What We Saw at Madame World's Fair / Being a Series of Letters from the Twins at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition to Their Cousins at Home
Date: 2016-03-29T00:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Panama-Pacific International Exposition (1915 : San Francisco; Calif.)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of What We Saw at Madame World's Fair

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Title: What We Saw at Madame World's Fair

Author: Elizabeth Gordon

Illustrator: Bertha Corbett Melcher

Release date: March 29, 2016 [eBook #51599]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW AT MADAME WORLD'S FAIR ***

The dear little thing reminded us of spring rain, and morning sunshine, and nooks in the woods where the first violets grow. She is called “Wild Flower.”

WHAT WE SAW AT
MADAME WORLD’S FAIR

BEING A SERIES OF LETTERS FROM THE
TWINS AT THE PANAMA-PACIFIC
INTERNATIONAL EXPOSITION
TO THEIR COUSINS
AT HOME
BY
ELIZABETH GORDON
AUTHOR OF
“FLOWER CHILDREN”
“BIRD CHILDREN”
ETC.

WITH DRAWINGS BY
BERTHA CORBETT

SAN FRANCISCO:
SAMUEL LEVINSON·PUBLISHER
1915

Copyright 1915
by Samuel Levinson

San Francisco:
The Blair-Murdock Company
Printers

CONTENTS

| Page
Preface | v
A Letter Home | 1
Festival Hall | 6
The Palace of Varied Industries | 9
The Palace of Machinery | 12
The Palace of Mines | 14
The Palace of Transportation | 17
The Palace of Manufactures | 20
Our Hostess | 23
The Palace of Fine Arts | 25
The Palace of Education | 28
What We Saw at the Palace of Food Products | 31
The Palace of Agriculture | 34
The Palace of Liberal Arts | 37
The Palace of Horticulture | 40
Our First Lesson in Sculpture | 43
The Court of the Universe | 46
The Court of Abundance | 49
The Court of the Four Seasons—The Court of Flowers | 52
Mural Paintings | 55
What We Did in Italy | 58
Our Visit in Tehuantepec | 61
Our Visit to Japan | 64
Canada the Beautiful | 67
Our Chinese Visit | 70
More Foreign Travel | 73
Our Day in Sweden | 76
The Fireworks and Illuminations | 79
The Panama Canal Concession | 82
Our Day on the Zone | 84

FOR many years it has been the dream of Madame World to have a canal cut through the narrow strip of land between the East and the West, so that folks might visit each other without having to go so far around.

Also she thought that one family might have something which another family might use if there were a short way to send it across.

And there were other reasons: Families should know each other, and be able to share each other’s joys and sorrows.

Madame World said so much about it, that one of her older daughters tried to get the work done, without success, and, finally, Uncle Sam said, “Very well, Mother, I believe you are right about this; and though I am your very youngest son, if you will let me try, I promise you that I will cut a canal through that swampy back yard of yours, and that your biggest ships shall float safely through.”

Then Madame World said: “Those are brave words, my son, but you have not taken account of the difficulties in the way. Things called Fevers lurk in the swamps ready to spring upon you, and there is also a monster whose name is Malaria.”

“Nonsense, Mother mine,” replied Uncle Sam, “those things are born of Fear, and I do not know Fear and will not listen to him. I will cut the canal for you.”

So Madame World gave her son permission to go to work, and in a short time the work was finished, and Uncle Sam presented his lady mother with the Panama Canal.

Madame World decided to celebrate the event, and sent out invitations to her families to come to a big party which she would give. She asked them to bring their families, and their work, and their fruits and grains, and learn to know each other.

Then she looked around for a place to picnic, where this big family could be fed and housed, and where the elements were most friendly.

Away out on the edge of the Pacific Ocean she saw the golden glow of California’s magic city of San Francisco, and she said, “These people have been brave under many difficulties, and they are a faithful people. They shall have the honor.”

So that is why Madame World has given us this big beautiful Fair, which everybody will always remember. It is the celebration of a dream come true.

Night Illumination, Tower of Jewels.

DEAR COUSINS:

FOR weeks and months we had been reading every scrap of information we could find about the wonderful Fair which was to be given in San Francisco, the city of our dreams.

We had not even imagined that we could go to it, because mother could not come until later, and then school would be in session, so when father said that we might come with him we were more than thankful.

Mother looked a little doubtful, but father said, “Nonsense, it is no trick at all for me to take them.” Madame World has sent us an invitation to her Fair and we could not think of refusing. So we came at once.

We have been so wishing that you could be here with us that father has suggested that we write you a letter every day, and tell you about some of the things that we see.

We think it is a good plan, and we shall try to make the letters as full of interest as possible, in the hope that we may show you something of it, and at the same time fix it in our own memories.

First, then, this Wonder City by the Sea is a real city, even though it does, as we heard a lady remark today, look like a poet’s dream.

It has a bank, and a postoffice, a hospital, a fire department, a hotel, a street car, houses for the different families of the world to live in, and in fact about everything which any city needs.

The buildings and statuary are made of a kind of cement, called artificial travertine, tinted to look like terra cotta.

Real travertine is a pure carbonate of lime formed from dripping water which bears a lime deposit, and is found in Rome, where it is much used in building and for statuary. The imitation travertine was discovered by Mr. Paul Denneville of New York, and we have to thank him for the fact that after all day at the Fair our eyes are not in the least tired; it is due to the fact that the material is easily tinted, that Mr. Jules Guerin who composed the color scheme of the whole Fair was able to carry out his ideas.

You will remember that Mr. Guerin is the man

Madame World has sent us an invitation to her Fair and we could not think of refusing. So we came at once.

who makes the color pictures which we have so much admired in the “Century Magazine.”

The roofs are covered with artificial tiles, and the contrast between the pinkish walls and the red of the roofs makes a picture which will never be forgotten.

It seems a pity that the city cannot remain, but it is not built for permanency, father says, but is like a beautiful dream, which seems so real that the memory stays always, and that its influence will color our whole lives, and make each one of us better for having seen it.

And when we got our first glimpse of the Tower! We couldn’t even say “Oh!” We just looked at each other, and then back at the Fair city, just to make sure we were not dreaming.

There was the beautiful Tower of Jewels, smiling and twinkling its shining eyes at us, and saying, “Come in, children; come in, and walk under my beautiful blue arches, and through my magic courts, and my sheltered gardens, and be happy, and love each other and all the children of the world. Peace I offer you, and Plenty, and Harmony, and Beauty. Here you are safe, and here you are welcome. Come in, my children.”

So in we went. The sun was shining, the blue waters of the bay were sparkling, bands were playing, the red and yellow flags were flying in the sweet salt breezes, and the lovely white pigeons were cooing; and best of all, little white people, and little brown people, and little yellow people were here and there and everywhere, all happy and smiling and glad that they had come.

We will tell you about the Tower. It is Madame World’s expression of joy and satisfaction that the Canal is finished, and it is really the key to the whole Fair. Mr. Thomas Hastings of New York designed it. It is four hundred and forty-three feet in height, and the arch, which is the gateway to the Fair, is sixty feet wide and one hundred and ten feet high.

On the pedestals are figures of men who have made the world what it is today. There are fifty thousand jewels on the Tower, of five colors—canary, amethyst, ruby, aquamarine, and white. These were made in Austria, of a peculiar kind of sand which produces a very hard glass, called Sumatra stone, and which takes a high polish. The jewels were cut exactly like precious stones, and are called Nova Gems.

These were set in bands of metal, and suspended from hooks, each jewel with a tiny mirror back of it.

When the winds move the jewels, they catch the light, and sparkle like real gems.

