Samantha at the World's Fair

d ourselves, with the inhabitants of several States,

elves at a depot, where wuz the entire cens

e, and I don't believe there wuz a bet

etween two lines of wild-lookin' and actin' men,

siah with a little creepin' beetle

in's wuz fearful; whatever else they had, t

in to the Columbian World's Fair-that marvellous city of magic; and anon,

ldin's and the charm of the surroundin's. The minute you pass the gate you are overwhelmed w

ut their idees to a magnitude never before attempted. It is a material easy to be moulded into all rare and artistic

Monarch, and which no goverment on earth wuz e

ion Buildin' wuz the one that h

uildin' hove up dir

eat gilded dome, and seems to begen to us all to

es the hull of the rest of the works. Here is the headquarters of the managers of the World's F

and the department of gener

the world has old General Information

ongst that city of matchless palaces. It covers four acres, every acre bein' more magnificent than the other

ption of St. Peter's in Rome. And it seemed to me, as I looked up at

to scrimp anybody in domes.

he World's Fair. That needs to be mighty in size, and of pur

geous gate-way before, unless

up, up, up towards the top, your feelin's soared to

o. Some on 'em struck tremendious hard blows

retful well, to see how much my sect wuz

she always has, and is willin' to; there she sot a-spinni

a Sunday-school lesson to

ost afraid for his future, but she wuz a-teachin' him

re she wuz a-learnin' to tell the truth, anyway, no matter how much it hurt him, how hard it hit aginst old custom and prejudices. He wuz a-leanin'

she wuz a-remindin' him that he ortn't to carve woman as a statute of Truth, and then not be willin' to hear her

et her up so high for the nations to look at-what makes him, year after year, a

they had an abundance of everything for their comfort,

ler it up so for day after day in real life, and they hadn't ort to. Men and wimmen ort to have the same settin' accommodations, an

n't in that-woman is in the future and the present. Them two men, a-looki

there, and I didn't feel as if I

deeds of Right, I'd want wimmen to

nd serene, a-depicterin' Liberty, and agin a-holdin'

erty, beautif

iscovered the mean actions that wuz a-goin' on about wimmen; that

if he calculated to keep her on in the slavery she is now, a-bindin' her with her own heart-strings-takin' a

erty sot up there, a-lookin' off with a calm mean, and there wuz a smi

rity; of course she wuz

th love and pity for him, jest as it always has been, and always will be. Another wuz a-kneelin' at

etty face seemed to answer back the music that the y

or a-thinkin' out some new system of religion, I dare presoom to say,

od and well-behaved old m

up ready to face danger, or die for his country; she, with

ith a breakin' heart, and take care of

Bitters done first rate-Josiah couldn't

and-lookin' old man, with his hand uplifted, a-tellin'

him, and it might be he wuz meant to depicter the Recordin' Angel; if he wuz

hat it wuz Wisdom

se-raiser a-tellin' his oldest boy the be

on the old man's face that wuz never ketched, I don't believe, w

old World a-instructin' the young R

art off any minute, a good deal as our country does, and I pr

e. Mr. Bitters

ictures and statutes-I don'

astens, an

sed through the buildin' to the outside, and a full view of the Court of Hono

and grow before mine eyes, till the street

ndolers, dressed in all the colors of the rainbow, or picturesque launches, with their gay freight of happy sightseers. And here and

he water to the green flowery terraces, and then above the

e, the tall ivory columns of the Perestyle stood, like a immen

feet high, lookin' jest as she ort to look. Calm, stately, but knowin' in her heart jest what she had done

, fair and stately and serene as a dream Queen, she stood a

that seen as it bust onto my raptured vision will go with me through life, and won't never be outdone and replaced by anything mor

in in, and felt and said, that I spozed I had had emotions all my life, and sights of 'em; why, I have had 'em as hi

wonder and enchantment broke onto my almost enraptured vision, I gin up that I never had

e waters, and their pure white columns and statuary reflected into the mirrow below, and

er with bridges, like the best of the beauty of Venice b

tity of shrubs and flowers of

and waters a-flashin', and banners a-flyin', and the tall white statutes a-standin' on every side of us a-watchin' us with their still eyes, to s

