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| NIGHT ON GRAND BASIN - Our engraving forms an
appropriate complement to the series of World's Fair views to which
these pages have been devoted. From out of the darkened canopy the
myriad stars shine forth in glory upon a scene of majestic beauty.
The suggestion comes home to the onlooker that, as night overtakes
the day and blots out the light and sunshine, so will the leveling
hand of destruction fall upon the gorgeous palaces and lay them low.
Already the elements have been at work. The stately structures are
in constant menance, and in a space of time, all too brief, the Court
of Honor, round which the nobel structures stand in stately guard,
will, so far as its present form and semblance are concerned, mingle
with the elements and join the things that were. But with the
inevitable feeling of regret that this must come to pass, there is
also compensation in the thought that the deft processes of a
wonderful art, supplemented by written words, can make all live
again. It cannot then be deemed an idle task to have devoted these
pages to so high an object, inasmuch as they form, for all time, a
pictorial and descriptive record for all the best and most worthy
features of the greatest civic event in the world's history - an
event organized, developed and carried out with an intelligence,
enthusiasm and steadfastness of purpose which has been, and will
always continue to be, the wonder and admiration of the nations of
Christendom. |