At night under the illumination of the searchlights the Tower is even more beautiful than in the sunshine.

We are glad that we are going to have the memory of the Tower to take away with us.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

FESTIVAL HALL

DEAR COUSINS:

FOR Music, whom Madame World loves very much, she has provided an imposing palace worthy indeed for so great a goddess.

It has a wonderful arched entrance, with statues of mythological meanings, which father explained to us, but we liked best little Pan, who sits at the left of the entrance. He has charmed with his pipes a chameleon, who has come to his feet to listen to the music.

We often amuse ourselves by wondering how many panes of glass there are in the great dome of the hall, but father says there is no way to be sure.

But it is a very large hall, and will hold about four thousand people, and is not large enough even at that. Music has so many adorers, many of whom have made a pilgrimage to hear her, and who dislike being disappointed.

To this palace will come while the Fair lasts all the worshipers of Music, and all the world’s great orchestras, with their distinguished leaders.

Even the Boston Symphony, which so seldom ever leaves its own beloved city, is here for a season.

The Goddess of Flowers and the Goddess of Music are first cousins, and so the lovely grounds are always crowded full of the dear little Flower people, standing on their tiptoes to catch the strains of music as they float out from the palace.

There are whole fields full of Pansies, in their gorgeous yellow, and brown and purple dresses, and the golden-hearted Shasta Daisies have crowded close up to the palace walls. The lovely Lady Hydrangeas, who wear a different gown for each month in the year, seem eager not to lose a note, and the dainty Heaths come hurrying and laughing up the walk from the Avenue of Palms, beckoning the baby Blue Gums across the way to come closer.

The darling naughty little California Poppies, who always go just where they please, have simply broken loose and are everywhere you go, while the Canterbury Bells, little rogues, who were expressly told to stay in their own back yard, have come out in front and cuddled themselves at the feet of the Lady Eucalyptus, who has thrown her bluish-green robe over them, so that they may stay and hear the music.

Everything around Festival Hall is harmonious and beautiful, and the glorious sunshine is over all, and the salt breezes from the bay, whose work it is to keep the air always clear and health-giving, are never idle.

Madame World was a wise mother when she chose this spot for her Fair.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PALACE OF VARIED INDUSTRIES

DEAR COUSINS:

THE Palace of Varied Industries, where we spend a good deal of time, is a beautiful building in the old California Mission style, and has some fine doorways. The statuary used around the building is meant to say that work is honorable and desirable.

It is wonderful how many kinds of work there are in the world. We never stopped to think until we came to this Fair, that everything that is made has first to be thought out. And then all the little things that go with it have to be thought out, even to a little flower in the wall paper, or the way icing is put on a cake.

All Madame World’s families have sent samples of work to this palace: There are the loveliest little hand-knitted sweater dresses for children from the Argentine, laces from Spain, cocoanut fibre hats from the Philippine Islands, wood-carvings from Switzerland, and some equally as pretty from South Carolina made by boys in a private school.

Mrs. Adelaide Robineau has some wonderful porcelains from Syracuse, New York, which are very beautiful.

We admired the jewelry; there are gems of all sorts in hand-wrought mountings, both ancient and modern.

There are wonderful opals, tinted like the gleam in a bubble, some very lustrous pearls, which you would think were worth the king’s ransom which you always read about in stories, but which are made from the scales of a little three-inch fish found in Russian waters.

We nearly forgot to tell you about the silkworm exhibition. It was the thing we liked best in the whole palace. The silkworms eat a very great amount of mulberry leaves, and are most inexcusably particular about their diet, and when they are ready they go into their cocoons, and that is the last of them.

Only a few are allowed to become butterflies, but they are not pretty butterflies, anyway. When they have spun enough, and just before they would hatch and spoil the silk, they are sterilized, and then the silk can be unwound. They were doing that when we saw them, and they have a delicate machine which winds the silk into nice soft yellow skeins, ready to be woven. It is one of California’s new industries, and will be more profitable as time goes on.

There are so many things to choose from, we are not able as yet to decide what we shall do.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Palace of Machinery.

THE PALACE OF MACHINERY

DEAR COUSINS:

THE Palace of Machinery is just across the Avenue of Progress from the Palace of Mines, and is an imposing building of great beauty, as befits a god of so much power and importance. It covers nine acres of ground, and seems to suggest strength. Father tells us that it is the largest wooden structure in the world. He says that six million feet of lumber were required for sheathing it and four carloads of nails and fifteen hundred tons of bolts and washers were used in building it.

We found many things of interest—machines for drilling oil wells, and machines for refining the oil, machines for crushing great rocks, and machines for making roads. There were canning machines, gas engines, giant printing-presses, bookbinding machinery and all sorts of electrical devices. Father says that every machinery appliance that has been invented is shown here in completest detail.

There was a knife in one exhibit which opened and shut all by itself; it was a giant knife, and we said to each other that perhaps a gnome was making it open and shut. A little boy who was near said, “Aw! Sillies! It goes by machinery!” So then, of course, we knew!

There were some moving-picture machines in the palace, but we did not see them work, and we are going back there some day. In all the palaces they have wonderful “movies,” and sometimes we go to them while father looks at things.

We find that it is better not to get too tired, so we went and sat in the Avenue of Progress and listened to a band which was playing, until father came out, and then we came home. It was a heavy day, seeing so much massive machinery, and we were a little tired, but very glad that we had seen it all.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PALACE OF MINES

DEAR COUSINS:

THE Palace of Mines is a most interesting Palace, built in the Spanish style, with some very fine doorways or portals.

Inside we found so many things of interest that we were quite surprised, as we had not expected to be so very much interested in mines. Father says that we came to this Fair to learn about the things in it, and mines are very important. We began to think he was right, when we saw the two big balls of gold which show where the most gold comes from, and how much is mined every year.

Gold mines are not the only kind that are valuable. So many things come from mines which we had never even wondered about before, that we wonder now at our former ignorance. Jewels of every kind come from the ground—lovely opals and diamonds, and our birthstone—the purple amethyst—and rubies, and everything but pearls. It is wonderful to think of, isn’t it? We were invited to go down in a coal mine, not a real one, of course, but one which shows just how it looks. It was a bit scary down there; and always after this when we are sitting before a glowing coal fire, and perhaps popping corn over it, we shall remember that some one went down in a dark coal mine and dug it out for us. Father says that the Fair teaches us great lessons, and the best among them is to be kinder to each other.

When we came up from the coal mine we were taken into a dark room, like the ones which photographers have, and shown some radium. You have to use a sort of telescope glass, and shut one eye, and look through the lens, and there it is hopping about in the box just as though it did not enjoy a bit being shut up in there. Being so little of it in the world it is tremendously expensive.

We were glad to see that there are all sorts of ways to keep the men who work in mines well and happy now, at least compared to what there used to be, and the motto “Safety First” is all over everywhere.

The machinery for working the mines was interesting to father, but it was a little too heavy for us, so just to help us to remember that we had seen the Palace of Mines we went to a coal-mining “movie.” After that we went and sat in the North Gardens and watched the ships go by until father came for us. The bay is very beautiful, and we just adore the sea-gulls. They were having a lawn party that day.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

DEAR COUSINS:

THERE are so many fascinating ways to travel now that we wonder why anyone stays at home.

Father observed today that if we were to travel in other countries for the same length of time that this Fair is to be kept open, that we could not possibly learn so much about the manners and customs of the people as we can by seeing the Fair. He says it is a privilege to have seen it, because before we are grown up there will not be another, and children remember such things so much more vividly than grown-up people do.

Today we went to the Palace of Transportation. Even Alaska is there with some fine canoes and paddles, and models of steamships.

