400 newspapers, 200 of which are dailies. Next to this room is a well-lighted, cheerful apartment devoted to the use of press people. Desks and tables are there in abundance, stationery, and all appliances to make it a very agreeable stopping-place for the fraternity. A telephone and telegraph, with the post office down stairs, fill in all the wants of the correspondents who take advantage of the place.

Among all the exhibits which Pennsylvania has sent to the Fair, the most important for many reasons is its educational exhibit. In the gallery of the Liberal Arts building are all educational exhibits, and at the south end you will find that of Pennsylvania. The work of the State public schools is shown in a series of three-sided alcoves, the entrance to which is through a high arched doorway. A white glass panel over the door holds in blue letters the name of the State. Each city has its separate alcove, and all grades of work, from the kindergarten to the higher manual school, are shown. This arrangement is faulty on account of the repetition it involves. Other States have divided the work according to school grades. The Harrisburg and Allegheny schools have come out strong in drawing, and the manual work of the Philadelphia schools is something to be proud of. The University of Pennsylvania has a very telling exhibit and contains some features which are not found in any other in the building. Their space, inclosed by a wall of simple classic design, the work of the Architectural School, is separated into five divisions, in which the exhibit has been admirably arranged under the supervision of Mr. E. W. Mumford, assistant secretary of the University. The first space is a sort of reception room, containing photographs of classes, fraternities and athletic teams. A case 5 feet by 6 is sufficient to hold a collection of books, the work of the staff of the University. Maps from the Wharton School of Political Economy hang on the wall, while the display of pen sketches and water colors from the department of architecture brightens a great deal of space. The plates of the famous Muybridge collection are all in this room. In the corner stands a clock made by David Rittenhouse and presented by him to the University when he was a trustee in 1787. A feature peculiar to the University is the work from its veterinary department.

The next space-division is devoted to biology and medicine. The microtome shown here, used for cutting microscopic sections for investigation, is the largest and best of its kind ever made, and is the invention of Dr. Greenman, of the University. It will make shavings of preparations 25-1000 of an inch in thickness. The next division is given to psychology, and work will be done there all summer. The casual visitor, who wishes to have his sensory impressions tested by one of the numerous devices for the purpose, may learn how long it takes him to see a revolving disc, or to feel a pin prick, and so on. The last and largest division is given to archæology, a department in which the University is richer than any other place of learning. This room contains twenty cases full of precious exhibits. Down the centre of the apartment a large double case holds the treasures which the famous Babylonian expedition, sent out by the University, brought back. A number of little clay tablets, with their queer looking inscriptions, reveal chapters of the daily life of the Babylonian when translated. They are the lists of taxes, price lists, tithes, etc., and the University owns about 5,000 of them. A little group of stilts used in pottery to hold the ware in burning is exactly like those used to. day in Trenton, N. J., several of which stand by for comparison. And toys are here, too, showing that the tastes of childhood vary very little with time. Little lions and tigers and various animal shapes show a wonderful nicety in modeling. These little images are found principally in the graves of children. The Egyptian and Cyprian exhibit, sent by Mrs. E. L. Stevenson, of the University, take up two sides of the room. The mummies in this collection excite much curiosity, and I overheard one girl ask her friend if she thought it was a real mummy, while one old farmer asked Mr. Mumford if it was found in Pennsylvania.

The famous American exhibit, which has just come back from the Madrid Exposition, where it won a gold medal, takes up one side of the room, and over its case on the wall is a curious exhibit of some of the weapons and musical instruments of the Fan tribes of the Congo region.

Across the aisle from the University, Ogontz Seminary occupies a pretty little above filled with sets of books. Down the gallery, on the other end, is a fine ex

hibit from the Indian School at Carlisle. Specimens of the work of Indian boys and girls in many trades are shown, and clever drawings and pen work cover the wall. In one case is a showing of very good harness, and I am told that these boys supply the government every year with 200 sets of these trappings, which are sent out to the Indians on the reservations. The boys do all their own tailoring, as is shown by several dummies wearing nicely-made suits. A large case is filled with the work of the girls, giving evidence of their skill in dressmaking, knitting and fancy work. A fine exhibit of tinware is in this space: and the boots and shoes testify to their skill in still another useful employment. A full-blooded young Sioux is in charge of this exhibit, and discharges his duties with a courteous intelligence which is very pleasing. He said that he was at first a tailor, but now he is studying book-keeping, as he found the first trade too confining. He

wants to return to his home in South Dakota, and hopes either to get a government clerkship or a school. I thought his little speech as significant an exhibit as any I had found.