Exposition by readin' about it, as it would be for any on

ter, but differe

hrough the pores as it wuz, through all your soul, not at first, b

through it and talk about the size of the buildin's, and the wonders of the display, but

waters, the horseshoe falls, the rainbow that rises over it, the grotto,

wonderin' and admirin' heavens-how to paint this wonderful and inexpressible glory by tongue, how to put in words that which is mightier

s love; when you can paint the ardor and extacy that inspires the hero

, no tongue can describe this ever rushin',

, the tall, towerin' fruit of the four-century tr

about the lagoons, the Grand Basin, the Bridges, the Statutes, the Fountains, the wonders of

s concentrated might of material, practical beauty an

all in showers of blessin's to the uttermost ends of the earth-knowledge, wisdom, and beauty, of Freedom,

Miss Plank, nor nobody.

ld sides in the attempt; anyway, that is what some think. The new crack is there, anyway. Who'd a thought on't-a bell that has stood so ma

old sides i

of myself, and I felt so queer that I couldn't hardly speak to her. I don't know but she thought I felt big and haughty, but good lan

y emotions got quelled down a little, I passed the usua

her-she said that she had been here so many times, that

ttish, and I thought to myself, You are a-act

past-as much as fifty years back, anyway. As for the "Roney," I didn't know what she did mean,

be likely to have any when they are fifty or sixty years old. So I looked on with composure, and didn't take no notice of her flirtacious ways, and I consented to her propisition, and Josiah did too. That man hadn't been riz up by his emotions as I had, by the majesty and glory

es a-risin' before I left home;" and sh

n such a ti

that she would like to go to a certain restaurant at the fur end of the grounds to s

t "chef" wuz. I thought mebby it wuz chaff she meant, a

egened to me, and I followed her blindly, and I sez,

I don't often stand out

ne side, but he no need to-I spoke tr

o punctuate my remarks, and add weight to it, and I wuz so earnest that before I knew it I

hat course ot

"we will hang together

't go wanderin' off by yourse

ble eloquence, though it wuz kinder drizzlin' away

e, I will go first to the place my proud hear

s Buildin', home of my sect, a

ance off;" but I held firm-Josiah see that I wuz fir

e-and I spoze the buildin' will be a sight-all trimmed off with ornaments, and

se trimmed with bobinet lace on the out

; he did it to lower my

turned our bodies round and

istance, and agin my Josiah spo

m dignity, "Josiah,

w I hain't, and so there hain't

wn sect, in their great and lofty work, and the high thrones on which they have sot themselves in the year of our Lord, 1893; I am sot," sez I, "I am sot as ever the

in our tracts and went back round

uildin', every one on 'em light and triflin' things, such as gauzes, and artifi

ords, and the onspoken but fatigued a

efore the assembled nations of the earth, by slightin' 'em, by not payin' attention to 'em

eed; no,

e hull earth, every man, woman, and child, black and white, bond and free,

the chimbly get afire in Australia, or a earthquake take place in Africa, or a ca

mebby one or two would be left in Jonesville, and Loontown, and the hind side of Asia, and Hindoostan; but as I wended on and see the immense cr

tan, or Jonesville, not one; nor Loontow

or some distance, and Miss Plank looked some wilted, and Josiah

o the Woman's Building first, why not take a boat and go aroun

, and wondered that I hadn't thought of it

ps; and then, as I soon see, h

be a mariner-I will hire a

ve through the day, anyway; I want to live to see the full glory

drew up and laid off aginst us-a kinder queer-shaped one, with a canopy top, and gorgeous dressed boatmen-and we embarked and floated off on the clear wa

a hundred feet high; but no higher above the ordinary size of her sect wuz she a-standin' than the works of the wimmen I wuz a-settin' out to see towered up above the past l

and domes, and pinnacles, and on the smooth white path that lay in front of 'em, and on every side of 'em, the hull world a-walkin' and a-admirin' the seen jest as much as we did. And if there wuzn't everything else to lo

tiful more than tongue can tell or give any idee on, and then by some more of them matchless marvels of housen crowned with pinnacles, and domes, and wavin' banners, and then by the electrical buildin', w

