Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1893 — THE WORLD’S FAIR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WORLD’S FAIR.

The Wonderful Contrasts— The Has t-er-s Cabin— The Midway Plaisance. The Fair is the place for contrasts. The crowd ism early always thickest is the narrey strip of groundbetweeu the Transportation building and the lagoon. But two minutes’ walk - will take one to a spot that is almost completely isolated from the surrounding Fair. On the south end of the wooded island in the lagoon is a low building, hidden among the trees. It is approached by a narrow pathway, which most people pass without noticing. This building is a favorite resort of New Yorkers. It is the World's Fair exhibit of the Boone and Crocket Club, but is generally known as the “Hunter’s Cabin.” It is a typical home of a hunter or a club of hunters on a large scale. Such a house might look out of place on a street of the Fair, next to one of the bij? buildings, but here oh the island itis decidedly appropriate, for it is in the center of a miniature forest. The cabin contains only one room and has log walls and board roof. Small places for windows are cut in the logs. At one end is a large open fireplace. Over it is a rude wooden mantel, the central adornment of which is the skull of a grizzly bear. On the floor are tanned skins of bears, elk, moose, panthers and other big game. Scattered about the room are all sorts of articles for hunters’ use—snow" shoes, blankets, saddles, field glasses, rifles, shotguns and cartridge belts. Elk horns and other spoils of the chase are fastened on the walls. It looks primitive but it is very comfortable, for there are wooden benches and other seats over which furs are thrown, j

ana in hot weather it is the coolest place inside of the World’s Fair grounds. The outside of the building savers as much of the frontier as does the inside. A pair of antlers are over the doorway and an oldfashioned “prairie schooner,” or emgrant wager., stands near by. Theodore Roosevelt is the leading spirit in the -Boone and Crocket Club,

which was formed in New York city , three years ago for the preservation of the large game of the United States, and especially of the Yellowstone Park. A reproduction of the famous Bayeux tapestry ornaments the eastern corridor of the Woman’s Building. While it is by no means beautiful, the original has a varied and interesting history. It is supposed to have been the work of Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, although other authorities insist that it was made by the women of Bayeux for Odo, half-brother of Wiliiam, Bishop of Bayeux. It was preserved in the cathedral of the town until the French revolution. In 1106 it narrowly escaped burning, It 1652 it was saved from the pillage of the Calvinists, and in 1792 a priest rescued it from the unhallowed hands of the French soldiery, who wished td cut it up to protect their guns. In 1813 it was exhibited in tne Musee Napoleon. The tapestry is. 230 feet 91 inches long by 19} inches wide. There are represented in it 620 persons, 180 horses, 550 other animals, and various implements of war. Latin inscriptions tell the story the tapestry sets forth, whk... is a full history of Harrold, the last of the Saxon kings, arid William the Con,ueror. One of the most conspicuous points made is of the Mora, the largest of William’s fleet of 609 sails, which vessel was the gilt of Matilda to her husband. It is not likely that old Mr. Ptolaoy t of Egypt, intended to make an exhibit at the Columbian Exposition, but one of his graveyards has

contributed a. rare and unique display to the Falh The Ancient Egytisms had a curious custom of representing- the coufitenartces of, their dead at the head of the mum mv. In the ages before Grecian art invaded the land of the Nile it was customary to make a plastic head, sometimes of stuff similar to that of which the Fair buildings are con-; structed, but these casts were not always good likenesses. The Egyptians continued the old practice long after the Greeks and the Romans had swept over their country, but modified it by substituting portraits for the molded figures. The portrait was painted on a thin panel of wood. This was laid over the face of the mujnmy, and the outer bandages, of the shroud were wrapped over the edges of wood, thus holding it in place. The effect of a* mummy of this sort was that of a person looking out from an opening in the swathings of the dead figure. This enabled relatives of the deceased to view the remains and enjoy the melancholy pleasure of looking on the reproduced features of the departed one. A few mummies of this kind were found years ago near Memphis and Thebes, but it is only in recent years that large numbers have been discovered at Hawara and Rubaijat in the province of Faijum, a section that formerly had a large Greek popnlation. The pictures which Theodore Graf is now exhibiting at old Vienna came from Rubaijat, and most of them date back to a period between 350 and 200 B. C. The graveyard which they once graced was ransacked ages aero by thieves in search of gold. The plunderers destroyed coffins and mummies and threw away the pictures. These were buried in the dry sand, which i preserved their colors* for the aeciI dental discoverer of * these nine--1 tee nth-century days.

The colors of these pictures are scarcely dimmed, and they give an excellent idea of portrait painting before the Christian era. Some cf them are purely Egyptian in their physiognomies, while others indicate a strain of the Greek. Quite a number, judging from the jewelry and the badges of office, must have represented persons of the ruling class. Meissonier and George Ebers have found in one of them a striking likeness to the portrait of Cleopatra as preserved on ancient coins. A portrait of a young man has a lock of hair back of the ear like an inverted interrogation point, and Ebers, the Egyptologist, who is better known m America as theauthor of “Uarda," and other historical novels with scenes on the Nile, says only members of the royal family were permitted to wear such a lock. This panel also has on its back an inscription. said to be in Phoenician of the thira or fourth century before Christ. It has been translated as Baal-adar. which means “Baal helgs,” or “Baal disposes.” The portrait of one man shows the subject wearing a golden wreath and a scarf like ribbon. On the left breast is shown a gold button, which leads some scientists to believe that the original was a priest of Isis. There is in the collection one portrait of a girl, whose neck and ear jewels and rich purple dress, with black, gold edged shoulder stripes indicate a family of exalted position. Thus each one has peculiarities of the ancient life of Egypt, and the collection, taken in connection with its history, is one of the most curi-

ous in the Fair. It IS accompanied by a fine specimen of a mummy, which is perfect in its swathings and has at its head the portrait of a wopaan, showing how the panels were secured by the bandages. The “Midway” at the Fair, as it is familiarly called, is undoubtedly the I most unique and interesting pleasI ure-walk in the world- It is a thoroughfare of ever-shifting scenes and ever-recuring incidents. Within Its precincts enough of interest can be found to engage the attention of a

visitor for inanydays. In a careless stroll through this great interna- n tional promenade, many features entertain the curious. T»e following is a plan of the place showing the relative positions of the villages:

1. Parade grounds. 2. West Point cadets. —Mfe Cigar pavilion. 4. Captive balloon park, r>. Lapland village. <fe Chinese village. ------ V 7. Dahomey village. 8. Chinese theater. 9. Austrian village. 10. Volcano of Kilauea. 11. Cigar pavilion. 12. Theater. 13. St. Peter’s. 14. Algeria and Tunis. 15. Ferris wheel. 16. Cairo street. 17. Moorish palace and restaurant. 18. German village. 19. Turkish village. 20. Japanese village. 21. Bernese Alps. 22. Japan bazar. 23. Natatorium. 24. Libby glass works. 25. South Sea island village. 26. International Costume Co. 27. Vienna glass works. 28. New England home. 29. Irish village. 30. Hagenback animal show.

THE HUNTER’S CABIN.

MUMMY AND PORTRAIT.

ONE OF PTOLEMY'S NOBLES.

THE MIDWAY PLAISANCE.