The State Normal Schools at Bloomsburg, Kutztown, Slippery Rock and West Chester have sent a fine collective educational exhibit. Under the department of physical development, training and condition and hygiene, the State has a good showing. Improved filters of all kinds, appliances for cleaning water mains, cases for collecting specimens of drinking water from hydrants are exhibited by the State Board of Health. In this department, too, are found plans of model tenement houses by the Beneficent Building Association of Philadelphia, and a model workmen's dwelling put up by the Philadelphia county women's committee on the Midway Plaisance.

Instruments of precision and for experiment and research are shown in quantities, and the finest and most delicate scientific apparatus are found in the exhibit from Philadelphia firms. Musical instruments, too, are not wanting, and several Philadelphia firms have beautiful exhibits of different instruments and musical accessories. There is one exhibit of band instruments from a Quaker City firm which calls forth a great deal of admiration. When you leave the Liberal Arts Buildings go north and cross the pretty little bridge which spans the la

goon at this point; then, bordering on the lagoon and just this side of the Transportation Building, you will find the building of Mines and Mining, which holds much of interest to a Pennsylvanian. As you enter the door you see towering up in the centre of the hall a huge black obelisk. This is an anthracite coal needle, showing a vertical section of the "Mammoth bed as it appears in the mines of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, upon lands of the Girard estate in Schuylkill county. The coal was cut out and formed into this needle in the exact order as it lay in the body of the earth. The needle is 54 feet high. It cost $10,000 to have this arranged as an exhibit. The object is not only to display the ores and minerals of the State, but in each case to show the successive processes by which they become marketable ware. For instance, one case holds a large bowl in which there is a quantity of finely pulverized clay. Next to this is the clay as it comes from the mould, pressed into square tiles with a design outlined upon them. The next state is the enameled tile (rows of bottles of enamel stand on a shelf), and last the baked and finished tile, the beautiful result of the manipulation of simple clay, lies before you. An anthracite coal breaker is shown also. The great blocks of coal are put into this machine and broken into pieces, which are. passed through a sort of sieve-like arrangement, separating the different pieces according to their size for the market. There is very much of sameness in an exhibition of this sort to the uninitiated, who knows not the value of certain furnaces and retorts, and mineral paints, etc., but it is noticeable that the private exhibitors of the State come out very strong in this department.

In the Fisheries Building the Pennsylvania State exhibit draws an admiring crowd daily. Those who are interested in this direction come to examine the various hatching apparatus displayed or to observe the different varieties of live fish, while the unlearned in these matters sit and admire the beautiful arrangement of the space devoted to this exhibit. Colonel John Gay, representing the Pennsylvania State Fish Commission, has arranged the whole affair, and much credit is due to his untiring patience and care. The exhibit, consisting principally of fish propagated by the State Fish Commission, is made in

though it does include the great cannon. I spent one afternoon in the mines and mining building. What a country we have! so rich in coal, copper, lead, zinc, tin, silver, gold, petroleum, iron, marble, onyx, and many more valuable products. Montana sends a statue of solid silver, life size. Pennsylvania's exhibit contains tile flooring, and is inlaid so as to look like handsome rugs laid about here and there. We enjoyed the mining machinery, too, the ore crushers, etc., and were greatly interested in models of great mines, vertical sections 1-48 the natural size, showing shafts and excavations.

The Midway Plaisance is crowded full of interest. "A Street in Cairo" recalls all Eastern stories. The camels were ugly, ugly, ugly, but so nice and docile! The funny little donkeys, so strong and good. The men and women looked as if they had just stepped out of the Arabian Nights. We spent a while also in the Dahomey village which some time I must tell about.

THE BIG FERRIS WHEEL.

NOVEL PENNSYLVANIA INVENTION AT THE WORLD'S FAIR.

HERE is nothing in the World's

Columbian Exposition, says Robert Graves, that compares in genuine novelty and sensationalism with the great vertical wheel which stands in the very centre of Midway Plaisance. I long ago predicted that this giant structure would be the chief sensation of the World's Fair, just as the Eiffel tower was the chief sensation of the Paris exposition, and the prediction has been verified. Though the wheel has been in operation to the public but a few days, vast crowds of people constantly surround it watching its movements, and thousands more pay their half-dollar apiece for the privilege of going around. upon it.