ly, as we floated past fur dim isles of green trees, with domes and minarets a-risin' up above the billows of emerald richn

m, there hain't no use of talkin' about sortin' 'em out, or weighin' 'em-no steel yards

d do justice to the transcendent grand

him, as I have done sometimes before a big pile of work, when I have

ed my hands and s

ed cases I wou

ear m

about all I c

been gazed on, would have been jest about as a im

broke into sudden; I heard as

dough off from the dry oven,

nca

root-beer; it brung me down to the worl

a few of 'em this

h a time as t

know but it wuz jest as well, for it w

at one stride and swing my foot clear over the hull noble flight of marble steps, and the wide terrace, and land in fro

ped meekly out on to the broad, noble flight of steps, and t

the simple, noble perfection of

mer of ribbin. Well done for wimmen; they have riz up

ou might look at the Adminstration Buildin', des

ie he wanted to adorn himself with, and the

as a bay; from the centre of this rises the grand landin' a

anon, green flowerin' shrubs, above which the ivory white

feet back, the beautiful Woman's Buildin' ris

t open rotunda reachin' clear up to the top of the buildin', where the sunlight falls down most graciously through a richly ornamented skylight. This rotunda is surmounted by a two-story open arcade, as delicate and refined in its beauty as the outside of the buil

orelock and do the most important things fir

ttin', she has always had to dress, and nurse, and take care of the children, m

here-not at all. No; the children, the future hope of our cou

hem to be good first, and then wise, and healthy all the time-the most important work in the hull world, in my

but a real horsepital, at full work in its blessed and sanctified labor, a-takin' care of the sick

ing at their hull Columbus World's Fair-anyt

t she is, a good deal of the time), it is them that shows this broad, efficient system of relieving the hurts and distresses of the world. Besides the most skilled of

ow they do it-not content with makin' this one big room a perfect

l over the grounds horsepitals to care for them who are took sick here at Columbuses doin

right on the ground floor-on the right, the

the wimmen of New York. It is one of the largest and fine

t-not behind the parlor door, not a-feelin' the least mite put out before princes, or zars. A-standin' jest as straight

the demeanor of them books is a lesson to Republics-how to act before Royalties; not a-back

in', but ready to greet 'em and give 'em the best there wuz in 'em, if occasion called fo

and sot 'em up there because it sets such a store by me. It is dretful fond of me, the nation is, and well it may b

a good ways off a-ridin' on Wonder-a-wonderin' w

og. Sometimes I'd felt real riz up a-thinkin'

o Zoar had told me of as many as seven relations of hisen, who, when they wuz r

ked on the head, or nateral brain weakness-

n', have each a open colonade above the main cornice. Here are the

by a woman-woman has got to have

ly in competition the right to decorate the cornice. The interior decoration, much of it carved work, is

the woodwork wuz finished by wimmen. California h

joined to make the place beautiful. Even the Indian wimmen

r, to be poetical, never have they cut so wide and broad a swath on the seedy old fields of Time, as they do to this Fair. They c

one step higher on the hill of justice, and gin 'em the right to set o

work, or tattin'; now let her be judged by her peers when

in' out of it is the display that shows that wimmen wuz really the first inventors and producers of

rough, hard buds of beauty and labor; and in the Central hall, like these buds op

oft and harmonious colors

s sayin' enough for its beauty, if you didn't say anything else, and Ill

armonious beauty of this room strikes you as you first enter, some as it would if you come up sudde

beautiful designs. But the pictures that cover the walls adds

erian pastural seen, showing country maids tendin' their flocks; which proves that Algerian girls are first-rate lookin', and that dumb brut

n, and it shows our old Puritan 4 Mothers hard to work, a-takin' care of thei

nterior of a studio, with young females a-studyin' different arts that are useful and ornamental, and calculated to help themselves and the world along. At the north end of this great gal

ette, of Paris, called Modern Wimmen, and a-showin' up first r

d with bright green grass, and graceful fem

's-fur different; these wuz peaceful Knowledge, Lite

ribes Music and Danc

tral panel are several maide

clost. But girls will be more apt to catch her, when they leave off cossets, and long trains,

