Turner County Herald

OUR WORLD'S FAIR LETTER.
From our Special Correspondent,
Everybody at "The Great White City," from Department Chiefs to day laborers, hail with pleasure the return of the mercury to a normal point. Though they held out bravely against the extreme cold and seemed determined to lose no time, yet they were working at a great disadvantage, and with redoubled energy are now striving to have all in readiness before May 1st.
The landscape gardeners are impatiently waiting for the coming of spring, as they can accomplish little at present. The beautiful lawns, the picturesque wooded islands, the shrubs and trees, the banks of the canals and streams will form some of the most enticing features of the great show.
That a boon it will be for the visitor, weary of his walk about the Exposition and his inspection of the endless exhibits in the buildings, to step into a Venetian gondola and be quietly propelled about the clear lakes and limpid water ways that thread the grounds in every direction. Truly this is the crowning conception of the master minds that planned this wondrous spectacle. It was the last softening touch, the final artistic inspiration to lend grace and beauty and tone to the picture. The marvelous white palaces with the blue water running at their portals, carries one back to some scene of ancient grandeur, and recalls the tales of the magi, or fables of Eastern magnificence.
Spanning these lagoons are bridges of fanciful shape. The parapet and railings of the bridges will be adorned with groups of wild animals of every known variety. The celebrated sculptor of animals, Edward Kemeys is now hard at work in the forestry building preparing forty or fifty groups. Some of the specimens now completed include buffaloes, elks, moose, bears, pumas and wolves.
The miniature clay sketches from which the sculptor makes the great figures are made from life. The menagerie of wild animals in Lincoln Park furnishes the subjects.
Sculptor Lukeman is working upon a group of heroic size, representing "The Triumph of Columbus." The figure and gigantic horses are almost ready for casting from the clay mold. This must be done in sections, and Mr. Lukeman expects to have them completed in a few weeks.
The figures symbolizing the origin and progress of Electricity are well underway.
An English salt concern has made a statue of salt symbolizing Liberty Enlightening the World. It is 51 1/2 feet high and rests on a solid base of rock-salt, the whole being 12 1/2 feet high.
The installation of exhibits in the forestry building is delayed on account of the space in the great hall being given over to the artists and sculptors, but their work will soon be finished.
Under the great glass dome of the Horticultural building some odd plants are to be seen. One of the particular delights of Chief Thorpe is a mushroom bed, which yields every morning from a bushel to a bushel and a half of mushrooms. These the Chief dispenses with a liberal hand among the chiefs of the departments, and scarcely a day passes but a mess of them is served at the noonday luncheon. This bed is located under the miniature mountain. The steam blast blows directly over the bed, where scarcely a ray of light filters. It is damp in there, the musty odor so common to air tight cellars being the most distinctive feature about it.
Gardner Hillier made the bed Sept. 22nd., and spread the spawn Oct. 1st. On Oct. 20th. the first mess of mushrooms was picked. Since then not a day has passed by but what a bushel of them has gone out to delight the epicurean taste of Chief Thorpe's intimate friends.
About 600 jurors will be required to examine the exhibits at the Exposition; domestic judges will be paid $600 and foreign judges $1,000, if Congress passes the bill that has been proposed.
The primroses now in bloom in Horticultural Hall have been examined by Judge Henry Pister, who will submit his written report to the jurors as soon as they have been appointed. Many other exhibits of flowers and plants must be passed upon at once, for they will not be in condition later in the year.
The plans for the exhibit of the University of Michigan at the Fair are about completed, and their execution has been placed in the hands of a committee, of which Prof. M. E. Cooley, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, is chairman. The space of 3,000 feet assigned to the University, is one of the best in that part of the Liberal Arts Building that is given over to educational exhibits. The amount of space granted is the largest given to any educational institution except Harvard. The plan of the exhibit includes large photographs of the buildings, grounds, and professors, to be hung on the wall, while the center of the room will contain large charts giving a history of the institution.
Spain's commissioner has been ordered to begin work at once on Spain's building at the Fair grounds. The space reserved for Spain is just east of the pond along the Art Building and near the Turkish pavilion. News is received from Madrid that the Infanta Isabella will not be present to open the World's Fair as was anticipated. At one time the Queen Regent Christina was strongly inclined to visit the exhibition. She finally decided that she would not leave little King Alphonso, and as she was afraid to take him with her, she gave up the idea of visiting the United States. It was then that she requested the Infanta Isabella, who represents her at many functions to go in her stead.
The Manitoba province has engaged a large building outside but adjacent to Jackson Park, for the purpose of displaying the Manitoba exhibit. This action is strongly condemned by the federal authorities, who are powerless to interfere.
The men have been winnowing grain in the Illinois State building for a week past. They are making ready for a display of fine grain from the Prairie State. It is the first step ordered by the commissioners for the installation of exhibits in the now completed building.