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| LOOKING LAKEWARD FROM THE STATUE OF PLENTY - We
stand between the bulls made by E. C. Potter, the sculptor, to guard
the landing centrally in front of the Agricultural Hall, and look a little to the
north of eastward, through the Colonnade and archway of the so-called
Peristyle, out into the blue air above
Lake Michigan. It was upon these watery spaces that the builders of
the Fair relied for sanitary safety. Here the breathing of the hosts
was to be oxygenized, here by these distances they were to be held
apart, that the empoisonments of past assemblages might not be
repeated. In the days when these colossal columns and monuments were
determined upon, it was hoped that each day between May and November
might be a Chicago Day. The city was as much crowded in 1892, in its
business part, as in 1893, and the thought that only fifty thousand
people could see the Fair on some of its days, was not considered
worthy of toleration. Yet twenty-two million people came; many of
them dwelt near this scene; few or none of them but gained in health,
for never did a summer pass with fewer days that were not sunny and
dry. Air, and sky, and sea, and sculpture, conspired to allure the
mind from care, and though the financial panic saddened the hearts of
the people, it could not extinguish the ardor of their admiration for
this scene; it could not wrench from their loyal lips a cry of
American regret that dreamers had dreamed and artists had wrought as
never artists wrought before. |