The Philippine Islands, Uncle Sam’s little brown children of the seas, have sent an interesting means of transportation, in the shape of a water caribou and cart. The ox has immense horns which spread out on each side of his head, and measure about five feet in length. They must be heavy to carry.

Contrasting with that are the great engines of our own railroads, turning majestically on the turn-tables, which illustrate how men can handle such monsters.

There are aeroplanes and automobiles of the very latest models. Here again we were reminded that the ideas shown are all new ones, and we should think that Madame World would consider that her families are very bright children.

We went up on the deck of a big liner, and were quite fascinated with the dear little rooms, with the twin beds, and pink and blue cretonne furnishings.

We wrote a letter to mother on one of the dear little desks in the room we are going abroad in some day.

Some English cars are shown, and we did not think we should care for them, as one has to be really shut up in the compartment until it gets to the next station; and if you do not happen to own it all, some one whom you do not care about may be in there, and it seemed to us that it would be unpleasant.

We do not wish to appear unduly patriotic, but we have seen nothing as yet which convinces us that there is any place better than our own land.

But father says that every one feels that way, and of course it is very proper.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PALACE OF MANUFACTURES

DEAR COUSINS:

WE WENT across the Court of Flowers, stopping to admire the darling pansies, to the Palace of Manufactures.

This, again, is in Spanish Renaissance style, and has a figure of Victory on the gables, another reminder that we have been victorious with the Canal.

One of the interesting things we saw here was rope-making. A large Colonial mansion has been made of rope, the big cable kind, with pillars and all. It was clean-looking and very ingenious. The rope is made from the wild banana plant which grows in the Philippine Islands and does not look as though it were good for anything. They also make rope of a plant called “sisal,” which is a cactus plant, and grows wild in Mexico.

At this place a variety of small tools had been made into a wonderful waterfall, something like Niagara, only not so large, and a ship was running on the river above the falls which did not look very safe to us; it might be drawn over, we thought, but nothing happened. A very life-like snake made of steel ran across the bank every few moments. The boys seemed to enjoy it very much.

There was also a fountain made of wire, playing in the yard, and it looked very much like water if you wanted to help out by some pretend.

A little Japanese girl in this palace is making hats all the time, but she does not get tired because she is just a little statue, or figure, in a glass case, but she shows how the work is done as well as though she were alive, but you miss her smile.

Broom-making is also interesting, and we watched it until we could almost make a broom. First the man takes a handful of broom straw, and puts it in a machine, which does something to it, and gives it back. Then he passes it on to another man, and he puts it in another machine, and before you know it there is a regular broom, like your mother sends you to the grocery for.

I have always thought it would be better to take the seeds out of the broom and plant them and raise one’s own brooms, but I know better now. The straw is put in hot water first, and so, of course, the seeds would not grow. Besides, one would have to buy a machine.

A wonderful machine from Switzerland was making hand-made embroidery, or some that looked just as well, and we wished that you might see it.

It appealed to us, because to stay in the house and embroider has never seemed to us to be worth while, although we do like pretty things. Men do the work with this machine, and they have a pattern of the flower they are putting on the work pinned on the wall in front of them. I am quite sure brother would let us go without embroidery before he would stay in and do it.

We wouldn’t mind a bit cutting and making doll clothes from the darling paper patterns that we saw, if they would lend us a sewing-machine.

But we didn’t ask to do it.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

OUR HOSTESS

DEAR COUSINS:

OF COURSE not every one could come to this party, no matter how much they might wish to, so there are several States which have no mansion at the Fair.

California had thought about that, and so built a much larger house than she would have needed for her own people, that those having no State house might feel perfectly at home.

She is always a most delightful hostess, and makes one visiting her feel so welcome and comfortable that the visit is never forgotten. Her beautiful mansion is made after the old Mission style, with a bell tower, and bells, and lots and lots of room in it—parlors, cafes and rest rooms, and a lovely ballroom where the grown-ups may amuse themselves.

We go over to California’s house when we are tired, because our State is one of those which has no house, and one day while father was visiting with some friends we went in the secret gardens and waited for him. It is a lovely place, with old acacia trees in it, and a clipped Monterey pine hedge around it, and a wishing well in the middle.

It was so still and sort of whispery in there that we began to feel like children in a story, so we pretended that we were captive maidens in an enchanted garden. Whenever we tried to get out, the place where the gate was a moment before was just solid hedge. We despaired! An enchanted pigeon flew down from the blue sky! We implored her aid! So she flew away, and then father came. We know now that we shall be famous story-writers.

In the counties’ annex, California shows that she is a whole world all by herself. Each county has sent of her treasures, and the fruits are as golden as the real gold which is found here.

If there were nothing else to be seen at the Fair, it would still be worth while to have come to see California, whose blue skies and golden fields are always smiling. No one has ever seen a frown on California’s face,—not all over at one time. We love you, California!

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Colonnade of The Palace of Fine Arts reflected in the Lagoon.

THE PALACE OF FINE ARTS

DEAR COUSINS:

WE fear that we are not old enough to write to anyone about the Palace of Fine Arts, it is so wonderful, especially when it is reflected in the little lake where the swans live.

We got our first glimpse of it in the lake, and we almost thought we must have gone to Greece, and had not heard about it yet, because it looked like something out of our Greek book.

We walked around among the lovely trees, and went in and stood in the colonnade. It was so still and hushed, and different from the rest of the palaces, that it made us feel peaceful and holy, like going to early-morning service on Easter Day.

The galleries were a bit bewildering to us, there were so many pictures, but we wandered around by ourselves, and found some fascinating screens of lovely Chinese cats, and roosters, which we understood. There were more of our Swedish snow pictures, and away down in a little room at the end we found some miniatures which we loved. It made us feel quite acquainted and welcome to find a miniature called “A Mountain Lassie” which was painted by Bertha Corbett Melcher, our own dear Sunbonnet Babies lady.

We wandered out in the grounds to wait for father, and there among the shrubbery we found the darlingest little Pan, with his pipes. We stayed with him a long time. Janet Scudder sculped him. Then we came to the very prettiest thing we have found at the Fair—a dear little child figure, standing on tiptoe, with her hands outstretched to us, and her baby face full of joy, as though she had just seen the world for the first time and loved it. She is called “Wild Flower” and was made by Edward Berge. The dear little thing reminded us of spring rain, and morning sunshine, and nooks in the woods where the first violets grow.

There is another figure by Mr. Berge, called “Boy and Frog,” and many other dear little baby figures which we did not have time to learn about, because it was time to go home.

Father was pleased that we had found something to interest us. We intend to study the Expression of Art, because we feel so much better in our hearts when we find some beautiful thing which we can understand.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Western Façade, Palace of Education, Looking across Fine Arts Lagoon.

THE PALACE OF EDUCATION

DEAR COUSINS:

THE Palace of Education has a most beautiful entrance, which is as it should be, because education is the most necessary thing in the world. Father says that we do not at all realize our blessings because things are made so easy for us. He says that he and Mr. Abraham Lincoln did not have things so easy.

But it could not have been so bad, because see what splendid men they both grew up! We found so many things of interest that we could not begin to tell you about them. But the thing which most interested us was the vocational schools which Massachusetts was showing.

Their motto, “Earning while learning,” does seem so sensible. They explain that there will always be some children who will have to help support themselves, and so Massachusetts, like Sentimental Tommy, has found a way.

The children go to school one week, and work in a factory the next week, turn and turn about. Massachusetts has a large number of factories and so can make an arrangement of this sort, but she believes that other communities have some industries which could furnish work for children.

Another school idea appealed to us more: We do not like to think of other little children having to work when we have so many good times, and we hope that there will be found a way, very soon, so that they need not do it.

