“The scene in the Manufacturers’ Building will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. The grand platform was occupied by officers of the national government, members of the diplomatic corps, officers of the various States, senators and representatives, directors and commissioners. The eye and brain could scarcely comprehend the vastness of the audience stretching out before this platform. There was little motion, but the air was resonant with an indescribable hum of voices. At the south end of the building the chorus of five thousand persons seemed but a mere island in an ocean of humanity.” Mr. Higinbotham’s share of the program was a quiet speech in which he accepted the completed grounds and buildings from Daniel H. Burnham, Director of Works, saluted “the master artists of construction” whom the Director had presented, and offered to him for distribution the medals which had been struck off by the Directory for presentation to the artists of the Fair. Everyone noted the simple dignity of his bearing and speech on this conspicuous occasion. I have already referred to the anxieties of the Fair’s president during the nine months which followed the Dedication. The reward for his long labor came during the last three months of the gorgeous festival, when he could enjoy the beauty and share the gay spirit of that ephemeral White City which he had done so much to create. For, though there have been world’s fairs before and since the Columbian, no other has rivalled it in delicate Venetian magic. No other has attempted its inter-weaving of water-ways among buildings and colonnades, whose shining day-time beauty turned to glory at night, when the long rows of lights trailed their golden fringes in the wide lagoons. Mr. Higinbotham delighted in the joy of the people as the festive spirit of the crowd rose and gathered force during those last months of the gala season. The most important social event of the Exposition season was the banquet given by the Board of Directors on October eleventh to the Commissioners of foreign nations. The great Music Hall on the grounds was transformed into a brilliantly lit bower of ferns, palms and flowers for this occasion, fitly adorned with the flags of the forty-eight nations and the yellow and white banners of the Exposition. Mr. Higinbotham, as presiding officer, opened the exchange of compliments with a brief salutation, and the program closed with his address on “The Future Influence of the Exposition,” of which a few sentences may be quoted: “The impress of our work will be so delicately and imperceptibly woven into the fabric of the future that it will have a finer and more beautiful texture. It will sink deep into the minds of the learned and unlearned alike. It will stimulate the youth of this and later generations to greater and more heroic effort. It will give to the wheels of commerce a new impetus; thereby bring the people of the earth into more intimate and, I trust, happier relations.