Considered from the engineering standpoint, as well as from that of popular interest, this is a greater marvel than the Eiffel tower, which earned a reputation for its builder and a fortune for its owners. Whereas the Eiffel tower was simply a bridge a thousand feet long, erected upon a strong foundation and placed on end, a simple construction like a couple of Chicago's tall steel buildings stood one upon the other and resting upon a

tall foundation of sufficient strength to hold them, the vertical wheel is a bridge 825 feet long, 30 feet wide, and constructed of steel, twisted into a circle and hung upon an axle, round which it revolves by means of the force given it by powerful steam engines. The Eiffel tower involved no new engineering principle, and when finished was a thing dead and lifeless. The wheel, on the other hand, has movement, grace, the indescribable charm possessed by a vast body in action.

What the genesis of the vertical wheel was in the brain of its inventor is an interesting thought. Undoubtedly it had its origin in the horizontal merry-gorounds. These must have given the suggestion to Mr. Geo. W. G. Ferris, of Pittsburgh, the bridge builder and engineer. He said he would build a wheel that would astonish the world, and by the side of the little wheels of the seashore be as the ocean itself to a millpond.

They

He prepared his plans and came to Chicago to ask permission to erect his wheel within the World's Fair grounds. At first the Fair directors only laughed at him. They thought he was crazy, that he was a crank. Then they granted him a concession, but without any thought that he would ever build his wheel. After a time they concluded that it was not wise to bother themselves further with such a visionary individual, and they cancelled the concession. were not going to have a wild-eyed man with wheels in his head lumbering up the centre of the Plaisance with his contraptions. But Ferris, confident of success and backed by ample capital, stuck to the scheme, and induced the directors after a time to reconsider their action and again permit him to go ahead. This is the brief history of the struggle this genius had to secure recognition even from such progressive and wide-awake men as the directors of the World's Fair. Such has been the history of genius ever.

It is almost impossible either by picture or description in words to give an idea of what this wheel is like. A mere statement of its dimensions, 250 feet in diameter, 825 feet in circumference, 30 feet broad, and weight more than 4,000 tons, does not mean much to the average mind. It may help the reader to understand what the structure is like if I say that the highest point of the wheel is as far from the ground as the top of one ten

When you look at this wheel as it stands on the Plaisance you are struck by the resemblance it bears to some mighty bicycle. It has the same sort of a hub, the same rods and struts running therefrom to the periphery, the same light airiness of model. In truth, it seems too light. One fears the slender rods which must support the whole enormous weight are too puny to fulfil their office. One cannot avoid the thought of what would happen if a high wind should come sweeping across the prairie and attack this structure broadside. Would the thin rods be sufficient to sustain not only the enormous weight of the structure and that of the 2,000 passengers who might chance to be in the cars, but the pressure of the wind as well? Engineer Ferris says the wheel is strong enough to do all this. Other engineers, some of them men of eminence in their profession, say the same thing. Therefore, the public seems content to take it for granted that the wheel is not only the greatest novelty of the age, but that riding upon it is as safe as riding over a bridge that is placed horizontally, on masonry piers.

There are thirty-six cars on the wheel. Each is 27 feet long, 9 feet high and 13 feet broad. It is like an enormous bird cage. Human beings are to be the inhabitants. The doors are closed when the passengers are within, and locked. The windows are covered with a strong wire netting. There is a conductor to each car to look after the comfort of passengers. From platforms built on the ground six cars are loaded at one time. Each car will seat, on revolving chairs, forty passengers. Therefore the thirtysix cars will seat 1,440 passengers. But with standing room occupied the wheel has a capacity of 2,000 persons.

As soon as the first six cars are loaded, the man in charge gives the signal and the steam is turned into the cylinders of the thousand horse-power engine which moves the vast machine. Slowly the wheel revolves far enough to bring six

cars to the loading platforms. Thus the loading goes on, six cars at a time; and thus, also, the passengers make their ascent and their acquaintance with the mysteries of the wheel on the installment plan, by slow degrees. You will see that in the process of taking on

enough to fill all the cars, as there generally are) the wheel must make one entire revolution. By this time the occupants of the coaches have become somewhat accustomed to their novel situation. They have ceased to think of possible danger, and are occupied with the beauty of the panorama which lies far below them.

Now comes the most interesting feature of the trip. The wheel is set in motion at a more rapid pace, though still not very fast, and is not stopped until a complete revolution has been made. It is an indescribable sensation, that of revolving through such a vast orbit in a bird cage, that of swinging in a circle far out over the Plaisance in one direction, then turning in the other direction, and still higher, and finally beginning the descent from such a great height, and then it becomes their turn to step out on the wooden platform, and again down to mother earth.