But the idea is this, and it also belongs to Massachusetts: They build a schoolhouse in the center of say twenty-five miles of country. They put teachers there, but no pupils. The whole radius of twenty-five miles is the school. If a boy over fourteen, who has attended regular school up to that time, wishes to start a business, so that he can both earn and learn, whether it is chicken-raising, carpentering, fruit-growing, dairying, anything which he can do in the country, he becomes a pupil in the school, and is entitled to one visit a week from a teacher, who will not only show him how to do the work, but will instruct him how to market his wares. He is expected to keep along in regular school work as well, so that when he is twenty-one he will have a business, and some money in the bank. Father said that was real common sense applied. There are also schools in home-making, where any girl from seven to seventy years of age can learn all about housekeeping, and taking care of children. We saw some lovely leather bags made by the high school pupils of Minneapolis, which father said were worthy of skilled workmen.

We have not yet decided upon a life work, but we are going to learn to make gingerbread and jam, currant jam.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

WHAT WE SAW AT THE PALACE OF FOOD PRODUCTS

DEAR COUSINS:

FRONTING on the Esplanade we found the Food Products Palace. Madame World considers that it is most important that the Spirit of Plenty, who rules food production, should have a palace worthy of her august Highness.

They were cooking so many things, and showing such quantities of food that it was most surprising. We were offered almost everything to eat that we had ever heard of, and some that we did not know existed. We were willing to sample them all, but father said that he did not believe we had better try to eat in so many languages. So we just had an oatmeal scone, and some puffed rice, and some Chinese cookies, a cup of chocolate, and a bit of biscuit, and a few other little things, but the others all looked good.

A lady has the most fascinating display of flowers made out of butter, red roses, and yellow roses, and water-lilies, and tulips, all growing on a lattice work inside her refrigerator. The colored flowers may be eaten because it is all colored with pure food colors. You could not tell that the flowers were not real, they look as though they grew there. She must have a lovely soul.

We wandered around to see the Aquarium. The fishes are lovely; we wish they did not have to be called Food Products. The Shovel-nosed Sturgeon is very probably a cousin to old Mr. Alligator, because he looks like him. He has the same bony humps on his back, and his head is shaped almost the same.

The Gar Pike looks like a submarine, and holds his body very rigidly, swimming only with his fins. He is grey and looks very cool and calm.

In one pool with some big blue Catfishes were some Salamanders, with funny furry tufts on their heads. They were lazy and would not get up. They resemble lizards. There was a whole tank of lovely Golden Perch from Catalina. They have faces with real foreheads, and a very bored and haughty expression. There were also some lovely Rainbow Trout from Canada’s mountain streams.

We were much interested in the fish-hatching processes. The eggs are kept under running water on a sort of griddle or coarse net, and when one little wiggly fellow comes out he uncoils and is long instead of round as he was in the egg, and so he drops down into the bottom of the tank, and begins to be a fish. He carries the rest of the egg around with him for a few days so that he need not be hungry until he has absorbed the nutrition it gives him.

Fishes do not care much about their relations except for dinner, as they are real cannibals. I suppose they do not know any better, but it seems unfortunate. I fear we neglected the rest of the palace.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

DEAR COUSINS:

WE WENT around through the Court of the Universe, and across the Aisle of the Setting Sun to the Palace of Agriculture, which is very beautiful indeed.

We suppose that Madame World wished to do all the honor possible to the Goddess of Agriculture, as she is a most useful goddess, and the world could not do without her, because she has to furnish food for all the earth.

We get used to taking things very much for granted, and do not seem to be interested in where things come from, and so that is why such a Fair as this is useful. It lets us know to whom we are indebted for the things we eat. Iowa had a real mountain of corn, lovely golden corn, and Vermont had real maple sugar to eat on the Johnnie cake the corn would make.

North Carolina and South Carolina send us rice, and Cuba sends us coffee, and South America sends fruits and also coffee, China sends tea and preserved ginger and funny nuts, and California and Florida give us oranges and grapefruit and strawberries, and almost everything good to eat, and the Philippines send us cocoanuts and Hawaii sends pineapples. Did you know that peanuts grow on a vine in the ground, and that bananas do not grow on a tree but on a tall ferny-looking thing which is not a tree, and pineapples grow on short plants which are set out every year? It takes a long time for the pineapple to perfect itself, but we did not learn just how long.

A gentleman from Cuba showed us a collection of fruit which is grown in that island, including the avocado, or alligator pear. It is a very wonderful fruit, and there is a tree in Southern California which is insured for thirty thousand dollars.

But the big red apples from Oregon were of more interest to us, because we know that we like those, and do not have to take any risks. And the lovely juicy golden oranges of California are good enough for us. But we liked to see all the things that have grown from the ground, because we can never quite understand the marvel of it—how a little seed knows quite well what it is going to be when it comes up. We know, because we planted some lettuce one year and it came up turnips. It said lettuce on the paper, but the seeds knew all the time that they were no such thing.

We could not be deceived like that again, because we know the difference now between lettuce and turnip seed.

We asked father if he did not think that Madame World should be very proud of her children, and he said yes, he did think so, and also that it was a great privilege to belong to her.

Father says such wise things!

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PALACE OF LIBERAL ARTS

DEAR COUSINS:

AS WE went in the door of the Liberal Arts father called our attention to the doorway, and also to the panel, representing the making of things which we use, and the figure of the lady with the spindle, and the man with the hammer.

These were made by Mr. Mahonri Young of Salt Lake City, Utah, and are meant to show that work is honorable and desirable.

All the ideas shown in this building are not more than ten years old, or if older they have been greatly improved in that time.

The telephone, for instance, has been so much improved that it is very much more practical. We were allowed to hear a telephone message from New York the other day, and shown movies of how they put the poles and wires over the mountains. It was like magic. Now comes along a machine, which we were shown in the Palace of Liberal Arts, which really is a wizardry sort of thing, as it takes your message if you telephone when your friend is out, and repeats it to him in your own voice when he returns. We know because we tried it. The man asked us to speak into the telephone, and then let us hold the machine to our ears and it spoke right back to us. We have always thought such a machine would be a help, especially if we wanted to stay at grandmother’s for supper, and could not get mother on the ’phone.

Bookbinding appeals to us very much indeed, because it is so smooth and shows that one has taken pains with the work, and perhaps we shall become bookbinders. A lady had some beautiful leather bindings there, and she was most kind about explaining.

We thought we would like one of the dear little cameras that go in a hand-bag, and take little bits of pictures which afterward grow into big ones, but father said we must wait for that. So we went to see the apparatus for taking the “movies,” and also looked at the lovely autochromes. It is too bad that they will not reprint in color, but before the next ten years of course they will.

We wonder if you have seen the new lawn sprinkler which jumps around from one place to another on the lawn. When we went home today we saw it at work out in the lawns, and we could scarcely believe our eyes. It sprinkled one place until it thought, apparently, that it was wet enough, and then it bobbed out of sight and came up about ten feet away, working like mad. Really if you did not know about it, it would make you think you were asleep and dreaming a fairy story.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PALACE OF HORTICULTURE

DEAR COUSINS:

HORTICULTURE, as you know, is the art of making things grow, like grass and flowers and blooming trees and shrubs, which add so much to the beauty of the world.

The Goddess of Horticulture, whose name is Flora, should be very happy in the palace which Madame World has provided for her at the Fair, because it is extremely beautiful.

Madame values the goddess Flora very highly, and loves her dearly, because she knows what a very different place this world would be without her.

Her palace at the Fair has a wonderful dome, where the sun shines in all day, and several smaller domes, so that the palace is always light and cheerful.