ure, and in the corners wuz medallions all full

But the colorin' of the picture is superb. So rich and gorgus that it put me in mind of our own Jonesville woods in September, when you look off into the

e real well, and so di

own sect had done 'em all-had branched out into such noble and beautiful branchin's, for the statutes wuz jest

thought I could say with the Judge, when he

a sort of a sad look, as if the shadder Pride, and Fate, held above her, wuz sort o'

of Elaine that rousted up abo

he fair," the lovable, t

ontimely lot. I knew she thought more of Mr. Lancelot than she'd ort

up jest as it must have been when she ar

oble man, but ma

iends who neve

and pathos of her own little song; for, as Alfred Tennys

ve, though given

eath, who puts

ich is sweete

y eye in my head as I st

s nigh me that I recognized a-sayin' in glad and j

t tell the difference, it wuz so nateral-Oren bought the best one money could git when his nigh eye wuz put out by a steer gorin' it). Y

p' over the family sence

family had dressed in black for upwards of 'leven years, and Jonesvillians had

y they wuz rigged out as it would be to see a lot of crows a-s

genteel family. Dretful blue blood I spoze her folks had-blue as indigo, I spoze. And she didn't think it wuz proper to go

and it made it bad for him. But he felt quite proud of marryin' such

for everybody and everything they could. (You know some families are so, and I spoze they

and Oren walked round (rebelli

thed in crape, and the hull ho

t. She wuz ready to mourn on the slightest prete

in', black sot her off, and crape draperies sort o' ro

stay at home-she

rself for life, she no need to dye the feathers of the hul

ke until the youngest girl, Lateza (and mebby she inherited

eller woosted dress with sky-blue trimmin's, a pink hat, a lilock veil, and a bunch o

ther, so she wuz easier to

stian Science meetin', and got

hout hope, and they believe in wanderin' round and seein' the beaut

e yeller ones, and had some white streamers put onto a white bunnet she had. And they bought themselves the most gorgeous and

nd some brilliant neckties-pale blue silk, with r

id suit and a red necktie spangled with y

to all the parties they could hear on, and the fairs, and camp-meetin's, and such. Th

meals whilst they wuz in Jonesville; they had a good hir

ake Champlain, and Lake George, and Saratoga; they'd stayed there three weeks, and then they went home and hurried and got ready for the Fa

appy, but some fagged

avin' swung too fur on one side, is a-g

when the pendulum gits kinder settled down som

em a-steppin' out of thei

mournin' a awful

th, and before Lateza Alzin

-goin' to! I've staid penned up

d him-he always imposed on me; but we all went into deep mournin', s

then three years more of solid

ttle and kinder lighten ourselves up a little; but then my wife's brother that she

anted to mourn, so my wife ha

other time of gloom-anothe

got out a little, we had to

goin' to stay out! There hain't a-goin' to be any more mour

ks have to mourn; this is a World of

doors. I hain't a-goin' to wind myself up in crape, and s

o." And he jest laid his head back and

it, and the girls kinder put in and laughed too. Lateza A

me fee

drawed too tight back, and now it wuz a-

hat Oren had some

at you shet yourselves up to

g me up to think that it would be apt to make ta

calculate which would be the most agreeable to 'em, to shet the

ghts, and do as they want

an't keep folks from talkin'." Sez I, "Like as not they'd say it wu

to think that it showed so much respect to

it all the consolation you could whilst you wuz parted. Jest as a mother lets

t you from every mountain you would climb, and the shadder of their form would seem to appear in the mist of every valley. Every sunset would gleam with the

Lateza. I have remembered folks out-doors, it

eloved, so you can do some of my day's work I had to lay down, as well

cret of happiness, who has left the dark shadders and has gone into the great brightness. Don't carry the idee to the world that you have lost me, for I

eart. Let the world see your thought, see the tru

ter that don't have any moral wickedness in it, let everybody be fully persuaded in their o

d there on his bright plaid legs, and smoothed out the ends of his gorgeous

lock of gay-plumaged birds, or a bokay of brilliant

er end of the city, almost 'leven milds from

said. "They boarded a good ways out-they e

m will break down, it swings so

lad adoo, and the proud and

to r

that country. There wuz one by Mrs. Swimerton, of London, that appealed

female angel that she wuz-and all round her lay sick and

is a panel called Motherhood, an Italian mother a-holdin' a baby in her arms, and on the other side is Old

