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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (June 26, 1904)
The Only Way to Do the Fair YV " f r 9 l ' - vtdi ' 1giJ2SBaamON BTJILDINO AT THE ST. HOUIS EXrOSmOX-OOVSma FIJTBEN ACRES.-Photo Copyright. IK by I-uWm Purchase Exposition Company. fOopyrlgfct. UOi by Guy T. Vlsknlskkl.) ON T fleiuae yoursen iuiw ununuj that you can do the nur aa you did -tho one at Chicago. If you I try It. you will auroly una, aa V did Um man from Idaho, that you feave bitten eft mora than you can chaw and spent your two vacation weeks for faaught. lie waa an utterly cast-down westerner as he sat on a bench under the shade of the trees lining the Plaxa of St. Louis, Finally he plucked up life enough to ex plain the cause of his dejection. "Stranger, you may be thinking I'm pretty glum for a sightseer," he said, "and a man who is on his vacation, but X Just guess I've got a right to be. Here X came to this "blowout expecting to take it in like the one I did at Chicago." (He called It Bheekagee). "Say, I sUrted going up and down the buildings to see the things, and the first building I got Into waa the Agri cultural, my pap being a farmer. Guess I moseyed" around there all day, got dead petered out and then didn't see all. Got twenty acres In Its Insldes. Stranger, this bore fair la too big. and I've Just wasted two whole days trying to see It. I reckon I'll bit the trail back for Idaho tonight Go about It the right way, though, and the visitor will not be overpowered by the bigness of the show, which la In evidence on all hands. Behold the trolley Una, seven miles In length, that It waa necessary to build around the grounds In order to make U various buildings and exhibits at all accessible without walking all the day. Gase on the Idaho silver nugget, weight eight tons; and consider the much-heralded Pike, whose press censor confidently pro claims la three times as large aa the cele brated Midway of Chicago, and Quotes a string of Jmposlng figures comparing the length, breadth, number and cost of produc tions, how much the Chicago attraclioas made and how many more millions the like promoters hope to reap in profits. Be eome an exposition specialist and you will see the best of the fair, which you cannot do in toto, even though you spent a month er six woeks on the ground. Tills Is the first thing you want to do n entering the gates of the fair-give heod to tho earnest invitation extended to you by IU representatives to clamber to a seat tn the omulbus automobile, after you have paid the requisite sura of 85 cents. This automobile takes you around and through the central portion of the grounds. The guide points out and shouts the names of the various muln buildings, the principal Statuary and other features, such as the Sunken Gardens, the planus and the la goons. This ride takes up half an hour, end when you have been whisked back to the starting place you huve gained a work ing Idea of the component parts of what bus been aptly styled "the picture" of the exposition. Now for a general Idea of the entire fair and this can be obtained only by a ride en the Intramural, the double-track, elec trlo railway that encircles the grounds. There are some seventeen statluns on the line and aa the car approaches a station the conductor sings out In thin fashion: Station No. 15 Government building, Mis souri building, IJberal Arts and Mining end Metallurgy;" or "Station No. 1-1'hllip-pine exhibit." Give heed to what the man tn blue says and. with a little assistance from the map in your gulds book, you will )tave bo dUBculty In picking out, as a rule, jj" ' tj CO cO MyW lli&V V a ' -:'-' '4 w . hiiimiiiiii ii i MMnir mt m wiiwiii r11" - -rr -"-n " ' 1 ' lrM"r " " ' n.Toa ATTfia TmnRirvFTr AT t.UNCTIEON IN TUB BOARD OP I.ADT MANAGRUS' BUILDING, WITH PRK9I MIS DENT KKAJ?cI7 AND 3 DANfEL MANnInO. PUKSrUBNT OF THE BOAKD OF UADY MAN AOKKS. the buildings and exhibits accredited to the stations. Walking thilhcr. however, may be a different muttor. Kssay It and you may find that the stution is some half mile removed from your destination; yet this is the shortest and quickest way for you to reach there. And w..ll you are walking, when you exacted to be limlel rlKht at the door, . remember that I hi f Is one of the results of St. liuls" ambition to fill up twice the space occupied by tho Chicago fair. When you have concluded the trolley ride It Is incumbent upon you to make for the hill on which stunds Festival hull und the Terrace and Colonnade of States, and there spend the afternoon of the flrst day taking in the architectural splendors of the great buildings and their mug-leal set ting, that radiate thence along three great avenues almost up to the main entrance Of the fair, half a mile away. Gaze on the stretch of rounded roof and long Cor inthian colonnades, on domes and towers. Imposing monuments and statuary columns, and behold the green of the trees und grass and the cooling effect of the water. In complete harmony with the rream white facade and you will feel like the child Whose mother waa endeavoring to induce It to go home: "Hut, mother, I can see my new brother every day, and I can't see these beautiful buildings." Remain on Festival hill enjoying what Is everywhere ha Hod aa the leading feature of the falr-he architecture until twilight. Then descend, make for the plusit of St. Louis, and once there take an electric launch or a gondola for u view of the buildings from the lagoon, which gruce fully winds its way for a mile und a half pust tho eight buildings forming the pic ture, giving you an excellent view of them, as well us uf the superb work topping Festival hall hill. Perhaps, while your gondolier Is sending your bout noiselessly throiiKh the water, and everything about you imposing urclieH, gigantic obelisks, superb pediments and beautiful porticos Is buthed In the H'ift glow of dusk, all suddenly lfiO.Wio electric lights will flash out nil over the scene, from the tip of the dome of Festival hall to the outermost edges of the great pic ture. In that event you will be extremely fortunate; you can ea.lly linuKlne that you are some ethereal being rhriting In spice, Irlilewcently lighted up by tens of thousands of twinkling little Btars. ( But If your Im-tt trip has come to an end with the electrical display yet to come, seat yourself on the plssu of St. I.nuls, facing Festival hall, and wait for the burst of light, whose like has never before been seen outstripping the UufTulo Illumination at leaBt two to one. Here, too, Is the proiier place to view the wonderful cas. cades In Operation, which by night is In finitely more Impressive than by day, Tou have now seen lUe second great feature of the fair the electrical and with It let the day end. The first duy for generalization; the rest of your stay fur specialization, else you tun never hope to get the worth of your money spent on the trip. The first thing to do Is to separate the fulr Into its various component parts and decide on wlit you cure most to see. Ttu-su, generally speaking, are the exhibits In tiie main building, tho amusements and) attractions of the l'lke, the plateau ot states, the government buildings and ex hibits, the foreign exhibits, the Philippine exhll.it, the greutest living ethnological ex hibit ever gathered from the four quarters of the globe, und (lie outside exhibits, em bracing tree planting, forestry, the game of various states, primitive copper mining, gold mining, etc You may think, after scanning this list, that you can do It all in the course of your ten days' or two weeks' stay. You can't. J 'lease remember that the exhibits in the Agricultural building alone cover twenty acres, that the ulsles are some four miles In length and that It lakes a good walker,' seeing only the road ahead of him, an hour to put four miles helund him. The Agri cultural building cannot be done properly In less than a day, and It Is only one of the thirteen muln exhibit buildings. Then there la the l'lke. Do you want te do the l'lke noisy, alluring, beckoning! (Continued on I'ago Sixteen.)