A perfect thicket of trees and shrubs and flowers surround it, seeming to peep in at their less hardy sisters who live inside the palace.

The wonder worker among flowers and fruits and vegetables, Mr. Luther Burbank, has his headquarters at the Fair, and will be happy to tell any one just how to create new flowers and fruits, and give advice on gardening.

We wanted to ask him why he wanted a red poppy instead of a golden one, but we did not. We love the poppies golden just as they are, and we did not a single bit like the nasturtium-colored ones we saw there. But of course we are only children, and he is very wise.

The people from the Netherlands have a great garden of bulb plants in the grounds, and the Japanese people have cherry, plum, and other ornamental trees, as well as rare flowers.

A gardener told father that the great eucalyptus trees and the cypresses—many of them sixty feet tall—had been brought down from a park and put there around the walls of the palace. We wondered how they liked being transplanted.

But they were playing quite happily with the little winds from the ocean and seemed quite contented. The gardener told us that they were going back home after the Fair is over, so perhaps they had heard.

We are planning a garden for next year. We shall have heaps of poppies.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

OUR FIRST LESSON IN SCULPTURE

DEAR COUSINS:

WHEN we had looked, and looked, and looked at the Tower, and had almost counted every jewel on it, we were so delighted with it, father called our attention to the Fountain of Energy, made by Mr. A. Stirling Calder, and told us about its meaning, or symbolism.

The sculptor means to convey the idea that the Canal has been finished because of the pluck and energy and courage of our nation, and that now we are going on to better things.

The queer sea creatures at the base of the fountain are supposed to be carrying on their backs the four oceans, the North and South Arctic, and the Atlantic and Pacific.

The figure of the man on the horse certainly looks very animated, and we supposed that the figures standing on his shoulders are heralds who are to clear the way for him.

Near Horticultural Hall in the South Gardens, at the left of the Fountain of Energy, is a Mermaid Fountain by Mr. Arthur Putnam, which is repeated at the right in front of Festival Hall. That gives you a picture of the tower and what we saw from the main gate as we went in.

Father said that as we had made so good a start, it would be wise to keep on with sculpture for the rest of the day. He pointed out to us the figure of Victory, which has been placed on each one of the palaces, and then took us to the Court of Palms to see Mr. James Earle Fraser’s “The End of the Trail.” We felt just how tired both man and horse were, and felt sorry for them both. We asked father why they had come so far to get themselves exhausted like that, and he again told us something of symbolism.

The statue is intended to represent the redman, and denotes that the race is vanishing, and is supposed to be studied in connection with the “Pioneer,” Mr. Solon Borglum’s very fine statue in the Court of Flowers. That is meant to say that the white race will take up the work of progress and carry it on. We completed the lesson by going to see the Column of Progress at the end of the Court of the Universe. The bas-relief, that means the flat figures on the surface, by Mr. Isadore Konti, show men have striven for the best in life. The group at the top of the column, by Mr. Hermon A. McNeil, is a great work, father says, and is meant to express the idea of effort.

The artist has also expressed the thought that no man can accomplish anything alone, but must have the love and support of his fellow beings. We think that is a beautiful thought.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE COURT OF THE UNIVERSE

DEAR COUSINS:

WHILE we were in the Court of the Universe, father thought we had better have another lesson on sculpture.

He considers that the fountains of The Rising Sun and Descending Night are the very finest things at the Fair, and he has traveled abroad and is a good judge. They are the work of Adolph A. Weinman. Father wants us to put in the names of sculptors and artists not because he expects us to remember them just now, but because big brother will want to know.

The very big groups on the triumphal arches attracted our attention, and we asked about them and what they were supposed to mean. Everything about the Fair has some meaning, but we do not expect to get it all. The group with the elephant and the Oriental gentlemen represents Eastern civilization on the way to meet Western civilization, which is represented by the group on the other arch—that with the prairie schooner drawn by oxen, and the figure of the Alaskan woman.

The Spirit of the East marching to meet The Spirit of the West is meant to typify the meeting of the world’s families now that the Canal has been completed.

The groups are the work of A. Stirling Calder, Leo Lentelli, and Frederick G. R. Roth.

Father liked very much the “Hopes of the Future” and “The Mother of Tomorrow,” two of Mr. Calder’s best things, in the group.

We liked, especially after the lights were on, the figures representing stars, of which so many are used in the avenue leading north.

Mr. Robert I. Aitken has four good figures in this court, and in the evening when the lights were on and the vapor was rising from the urns it looked like a story out of the Arabian Nights.

The flowers are lovely, and you never for a moment feel away from home, because all the courts are so homey-feeling, just like one’s own garden.

Father said after awhile that he thought it would be well for us to see something that we could really understand, and so he took us over to see Edith Woodman Burroughs’ dear little figure of “Youth” which she has made for a fountain. We just loved it, it looks so girly, and we were also much interested in the Fountain of Eldorado by Mrs. Whitney, because we have read the story about Ponce de Leon.

It would be nice to be a sculptor if one were a boy, unless one could be an aviator.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

DEAR COUSINS:

WE ARE very happy and cheerful children—we have often heard people say so—but behind our smiling faces lies the deep and consuming sorrow that we have not a brother of our own age.

We can never understand why kind Providence did not create us triplets instead of twins and make one-third of us boy! It would have made no difference to kind Providence, and would have been much better for us.

We have never needed a brother as much as we do in seeing this Fair, though of course we say nothing to father about it as we realize that he is doing his best for us, but he so often has to leave us while he attends to some business or other, and then it is we feel the need of a brother of our own age. An older one would be of no use, as our fifteen-year-old one is not any good to us. He says he has interests of his own.

We were waiting in the Court of Abundance today for father, and were having a lovely time pretending that the lanterns between the arches were the homes of the light fairies, which would come out after the sun went away, and waving their golden wands would say, “Let there be light,” and there would be light, and that the color fairies would come down from the pictures and dance with the light fairies, and goodness only knows what we might not have accomplished in the way of a six best seller when a young sparrow fell out of his nest. He was disturbed about it, very naturally, but we were so sorry for him that we could not go on with our pretend. If we had had a brother of course he could have climbed up and put the poor little thing back, but a guard came and got him, and while of course we shall never know what happened, we have our fears.

Father came just then and we asked him if he wanted to give us a lesson, and he remarked that he feared the Court of Abundance was almost too big for a couple of ten-year-old tots to get much out of except perhaps fresh air and incipient inspiration. That cannot be as serious as it sounds, because we are sure father would not expose us to anything, but we shall look up “incipient” as soon as we get home.

We stayed down and saw the lights this evening and when the vapor is rising from the urns and the serpents are writhing, or at least seeming to, and all the lanterns are lighted, it looks like something out of our Arabian Nights’ book.

We shall try to finish our little play sometime, when the sparrows have taught their young ones to fly properly.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Night Illumination—Niche in the Court of the Four Seasons.

THE COURT OF THE FOUR SEASONS—THE COURT OF FLOWERS

DEAR COUSINS:

WE LOVE the Court of the Four Seasons, by Mr. Henry Bacon. It is so homey and lovely in there that we feel that we could be perfectly happy all day and every day in there. We like to hear the birds talking about their nests, and how many eggs there are now, and when the young ones are going to have their first flying lesson. We love also Ceres, the Goddess of Agriculture, who is standing on a pedestal on top of the lovely fountain. Mrs. Evelyn Longman is the lady who made it. The young ladies who dance around the base of the pedestal are so happy that you almost expect them to join hands and jump down and dance on the grass. Mr. Albert Jaegers’ Feast of the Sacrifice is in this court also, but we did not care so much about the symbolism of that. The artist has made it seem so real that we are sorry for the poor animal, which we are sure does not wish to be sacrificed.

