Exploits and adventures of a soldier ashore and afloatAdams, William Llewellyn
History
Exploits and adventures of a soldier ashore and afloat
Adams, William Llewellyn
Adams, William Llewellyn; Americans -- Foreign countries; United States. Army -- Military life
Stretching over a vast area of Forest Park, enclosed by a high board
fence, stood the magnificent Palaces of Varied Industries, Liberal
Art, Agriculture, Mines and Metallurgy, Manufacture and
Transportation, Palaces of Machinery and Electricity, Festival Hall,
and the Cascades, the Government Building, Tyrolean Alps, the Stadium,
Ferris Wheel, and the sunken garden; the camps of the West Point
cadets, Artillery and Infantry; Hospital, Signal, and Life-saving
Corps. Museums containing relics of anthropology, zoölogy, geology,
anthology, and numerous other scientific researches were everywhere in
evidence. In one British concession, soldiers of the “Household”
cavalry of London stood watch over the magnificent “Queen’s Jubilee
presents” which had been presented to Queen Victoria by the nations of
the earth. Five hundred Indians, representing various tribes, in all
their habiliments of war, here flourished at their best, the most
prominent chiefs among these being Geronimo, Iron Mountain, and White
Cloud. Every State in the Union was represented with an appropriate
edifice, that of the State of Missouri being the most imposing.
Statues and images from the chisels of the world’s most famous
sculptors adorned a section in the Palace of Varied Industries, while
the art galleries were filled with the rarest paintings of the most
celebrated artists of all times and all nations.
To enumerate even the most important exhibits of this prodigious
exposition would require volumes, and, for the benefit of those whose
duties prevented them from seeing the “Fair,” I wish to say that it is
impossible to form a conception of the progress this world attained
during the century since the purchase of the Louisiana Territory.
At night the electrical display was a dazzling glitter of
phosphorescence; myriads of incandescent lights of variegated colors
were strung along the lagoons, cascades, and Pike, these combined with
large arc lights completed an illumination of festive splendor.
A group of marines could be found nightly in social session on
Napoleon bridge, a span of the lagoons, meditatively absorbing the
sweet strains of the ever-entrancing Italian Yama Yama, sung by
Venetian “gondoliers,” as they gracefully plied parties in gondolas
through thread-like canals fed by the waters of the cascades. The
inspiration animated by the grandeur of the surroundings on these
occasions, the thrilling sweetness of the singing, to the mellow-toned
accompaniment of mandolins and guitars, had a most electrifying
effect. Music, music, music, music, everywhere; sweethearts, music,
and mirth, that was the slogan. “Love me and the world is mine” is
hummed in chorus by this happy-go-lucky bunch of jolly tars, whose
only responsibilities are confined to the hours of love and duty, and
whose motto is, “Be a good fellow here, and you’ll be a good fellow
there.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account