Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1893 — THE WORLD’S FAIR. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE WORLD’S FAIR.

Indiana's Building A Booster Trysting Place—lts Merits - i and Demerit*. i Mary H. Knmt !n Chicago Inter-Ocean. The Illinois and Indiana State buildings have fallen under the ban of the Review of Reviews.. By that high authority both have been pronounced inartistic, and consequently unsuited to the purpose for which they were designed. The press of Indiana is disposed to take sides with this captious critic, and many and poignant are the complaints that have gone up from Rising Sun to Winamac concerning the niggardliness of the Legislature, and this, its latest monument. The State commission and the executive com-

mittee have also come in for their share of blame; but merited or unmerited, their work is done, and the building stands completed, and must be accepted for what it is worth. The building has one merit, at least. It is not of oppressive dimensions: it is modest both in its assumption, and its actual effect and it is rather pleasing in form. The numerous windows are specimens of the best Indiana plate glass, famous now the world over. The floors are paved with Indiana encaustic tile, find the custodian will tell you, with an a’.r of pride, that the immense chimney piece with its ornamentation if not quite perfect fleur delis, is of the famous Bedford stone. He will probably add that these quarries send stone everywhere, for the foundations of all important structures. The piazza of the Indiana building is a scene of continual reunions. If you want to see a man from Vincennes, or a cousin from Muncie, or your uncle who lives in Crawfordsville, and is a near neighbor of Lew Wallace, you will. probably find him here. He will either be resting—the average Hoosier love to rest — or he will be listening to or telling” a good story. The people'are a race of story-tellers,usually humorous, and there is scarcely any crisis in life in which he or she will not pause to give you an apt illustration, beginning, “That reminds me.” For myself, I should consider a trip to the World’s Fair incomplete if I did not visit the piazza ana re-neno-w old acquaintances and refresh myself with reminiscences that are always of interest. I have never yet failed to find the friend or hear the story. You will see on the veranda every type of the Indianian —the wideawake little school teacher collecting statistics like a lightning calculator and comparing voluminous literal notes with sister school ma’ams. There are fledgling students from the dozen or more universities of the State —making the most of their all-too-brief vacation—doctor, lawver. judge, merchant, and farmer with “ma and the girls.” Frequently we hear an astonished ejaculation: “Why, are you here? When did you cOme?” On my last visit a tall boy of seventeen came up to me and asked, with a faith in my omniseence that 1 regretted must be disappointed: “Have you seen Aupt Ann?” I had never seen him before and was in equal ignorance as to Aunt Ann’s identity. A dour, bewildered

old woman shortly afterward Inquired if I had seen Mrs. Webster; “she had promised to meet her by

the big fire-place. It was Mrs. Webster from Tippecanoe oounty.” Among the visitors on this same occasion was a dark-eyed, dark-com-plexioned man, with hair and beard tinged with gray. He looked out across the level grounds and his eye scanned the noble buildings rising against the blue sky—a mass of dazzling towers and turrets. He gazed a few moments in silence; then he exclaimed: “I take off my hat in reverence to the genius that could conceive and execute so great a work as this. It has no parallel in the history of civilization.” The speaker was General Wallace. Indiana’s- building is criticised because of its bareness. But frqm the first it was never intended that it should be a place for the - display of an exhibit. It was designed only as a clubhouse, plain and comfortable, to be used by the people and their friends. There are no rich carpets or upholsterv to be spoiled by mud and dust, the furniture —much of it rattan—is light and cool, pretty and appropriate. The decoration of the walls might be better, but there is nothing aggressively inharmonious in the coloring or the designs. On the first floor, in one corner of the main corridor, there is a register, and here at any time one may see a lengthy line—men waiting to inscribe their names upon its wide pages, and women imitating their patriotic example. It is safe to assert that, by the time the Fair closes, there will not be a village or a hamlet within the borders of the State that has not sent its quota of visitors. There arc several small reception rooms, all plainly, neatly and tastefully furnished. In that opposite the reading room is a handsoroa cabinet, containing a large collection of china painted by Mrs. Harrison, and kindly loaned by the ex-President. The designs are flowers chiefly, conventionalized or the natural forms, and the coloring is exquisitely done. It wiR be remembered that china painting was an art in which Mrs. Harrison excelled, and in which she delighted to employ herself. It was originally suggested that the only pictures admitted to the building should be those of the representative artists of the State—of Foresythe, of Steele, Gruelle and others. The commissioners, as a whole, are not competent art critics, and there were a good many of them who would not accede to this proposition. Had it been carried out and all family portraits and amateur work rigidly ruled out, regardless of the feeling of the owner or the artist, a notable and beautiful collection might have been shown. Steele, however, is represented by one or two excellent specimens of his work, pre-eminent of which is a fine group of beeches. The picture has been well hung, and merits the place that has been given it. Foresythe also contributes one good landscape, and there are several others that deserve honorable mention. There are photographs of ex-Pres-ident Harrison and Secretary Gresham and other eminent men.

There is an interesting collection of portraits in the State House in Indianapolis, of the Governors of Indiana, which, it was hoped, could be borrowed. The Legislature, with its customary desire to bring the State into discredit, refused to lend the collection, and it was not tp be had without the sanction of the members. The Indiana solon needs to learn the difference between economy and parsimony—but it is a pity his education in this direction could not have begun before the last session. The State would have made a better showing in the Exposition. On the topmost floor there is a big base room furnished with chairs, tables, and water-coolers. The floor is covered with Hneoleum. This is the lunch room. The Hoosier is told that he can not eat his luncheon on the piazza or in the reading-room, but the colored porter' will direct him to this apartment and here he can spread out the contents of a box or basket with no fear of violating any rules. And such luncheons as one sees! There are pyramids of fried chicken —country chicken compared to which the Chicago product is a pale specter —“light bread,” and. yellow butter, pie, cake, jelly, pickles, cold ham and tongue, and all in such abundance, and divided, right and left, with such generous hospitality that no wonder the name of Indiana is synonqmous with good living. They are very gay parties —the men and women, the boys and girls who discuss these imDromptu feasts, and the conversation and the eating progresses in enual ratio. Everbody has seen everything, and the discussions as to the comparative merits of the respective exhibits are well worth hearing. ( Upon the whole, there is no pleasanter place to while away an hour or •o than in the Indiana building.

THE LATE MRS. HARRISON’S CHINA.

ON THE PIAZZA, INDIANA BUILDING.

LUNCHING IN “INDIANA”.