But when we are in this lovely court it is impossible not to be happy, so we enjoy the flowers, and the statuary without thinking too much of what the symbolism is. Father says that we can think of that later, when we are older.

The Fountain of the Earth is in this court, and we like to watch the play of the water over the dome of the fountain.

In front of the Court of Flowers stands “The American Pioneer,” by Mr. Solon Borglum, which we like very much, because it looks like something out of our story books, which is not a very good reason, father says, because it is meant to show that these fine old men and women came first and made a way for us, and if they had not, we should have no beautiful Fair today.

This court is supposed to be the Court of Oriental Fairy Tales, but so far we have not met any one whom we know especially, except “Beauty and the Beast,” by Edgar Walters, and they do not seem quite in the right place.

Mr. Calder’s Flower Girls, with their garlands, make the place seem very gay and happy, but the real flowers were what we liked best, and we could sit for hours and hours in this beautiful spot, watching the big butterflies flitting over the pansy beds, and the bronze, ruby-throated humming-birds flashing like jewels escaped from the Tower.

This Fair makes us wonder why people do not make gardens prettier, and not live in houses as much as they now do.

We suppose it is because they cannot all live in California, where out-of-doors is nearly always nice.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

MURAL PAINTINGS

DEAR COUSINS:

FATHER said today that he was afraid we had not learned much about the murals, and we said that we would like to study them more, but they were so high up that we got a dreadfully achy neck every time we tried to do much with them.

He laughed a little at that, but said that it was an affliction which had to be borne, as he was anxious that we should study them. He wishes us to be able to read pictures as well as we do print, or music, because they always have some story to tell which helps in life.

We are glad now that he insisted, because otherwise we should have missed seeing Mr. Robert Reid’s pictures in the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts.

We liked very much the panels which symbolize the four golds of California, the poppies, the oranges, the gold, and the wheat. We have secured some photographs of all the murals in the Exposition, and shall study them when we are at home, and we shall send you some pictures with these letters.

We are of course not quite sure why we like some things better than others, but we do like very much the picture entitled “Victorious Spirit” in the Court of the Palms.

It has the most beautiful blue in it, and we love blue, though of course we know that that is not an adequate reason for liking a picture. There is something fine about being a Victorious Spirit, which we admire, especially if it is a good spirit, and this one seems to be.

In the Court of Abundance we saw Mr. Frank Brangwyn’s “Earth,” “Air,” “Water,” and “Fire.” The “Earth” picture shows in a harvesting scene all the things which the earth has given to us. In “Fire” we are shown how fire was first found, and how much more comfortable people were after that.

Next, men were learning how to use the fire, and when they had discovered that cooked food was better than the old way, they needed pots to cook their food in, and so had to make the pots.

In the “Water” picture, you will notice that the people are using the pots now for carrying the water to their homes, and the clouds show you by their heavy grayness that it will soon rain.

The “Air” picture shows that the storm has come, and the children are hurrying home to shelter. We did enjoy these pictures so much, and we wish that all pictures were as easy to read and as interesting as these. It is a bit hard to understand that there has ever been a time when people did not have fire and such things, but father says we should not say such things when we are in the Fifth Grade.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

WHAT WE DID IN ITALY

DEAR COUSINS:

FATHER said today that it was time to improve our minds by some foreign travel. So we stepped into our imaginary aeroplane and flew right over.

Italy’s palace is very stately with great high ceilings and elaborate entrances. It represents both Mediaeval and Renaissance styles of architecture.

A very nice Italian gentleman showed us over the palace and explained the things to us as well as he could without knowing our language, and of course we knew nothing of his. We shall study languages, and we like Italian. It sounds so polite!

If Christopher Columbus could come to the Fair, he would find himself on a pedestal in the throne room, along with his king and queen. Dante also is there, and stern-looking Garibaldi, and Alexander Volte, who discovered how to apply electric energy, and many other famous Italian persons.

In another part of the palace wonderful laces were displayed, and some carved corals which we know would have pleased mama.

In one case were some old velvet cloaks, which we have seen worn by pirates and buccaneers in our story books—those who wear big droopy hats with big plumes on them,—you remember?

There are copies of famous painters, among them several by Titian, who always painted red-haired people, and isn’t it funny how one thing you hear fits in with something you have heard! We know now why big sister is called Titian-haired.

Michael Angelo’s “Virgin” we shall always remember, the face was so pale and pure looking, and so young, though she has been made so long. There were some carved alabaster vases, real ones, though almost everything is copied, and some modern paintings which my nice gentleman did not care about. He liked the old masters, he said. There were some musical instruments which had been dug up from Pompeii, just green with age. Nobody knows what their names are.

Some copies of Lucca della Robbia were very beautiful, especially an altar piece of Virgin and Child.

The furniture is beautiful, and is all in keeping with the big rooms and high ceilings. They use fireplaces mostly in Italy, but have modern heating now. Our nice gentleman said that Italy is a good deal like California, “only little bit nicer.”

We enjoyed our Italian trip, and shall always remember it.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

OUR VISIT IN TEHUAN-TEPEC

DEAR COUSINS:

MEXICO, who is our near neighbor—she lives just across the Rio Grande River from us,—has always before this time sent a good representation to Madame World’s fairs.

But this year she could not arrange to leave home, and some of her children were much disappointed, just as one would naturally expect, when they had their minds all made up to come. We can quite understand it.

So one little village said, “Oh, Mother Mexico, please let us go to our Cousin America’s party?”

Mothers always enjoy making their children happy, we are glad to have observed, so Senora Mexico told the little village if it would be good and keep its face and hands clean, and not ask for more than one helping of cake and ice-cream that it might go to the party. So it came, and one evening we went up to call. It lives on a very noisy street called “The Zone,” but after we were inside the gates we did not even hear the noise.

It is quite the quaintest little village we have ever been in. They have a dear little theatre, not a movie, but a real play theatre, which pleased us because we like regular plays much better than pictures. It seems more like really doing things, and we miss the voices so much in a movie.

They gave a play for us, in their own language, and it was very funny. We did not, of course, understand the words, but they laughed so much at it that we knew.

After the play we went to supper, which was cooked on a ’dobe stove, and served in a real kitchen in a real hacienda.

There is a real river of real water running through the village, and on it is a tiny barge full of green vegetables, showing how the gardener takes his produce to market. There were two big catfish in the river. We stood on the puente, which is Mexican for “bridge,” and watched the good ship Anita as it steamed into the harbor. We feared the catfish would capsize it.

Some of the people of the village have brought along their work, and we were much interested in the basket-making, and the weaving of the brilliant colored serapes, which the people wear instead of coats.

A Mexican grandmother gave us each a dear little vase of red pottery, and a feather picture of a blue jay. We hoped the picture was not made of a real blue jay’s feathers, because we are fond of him.

We found the village interesting. They bade us adios, and asked us to come again. Thank you, Mexico, we shall.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

DEAR COUSINS:

WE DO not know where we have been more beautifully entertained than we were in Japan. A lovely little Japanese maiden with an embroidered robe told us a good many interesting things. One of them was about “Boy Day.”

It seems that in Japan all the boys have one birthday, that is, May fifth is set aside for a universal boys’ birthday. They have then a celebration, all over the nation, and it is what with us would be a bank holiday like Thanksgiving, or Decoration Day.

The carp is chosen for the emblem, because he is the Samurai, or warrior fish, because he is so full of courage, and figures of him are made of crepe and floated from bamboo poles, along with their flag.

On that day the boys are instructed in the standards of manhood as they are expected to live, and shown their ancestors’ great deeds as recorded in the family records.