a number of likely lookin' young females a-studyin' art, and the panels on either side shows young girl

sect it wuz to look on t

rooms-the paintin's and statuary, laces, embroidery, tapestry, and etc., and

to that wonderful book writ by the Abbess Herrard in the twelft

years. But the work them hands wrought still remains, giving the best descripti

hey show that all through time that wimmen have been a help-meet. And

t they have done in war, pestilence, and famine, what they have done in wrestlin' with that deadly serpent, whose folds encompass the earth

set apart for the association

mmen and workers for righteousness in di

to post is extended long links of pledge cards signed by boys and girls

usefulness! Strong cords a-spreadin' out to the very ends of the earth, a

seven little wimmen a-w

hangs a large bell all ma

f pipes to sell." Sez he, "I'm most a-mind to buy one, smokin' is gitti

erin'ly, but he didn

m-smokers, who have given up the vile habit. They wuz collecte

al in way-off Japan, where she laid down her sick

y own eppisodin; he sim

s of the globe, of Christian workers of all kinds, in organizations,

hen you looked at the marvellous Oriental embroideries of the Mahomme

and Starvation, and the Baroness Burdette Coutts and Lady Layard bought the

s a medal gin her by the Sultan, with "Charity

or Josiah. But she

d seein' the benign faces of them wimmen who had led on the fight aginst the banded powers of Hell-why, the t

ith the sperit of rejoicin', and wonder,

and up and cry; if I wuz a-goin'

ad said before, "Josia

a-cryin' because he wuz tickled about sunthin'; he

his remarks, and

ection of all the kinds of flowers in the country, clear from Maine to

asy job, I can tell you that

come acrost more than forty different kinds of wild flowers, and then, when

ould fairly gin out a-countin' before I got home; and then to think of all the broad acres of land, hills

hat wimmen took on

eed; no

ill carry 'em out and finish 'em; as wuz proved by the cloak

buildin', then agin I draw deep breaths full of praise and admiration, sunthin' like sithes, only happie

know on, and then where would have been the Woman's Buildin'? I thought I would love to talk it over with her; how, though she furnished the means for a man to discover us, yet fo

ck from my rapt contemplation

ad read a sight about the Lady Managers, and I had got the idee that them ladies couldn't do much more than to set dow

dee" of "th

et sap is brung out of the maple trees by the all-powerful influence and glory of

er Land o' beauty and practical use wuz wrought by Sophia Haydon, and other noble wimmen. They mu

bout the World's Columbian Exposition. He made that body of men appoint a board of Lady Managers-

and I don't know as Josiah wuz to blame. You would think by the name that them

doctor and lawyer, real-estate agents, journalists, editors, merchants

not only the hull board of Lady Managers wuz at large, but that every female woman the hull length and breadth of our country not only wuz at large, but the wimmen of the hull world. Why, connected with this great work is not only the hull ca

r some things, amongst 'em them napkins

ckle 'em in the flax? And then there wuz a hat made by England's Queen, and gin to her grand-daughter; and there

hair of carved walnut, upholstered with

d of Wales sent a embroidered piano stool. And Princess Louise-Miss Lorne th

e always made a pr

had the time-an elegant bedquilt made by poor Mary Queen of S

ave been-Agony and Remorse a-tw

ia sent over

een Marie Antoinette. What queer stitches them

it of Maria de Medici, Quee

ueen Anne to the Moravian Church of New Y

ece makes a splendid show. The Queen of

kerchiefs, and neckties, and mantillys, and so forth. And even her crown laces-them beautiful laces that d

of their exposition. And the Germa

ff in that buildin'; and as for Baronnesses, and Duchesses, and Ladies, etc., etc.-why,

utiful President of the Woman's Committee,

f roses, scattered and grouped with exquisite taste.

a wonderful table donated b

y Bell, oak from the good old ship Constitution, from Washington

tter use than now, to hold the records o

ora Keith Wheeler, and is beautiful and effective.

