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| JAPAN'S DEDICATION - The engraving shows the
gathering of invited quests on one of the earliest days in May, 1893,
to dedicate the Ho-o-den, or Phoenix Temple of Japan, in Jackson
Park. In the picture the main and central pavilion is at the left,
while the left way (for the buildings represent a bird with pinions
extended), is at the right. The dome of the Illinois Building is
seen over a temporary structure beyond the stockade, all of which was
soon to disappear. In the foreground stand the members of the little
band of merry workmen who erected the temple. The backs of their
coats show, by a cross of white in a circle, that the wearers have
the honor and good fortune to be employed by certain Japanese
contractors as master carpenters, and on the lapels of their coats
are other trade marks and legends. The Japanese of higher rank who
has superintended their labors and directed their daily lives for
several months, stands in American raiment, with the spectacles and
silk hat, near the central foreground. Colonel Rice, commandant of
the Columbian Guards, stands with his hand in his pocket exactly in
the corner of the veranda and facing Thomas O'Niell, the Mayor's
private Secretary. The Chicago Ho-o-den is not a brilliant
reproduction of the beautiful temple in Japan, and it seems that
modern workmen have lost the cunning of their art, or that too much
expense would have been incurred in a more faithful copy. As it is,
the little buildings are by no means unsightly, and now become a
permanent part of Jackson Park, a gift from the Mikado. |