We think we should not exactly care about a wholesale birthday, but the maiden said that the girls also have one, which is March third. A doll made like the small girl child is presented to her, and she is supposed to keep it until she grows up, so that her children may have it. Japanese people care a very great deal about their ancestors, and we suppose they feel about them as we do about our great-grandfathers who fought with George Washington.

We had Ceremonial Tea, in a lovely tea-garden, which was very beautiful, but of course we are not allowed to drink tea, but the cakes were interesting, and father said that budding authoresses should always absorb local color.

We think that we did that because we studied the flowers and shrubs very intently, and while father talked with the artist who was making lovely postal cards by painting scenes from the gardens we went out and traced to its source the laughing brook which was rushing through the grounds. It did not spoil it a bit for us to discover that the brook came from a water pipe sunk in the ground, because we understand of course that the gardens did not grow there of their own accord.

The Japanese people love beauty and always

A lovely little Japanese maiden with an embroidered robe told us a good many interesting things.

create it wherever they may be living, and their gardens at the Fair are very wonderful. They have a dwarf evergreen tree which is said to be over one thousand years old. It is about as large as our Christmas tree is when we have a large one for both families.

In Japan, the silk culture occupies an important place. We saw some exhibits of it, and it seems to us that if we did not care so much about our native land that we might like to go and raise silkworms in Japan.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Section Court of the Ages, showing Tower of Jewels and Arch of the Rising Sun in distance. The Fountain of Earth in the foreground.

CANADA THE BEAUTIFUL

DEAR COUSINS:

CANADA, who is our very nearest neighbor on the North, has built a mansion at the Fair, which seems to us the very most beautiful of all.

The pictures shown give one a perfectly correct idea of the country, and what it produces, and can produce in the future.

As we entered we were asked by a polite attendant to “keep to the left, please,” which rather surprised us until we remembered that in England and all colonies belonging to her all traffic passes from left to right, and not the opposite, as with us.

The pictures of the forests and the birds and animals which live in them kept us a long while, and we were never tired of looking at them. We were glad that father brought us, because we could look as long as we liked, instead of hurrying through as so many children are obliged to do.

The pictures are made by placing real animals or other objects in the foreground, and painting a back drop continuation of the scene, in the manner of a stage drop in a theatre.

One beautiful scene represents a farmhouse with cattle grazing in the distance, and green gardens and fruit trees around the house. It is meant to show what a farmer can do in five years of work on a new piece of ground.

Another picture shows the rolling prairies with fields of ripe, yellow wheat, with snow-capped mountains in the far distance, and still another takes one to the extreme north of Canada, and shows how the Aurora Borealis lights up the world during the time of the midnight sun.

There is also a wonderful apple-harvesting scene, where real apples are used in the foreground, and in the background men on ladders are gathering the apples from the trees.

Canada has also immense mines of iron, coal, gold and silver, as well as great quarries of marble, asbestos and copper, and many other minerals.

The decorations in the main building are made from seeds, and you would be surprised, we are sure, to see the pictures which can be produced with the natural seeds and grasses.

We liked Canada very much and brought away some new ideas.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

OUR CHINESE VISIT

DEAR COUSINS:

WE WENT one day to the Chinese pavilions, and wandered around there to our hearts’ content. It was so fascinating that we could hardly come away. The embroideries are wonderful, especially the scenes and birds, and we had no ambition to try to do them. The carved teakwood furniture is lovely, especially that combined with porcelain. Unless one could travel to China they could never see such treasures as are here displayed.

A very polite little Chinese gentleman noticed that we were interested in an old coin collection, and explained to us that “these ancient cash were unearthed by a farmer while plowing near Canton.” The coins bear dates all the way from 618 B. C. to 1265 A. D. We decided that we would keep our “cash” in a different sort of bank.

The polite gentleman told us something about the dwarf trees which are used for decorative purposes, and showed us an elm tree which was over a hundred years old, and is only three feet in height, and is growing, or, as we said we thought, just living, in a flower-pot. The Chinese dragon on the flower-pot would have scared us so that we never could grow any more if we had to live with it, and perhaps that is what happened to the tree.

The gentleman was feeling very sad over the loss of some similar trees which had been ruined by the voyage from China, by the carelessness of some one who took care of them, in watering them with sea water. We took note of the fact that salt water will kill trees and plants.

There were some reproductions of ancient temples and shrines, and a queer picture made of postage stamps of all nations, and we had a lot of fun finding our own stamps. It has a picture of George Washington, and as far as we can remember it was the third one from the end, starting at the right.

After we had seen all the pictures in the pavilion, and all the other treasures, we went to the tea-house to have lunch.

Dear little almond-eyed Chinese girls waited on us, and surprised us by speaking excellent English. We were a little disappointed that they wore American-made shoes with their pretty native costumes, but father said, “Why not? They are going to be American girls now. That is why Madame World was anxious to have the Canal.”

We are glad we brought father, he always remembers what we do not want to forget.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

MORE FOREIGN TRAVEL

DEAR COUSINS:

IF THERE is one place that we do adore it is Hawaii. We have been there so many times since we came to the Fair, that now when we stop to look at the gorgeous fishes they seem to show signs of recognition.

We spent a very pleasant hour in the motion picture theatre in Hawaii, and got a very good idea of the country. We have resolved that we shall go there the very first trip we take really abroad.

The day before our last at the Fair we stopped in Hawaii to get a glass of pineapple juice, and to listen to the singing. The choir sang “Aloha,” the Hawaiian song of farewell which ex-Queen Liliuokalani wrote, and it made us feel a sort of sad happiness.

So, to get cheered up we went over to Holland, and looked at the beautiful picture of the land of Queen Wilhelmina, whom every one loves.

Holland’s mansion is tastefully decorated in blue and brown, and looks very inviting. Java, one of Holland’s colonies, has some interesting colored prints called Battik cloth, which are made by covering the surface of the cotton with clay, or wax, and then cracking the covering so that the dye stuffs may penetrate to the cloth.

In Norway there was no one at home except some singers who were giving a concert, which we enjoyed. Their things had not yet been unpacked.

Australia was at home and showed us her treasures. We liked her birds and brilliant butterflies, but father was more interested in her articles of commerce, such as woods, wools and fruits.

It is hard to remember that these countries are really so far away from our own country, it is so easy to get to them in the Fair.

New Zealand showed us some motion pictures of interesting water sports, and how they catch the big kingfishes; we saw, also, some mounted specimens of the kiwi, the wingless bird of New Zealand. It has absolutely no wings, and is about the size of a guinea hen.

From there we went over to Siam for a few minutes, to see their lovely lacquered wood, and other treasures, and then went to Turkey to admire the rugs and Benares brasses. We are sorry that so many of the countries which we are anxious to see have not as yet arrived, but we must hope to come back to the Fair before it closes.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

P. S.—Have you ever noticed how sad it is to do things for the last time?

OUR DAY IN SWEDEN

DEAR COUSINS:

WE HAVE always wanted to see how skis are really worn, and we were very glad to go to Sweden and see them. The Swedish mansion is directly across from the Canadian building, so our foreign travel is being made very easy for us.

We went into a blue room, after we had seen all the ships, and steel things, and the beet sugar cones, which made your mouth water just to look at them.

The walls of the blue room are covered with a cloth made from wool, and colored blue, the very bluest blue you could imagine. Then we saw the nice deep hand-painted chests which we thought would be perfectly fascinating to have in our attic, to put all our brocaded satin dresses in, so that our children could dress up in them as we do in our grandmother’s things. There are old-fashioned wool rugs made with a hook which pulls wool through a foundation. We have seen Tillie Nelson’s mater make them in Minnesota.