to me wuz the chair in the Kentucky room, three hundred years

of hisen three hundred years ago, into this White City, he w

's mother when she wuz eighty years old, and a group of

Peter Stuyvesent's and a ba

till I seen that dress. I'd always though

est a-lookin' at that dress when I

the first thing, "

I have got a check for her-one for her, and

le idee to rest mothers' tired arms

s back into her portmoney, "That i

Job P

wo thousand pieces of native wood; and there wuz a Scotchwoman wi

oboggan slide, and a system of irrigation, and m

u rode up to the ruff gar

s by the wimmen of New Jersey, and fruit raised by the wimmen of California

I see that, but presoo

surveys. Wimmen a-findin' out things hid in the

tchin's done by wimm

exhibit that done my soul good wuz from Belva Lockwood, admittin' wimmen to practise in the Supreme Court.

, manafacture, art, literature, etc., and amongst their patents is one for a fire-escape, and on

strong to the feelin' heart wuz Kat

ched with pity for them wretched lepers, in thei

ition, and tried to help 'em; she raised

of Kate

rch, horsepital, schoolhouse, store, and

journey to Siberia, and the knife she carried, and so

from Queen Victoria, a

on her heart, and went with her acr

u ever thought on, or ever didn't think on, and everything else under the sun, moon, and stars, that wuz ever made by a woman-and there is no end to 'em-we went up in

high a wire screen wuz stretched along, coverin' the hull beautiful gar

u could see plain by this that the children wuz thought on and cared for, from the bottom to the top of this palace. Some say that wimmen soarin'

education, and religion, she does here; and from the floor to the ruff is the h

e I got lost and by the side of myself, a-thinkin' such deep and high thoughts about

w that the echo of that blow wuzn't a-goin' to die out on Lake Michigan. I knew that at its echo old Prejudice, and Custom, and Might wuz

sad eyes of the wimmen of the East. Chains wuz a-goin' to

forward the era of Love, Peac

ape of President Cleveland, pressed the button with his thumb. And woman

and nails;" and he sez, and stuck to it, that, "No woman livin' ever druv a nail home

sentin' Old Prejudice, and I did not d

raight, and she clinched it solid w

high mount durin' the hard years

hat she could see things h

y, the nations wuz all havin' their own separate work to do to help their Pa's and Ma's-

omplexioned, and some lighter, and some kinder yel

ons, their toys and their rights-they wuz jealous of each other, and greedy, as children will be; and they had their perplexities, and their deep troubles, and their vexations,

en wuz a-movin' on, some slower and some faster, movin' on, and a-gi

ld, that this gatherin' of all the children together, a-showin' the best they had done, or could do

llowin' the smart ones to show off their smartness to the best advantage. Awa

d glow into the darkest corners of the earth, and, like a great warm s

first rate, and their Pa and

at they wuz advancin' rapid, and wit

in' along, some a-walkin' swift and some a-laggin' back with slower,

l shapes of ignorance and evil a-lurkin' in the heavy blackness

ole that they wuz a-settin' out for, she had to almost l

right it wuz, and so gold

r all, Love, Peace, Joy.

ace s

d in the Agricultural display of the ladies

f kernels of corn, so nateral that you almost

's heads done in corn; the hair is done in c

e of corn, illustratin' the st

inds of corn, jest as nateral as life, and the landscape round her made

to have your picture took in corn, it is so cheap." Sez he, "Ury and

" Sez he, "Of course, to make you life size it would take a big crop of corn. I should judge," sez

and grind it into samp or good fine meal. You and Ury can't bring happiness to m

terly; "you always do, if I br

e before I coul

lete, showin' the work of the lower and upper

he Globe. It fairly makes my brain reel now,

and I thought he richly deserved it, in the restaurant attached, he eat such a lunch as only a hungry man can eat, cooked jest as good as vittles can be, and all done by wimmen. Why, Miss Rorer

ook, and do her work, and every old-fangled one. Miss Plank hunted h

t-a sight, the th

re-never stepped our feet outside, an

sacred place, and went home on the cars. And didn't the bed feel good? And didn't Sleep come like a sweet, consolin' friend and lay her hand on my gray hair