GRAND ARCH OF THE PERISTYLE.--In the memory of millions of people the grand colonnade or Peristyle, which reared itself between the great eastern basin and Lake Michigan, will remain as the most beautiful inanimate object upon which their eyes ever rested. The Peristyle was in the purest Phidian style, was five hundred feet in length and fifty feet in height, connecting the Casino and Music Hall. The Corinthian columns represented the different States and Territories. Along the top of the Peristyle appeared eighty-five allegorical figures all in heroic proportions. At the center the colonnade was broken by a vast triumphal arch supporting the famous group known as the Columbus Quadriga. Here the Discoverer was represented in a chariot drawn by four horses led by women, with heralds riding beside them. Columbus leaned on a jeweled sword, his head was thrown back, and the expression on his face was that of a man who had conquered all obstacles at last. The figure was fourteen feet in height. The whole group was full of life and vigor. Well executed groups on the pedestals of the arch represented the genius of Navigation. The feature was but one of many of the glorious Peristyle, one of the artistic triumphs of the Fair. Its cost was two hundred thousand dollars. On the evening of January 8, 1894, the Casino, Music Hall and the entire Peristyle were totally destroyed by fire. Of the host who witnessed the scene hundreds were in tears at the destruction of a thing so majestic and beautiful. [Illustration: THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAINS. THE ELECTRIC FOUNTAINS.--The Electric Fountains, one on each side of the famous Macmonnies Fountain, at the west end of the Court of Honor, added greatly to the beauty of the night scene, and always when playing attracted thousands to their vicinity. When quiescent, all that could be seen of the fountains was the multitude of pipes arranged within the rocky basin. At night, however, there came a sudden activity, and from the pipes leaped high in the air great streams of water glittering with the hues of the rainbow and falling back in a cataract to the basin where the turbulent mass of color bubbled and tossed and overflowed with dazzling effect. The fountains exceeded in magnitude and beauty anything of the sort ever constructed, the basins being sixty feet in diameter and pierced for three hundred and four jets, the water from which ascended to a height of one hundred and fifty feet. The brilliant effects were produced by concealed lights, the charm of mystery being thus added to the illusion. The entire apparatus was controlled by electric signals from the dome of Machinery Hall, where the different lights were applied and the transmission from one to another controlled at will. The illumination was by thirty-eight arc lights of one hundred amperes, each requiring nearly one thousand horse-power in operation. The jets were arranged in circles and the effect was the climax of success for this beautiful modern device.