I have no desire to advertise the wheel when I tell you a trip upon it is worth taking. You cannot advertise the wheel, anyway, any more than you can advertise the Fair, or the Atlantic Ocean. They are all too big. They are their own advertisement. The novel sensation, the opportunity to study a great engineering work, the beauty of the scene presented from the great altitude, all combine to make the trip on this structure fully worth the time and the cost.

As yet there is little reason to fear the safety of the machine. The steel towers which support the vast bicycle wheel are bedded and bolted into thirty feet of concrete. They are calculated to support five times the weight and the wind pressure produced by a tornado of a hundred and fifty miles an hour. Motion is imparted to the mass by means of huge cogs, in which a link belt fits. If anything should break and it be desirable to stop the machinery, there is a powerful brake operated by compressed air. The axle, which runs from the top of one tower to the other, 140 feet in the air, is the greatest steel forging ever made, being 32 inches in diameter and 45 feet long, weighing fifty-six tons. How Ferris ever got it up there is a mystery to me, but he did it. The cars are so attached to the wheel, it is said, that it is impossible for one of them to fall, and equally impossible for them to fail to turn so as to preserve the centre of gravity.

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The chief principle on which the wheel is constructed is that of a bicycle wheel, except that this wheel does not rest upon the surface but depends from the steel axle. The lower half simply hangs from the mighty axle, and this lower half supports the upper half by means of the steel framework of its two rims. That is the whole thing is a nutshell. The wheel, though apparently rigid in its construction, has just enough elasticity to make this method of support possible, and yet not enough elasticity to produce any appreciable trembling or slipping effect.

Now the World's Fair directors are glad they changed their minds and decided to recognize this genius. Not only Not only have they thereby secured the greatest sensation of the Fair, but without a dollar of outlay on their part have made certain of an enormous revenue. The Exposition gets one-half the earnings of the wheel, and it is estimated that the total receipts will average something like $10,000 a day during the remainder of the summer. The cost of the wheel, complete, was about $250,000. Engineer Ferris is likely to reap a rich reward for his boldness and enterprise.

MULTIPLE SPEED SIDEWALK.

DURING the heat of summer the steamboats that are plying between the city and Fair grounds are without doubt the most comfortable mode of conveyance. They land passengers at the long pier near the Peristyle. Long? It is the largest pier in the world. It projects into the lake fully half a mile, and is two hundred and fifty feet in width. It possesses the dimensions of a park, and the greatest objection to it, from a weary visitor's point of view, at least, is its great length.

This objection, however, is bravely disposed of by the intervention of the Multiple Speed Sidewalk, called also the Travelling Sidewalk, or the Locomotive Sidewalk.

This is a mechanical device for facilitating travel on the pier and enabling the tourist to make the trip in ease and comfort, refreshed by the lake breeze. Here the sidewalk does the travelling instead of the human wayfarer.

The contrivance consists of a sidewalk on low wheels, which traverses the entire length of the pier on one side and returns on the other, making a loop at each end.

[AUGUST,

It has two parallel sections or platforms, one moving at a rate of three miles per hour, or at about ordinary walking speed, and the other, which is provided with settees, at six miles, or easy driving rate. It makes no stops but is constantly moving on. One may ride on either section.

ON TO THE GREAT FAIR.

H has been wrought out of brain, and muscle, and iron, and wood, and that wonderful staff which, so far as concerns the Exposition, may truly be called the staff of life, the more I want it made possible for every man, woman and child in the United States to come and praise God for the divine revelations of Jackson Park.

HE more I see of the Dream City that

Never before has the divinity of man been so powerfully demonstrated, and from my point of view it is the solemn duty of every one whose eyes have seen this "glory of the coming of the Lord," to labor unceasingly towards bringing our people within reach of the beneficent spectacle.

Appreciation, like charity, should begin at home. When addressing that large audience in the Woman's Building last Wednesday, I begged every member of it to constitute himself or herself a committee of one to impress upon friends and neighbors the necessity of visiting the Fair early and often. Missionaries are needed here in bustling Chicago. I have met men and women in society who have not seen the Fair! They ought to be ashamed of themselves. Not to support so marvelous an enterprise should be a social disgrace.

Of

Railroad magnates argue that to give cheap rates for long distances, permitting passengers to return at their own sweet will, is injurious to business. The roads never know how to provide for transportation, as trains that are overloaded one way may return empty the other. course this is not money-making, but as railroads have always heeded the appeals of Grand Armies and Masons, and political conventions, it does seem that the utmost consideration should be given to an Exposition that is the eighth wonder of the world, beside which the seven wonders of mythology sink into abject insignificance. While there may be no immediate gain from cheap rates for long distances, they are unquestionably good