Their furniture is black oak, with wool tapestry for covering, and there are some beautiful bookcases, and hand-carved book-ends, and some beautiful book-bindings.

We looked a long time at the wonderful pictures of snowstorms painted by A. Schultzberg, 1914. We both like them better than any paintings we have ever seen. We almost expected to see little Mrs. Cottontail hop out from under the snow-laden spruce trees, or to hear a chickadee bird sing his winter song from one of the branches. We have resolved to study art. A beautiful statue, carved by Alice Nordin, entitled “The Goddess of Love,” is in that room, and seemed to us very beautiful.

There were some bronze chandeliers which we know would interest big brother, they were what he calls decorative, and some china which sister would rave over.

We came away feeling that Sweden is a very large and useful nation, and a homey and comfortable sort of people. We said so to father, but he said, “Yes, yes, children, I am glad you felt that, because they are that and more.”

We knew by his tone that he was thinking, so we were careful not to chatter and disturb him.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

DEAR COUSINS:

FAIRY-LAND was never more beautiful than the Fair is when the lights are on in the evening, with all the big searchlights and the colored lights going at once. Then the Tower looks like the queen that it is, with its thousands of sparkling jewels. There is something majestic and silently mystical about it, as it stands with its head among the stars. There has never been anything like it, and there will never be anything like it, and while, like other great things, it may have faults, it will live forever in the hearts of the little children who have seen it.

Once in a while, as a special treat, Madame World has an evening of fireworks, in addition to the illuminations which she provides for her guests every evening. We went out late one afternoon, and stayed out for them.

Out on the Marina, or water-front, there is a big machine which controls the searchlights, and from there the whole Fair is illuminated.

When the lights are turned on, and stream far up in the sky, it looks as though the Goddess of Light and all her subjects were holding high carnival in the heavens. Sometimes the lights are all colors of the rainbow, and when they are turned on Golden Gate it looks as though all the color sprites from the coral caves were sailing in from tropical seas to dance at the carnival.

A most beautiful color effect was arrived at by puffing great white clouds of steam from engines, and turning on them the colored searchlights.

The fireworks were, however, the crowning surprise. First they were the ordinary Fourth of July kind, just skyrockets, which, bursting with a loud report, fling stars and bouquets of flowers in the air.

We liked them very much, as all children like fireworks, and were quite satisfied that we were having a lovely time, when Boom! a big rocket exploded, sending balls of fire high up in the air, and do you know, out flew Old Mother Hubbard and her dog Tray, Mary and her little lamb, Little Boy Blue and his flock of sheep, the old woman who went up in a basket, the pig which flew so high, and the cow which jumped over the moon, not to mention a ballet dancer, and whole flocks of geese, and strings of flags, all the old story-book folks, not little things which you would have to guess about, but real large-as-life characters whom you would at once recognize. Now if some one will explain to us how they could pack them all into a skyrocket, we shall be satisfied.

To complete the entertainment, the aviator then went up in his aeroplane and gave an imitation of a comet tearing through space.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

THE PANAMA CANAL CONCESSION

DEAR COUSINS:

IN SPITE of the fact that it may be called advertising, which, father says, we are not being paid to do, we wish very much to tell you about the Panama Canal representation which we saw at the Fair.

It is far and away the most educational and interesting thing at the Fair, and helped us to understand really why Madame World was so anxious to have the Canal cut, and why there is so much rejoicing over it.

They have a moving platform with chairs upon which we were seated, and given a telephone, through which we heard the lecture, and as the platform moved around the circle, carrying us from the Pacific to the Atlantic, we were informed as to each step in the great work of making the Canal, and shown exactly how it is now operated.

Of course we had to keep constantly in mind that if we were really to travel over the country which we were being shown that we could by no means do it in the twenty-three minutes which are used in seeing the show. But it gives a really correct idea of the country, and the work which has been and is being done, how the locks are opened and closed, and how the ships go through the locks, the location of the lighthouses, and of the various rivers and mountains, also how the cities are placed, and what cities are now submerged.

We had always wondered how it was possible for a ship to go higher than the level of the ocean, and no amount of explanation which father could give us was able to make it clear to us. But the actual passing through of the tiny vessel showed us at once. Whenever a vessel has gone through the Canal the fact is communicated to the world by the wireless which is stationed at each Canal entrance.

We are very glad that we saw the real working, splendid Canal spread out before us, and only wish that you might also have seen it.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

Western Section of the “Joy Zone.”

OUR DAY ON THE ZONE

DEAR COUSINS:

FATHER said that on our last day at the Fair we might be as frivolous as we pleased. So we went in at the Van Ness Avenue entrance, and did everything we wanted to do. Father did not seem a bit bored, though we had been afraid that he would.

We went to Toyland, and saw the circus, and the dog show, and the funny little men and women, who are really grown up although they are scarcely bigger than little brother, who is only five. There was one little father and mother there with a baby nearly as big as they were.

Then we went over to Japan Beautiful, and it is indeed beautiful, and we stayed a long time, buying gifts for all of you. It looked like fairyland with all the red lanterns and pretty flags flying. It was Queen Day. The queen’s chariot was a big bird, like a swan, only more beautiful.

Then we zigzagged across again and did things on the other side of the Zone, like going up in the funny thing which gives you a ride in the air, so you can see all the Fair at once. Then we stopped a few minutes in Old Mexico, but we had been there before, you know, so we came out and went to see the little babies in the incubators. They are very sweet, but are so little that they cannot live in just beds like other babies. They should have had “The Blue Bird” to read before they came and then they would not have been in so much of a hurry, because it cannot be any fun to be shut up in there.

We were hungry when we saw the chickens being roasted in front of a cafe, so we went in and had some lunch, and came out in time to see the big man walk across the Zone on a wire stretched away above our heads. We bought some candies, and saw them being made, and father bought us each a Nova Gem pendant, so we should not forget how the Tower sparkles in the sun, and then we went down to see the man fly. He writes his name in the sky, but it does not stay there very long. Father says Fame is like that.s

Then we came out and stood and looked back at the Tower, and out under the arches, out to where the bay was shining in the setting sun, and were glad that we had come. Father asked us what we had liked most. We couldn’t answer just at first, but after we were outside we knew. We had loved it, every bit of it, but the best thing of all was going home to mother.

Your loving cousins,
JANE AND ELLEN.

*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WHAT WE SAW AT MADAME WORLD'S FAIR ***

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Table of Contents

- WHAT WE SAW AT MADAME WORLD’S FAIR
- CONTENTS
- FESTIVAL HALL
- THE PALACE OF VARIED INDUSTRIES
- THE PALACE OF MACHINERY
- THE PALACE OF MINES
- THE PALACE OF MANUFACTURES
- OUR HOSTESS
- THE PALACE OF FINE ARTS
- THE PALACE OF EDUCATION
- WHAT WE SAW AT THE PALACE OF FOOD PRODUCTS
- THE PALACE OF LIBERAL ARTS
- THE PALACE OF HORTICULTURE
- OUR FIRST LESSON IN SCULPTURE
- THE COURT OF THE UNIVERSE

- THE COURT OF THE FOUR SEASONS—THE COURT OF FLOWERS

- MURAL PAINTINGS
- WHAT WE DID IN ITALY
- OUR VISIT IN TEHUAN-TEPEC
- CANADA THE BEAUTIFUL
- OUR CHINESE VISIT
- MORE FOREIGN TRAVEL
- OUR DAY IN SWEDEN
- THE PANAMA CANAL CONCESSION
- OUR DAY ON THE ZONE
- THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG™ LICENSE