANCIENT MEXICAN SCULPTURE.