Rensselaer Union, Volume 8, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1876 — CENTENNNIALITIES. [ARTICLE]

CENTENNNIALITIES.

—A large mosaic from the ruins of Carthage has just been added to the Tunisian department. —The ladies of Japan, Norway, Sweden, Brazil and Canada have exhibits in the Woman’s Pavilion. —The rule requiring a fifty-cent piece at the gate is still in force, visitors will do well to bear this in mind; it will save trouble. —The American Literary Union exhibits a large collection of autograph letters, including Benjamin Franklin, Gen. Lafayette, Prof. Agassiz, and other celebrities. —Accidents on the grounds requiring medical attendance are becoming quite frequent. Physicians are always in readiness at the hospital back of the Judges’ hall. —The judges complain that the exhibitors in the Machinery Department do not make provision for the explanation of the various machines to those who wish to examine them. —The system of teaching the blind is. fully exemplified in the Pennsylvania Educational Building, tod numerous specimens of handiwork from different institutions are also exhibited. —The remains of Com. Perry’s flagship. Lawrence will soon be exhibited at the Centennial. It will be shipped piecemeal from Erie harbor. At the close it will bo cut up and sold for chairs, canes, etc. —The Bureau of Information is in working order. A full directory is kept of exhibitors and their displays, and of the names and residences of home and foreign Commissioners and Judges of Awards. —“ That’s the Main Building,” said a guide at the Centennial to a greenhorn from the Pine-tree State, the other day. “Golly!” replied the loyal son of Maine, “ I knowed our boys would put up somethin’fine.” —Children frequently become separated from their parents in consequence of the crowds. They, together with all other lost articles, are taken to the headquarters of the Centennial guard, where they can be reclaimed. —Although the exhibits in the different buildings are labeled with cards warning visitors not to touch them, yet the inquisitive finger, cane or umbrella continues to usurp the place of vision. The only safeguard seems to be to place them entirely out of reach, like the animals in a menagerie. —Nevada has erected a State building a few steps south of Machinery Hall, and put up a silver quartz mill, which is in full operation. Twenty-five pounds of silver were taken out May 31. The mills run every day, though only a few hours. Judging by the number of bags of ofe piled up, a fair summer business is to be done.

—ln Paris the American residents are pipparing to celebrate the Centennial with due honor. They propose also to commemorate the event I>y plseiflg a marble slab, appropriately inscribed, qppn the tomb of Lafayette. The patriotic feeling thus evinced cannot fail to excite generous rivalry among Americans elsewhere in Eus>pe. —ln a letter to the Pall Mall Gazette, of London, the correspondent of that paper has called attention to the curious fact that in nearly all the departments of the Exhibition the contributions of 1 the United States and those of the British Empire rise and fall together in the comparison with other countries. 'lhe fact has no particular importance, perhaps, but it seems a curious illustration of the fact that people of a common language and common history show the same general tendencies in their industries as well as in their political and social ideas, in spite of national division lines. —From photographs on exhibition, the visitor can obtain a very good idea of the diamond mines 111 the Cape of Good Hope, and their method of obtaining and preparing the precious stones. Workmen may here be seen hacking away with their picks a few feet below the surface; while other pictures represent the platform only, the miners having dug themselves out of sight. A line of men with ’ wheelbarrows are hauling up the masses of rock and lumps of dirt from which the diamonds are to be extricated. Arriving at the top of the platform, the loads are dumped in a trough and sent down to the washing-machine on the level. —A funny incident recently occurred at the Massachusetts State Building at the Centennial Grounds. Col. Oliver has charge of the edifice and-contents. The other day a middle-aged woman from the Bay State called at the building, and wandered around until she came to the private reception-room of the Governor. The. double doors are always kept wide open, so that the entire room and contents W be seen; but ingress is prevented bymeans of a wire-gate about four feet high. The old lady shook the gate, and demanded, that it should be opened; whereupon Col. Oliver explained the uses of the room,, and told her that visitors were not admitted to the apartment. She braced herself as if for » prize-fight, fixed her spectacles firmly, rested her eagle eyes on the Colonel, and then said, in a voice like the whistle of a narrow-gauge locomotive: “ My husband voted for Gov. Rice; and I’ve just as good a right to go in here as anybody else. If you don’t open that door in one minute,, J will tell my husband when I get home, and he’ll write to the Governor and have you put out of this ’ere house, unless you learn how to treat people decently. There, now, do you hear that?” Col. Oliver heard, ana turned away to shed a tear and have a chance -to laugh.