CHAPTER XX.
Wall, this mornin" we sot off in good season. We would always lay our plans in the mornin", and that mornin" I said, "I would love to tackle the Agricultural Buildin"."
And Josiah gin his willin" consent. He said, "After so much gildin" and orniments, he would love to look at a potato, or a rutabagy, or a cowc.u.mber."
And I sez, "If you lay out to git rid of seein" orniments, you had better not stir out of your tracks."
And Nony Piddock said, "It sickened a man to see so much vain orniment."
And the Twin said, "It wuz perfectly beautiful to see it."
And the rest of the boarders bein" agreed jest about as well on"t, we set out for the Agricultural Hall in pretty good sperits.
Wall, truly did Nony say that the orniments wuz impressive and overwhelmin".
Now, I thought I had seen orniments, and I thought I had seen pillows.
Why, Father Allen had a porch held up by as many as five pillows--holler ones--boarded round and painted to look like granite stun.
And our Meetin"-House steeple wuz, I had always spozed, ornimented.
Why, we had gin as high as fourteen dollars for the ornimental work on that steeple, and the Jonesvillians, and the Loontowns, and the Zoarites come from fur and near to look at it and admire it, the Jonesvillians in pride and the others in envy, and a-hankerin" to have one like it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The Jonesvillians, and the Loontowns, and the Zoarites came from fur and near to admire it.]
But truly our pride in that steeple tottered and fell when we hove in sight of that Agricultural Hall.
And when you look at the size of that buildin", and the grandeur of it, you can see plain what sort of a place Agriculture holds in the minds of the world, and how much store folks set on eatin"; and truly, how could the world git along without it? It would run right down.
Why, imagine, if you can, eight hundred feet one way and five hundred the other way, all orniments and pillows, pillows and orniments, and one big towerin" dome in the centre, and lots of smaller ones, each one topped off with the most beautiful figger, and groups of figgers, you ever laid eyes on.
Where wuz Father Allen"s pillow, and our steeple? Gone, crushed down under twenty-six hundred feet of clear pillows and orniments.
On top of the great central dome stands the beautiful figger of Diana, who had flown away from Madison Square, New York, and had settled down here on purpose to delight the beholders of the United Globe with her beauty and grace.
She wuz still a-holdin" her arrows in her hand, still a-turnin" her beautiful face around so everybody could see it, still a-kickin" at the wind with her pretty heel. But, as in the past, so now, let her kick ever so hard, she couldn"t turn the wind a mite when it got its mind made up to blow from any particular pint of the compa.s.s.
And besides this figger on the dome, every little while on the four corners of the buildin" wuz long, low groups of female wimmen a-holdin"
garlands, depicterin" the four seasons.
And the long line of pillows would be broken by n.o.ble piers, with a beautiful group of figgers on every one on "em, and some flags a-wavin"
out, as if to draw attention to the perfectness of the statutes.
One on "em wuz a good-lookin" man a-holdin" two prancin" horses, and I sez to myself, I am glad to see a man a-holdin" the bits for once.
But come to look closter, I see that there wuz two figgers--little girls, I guess--that wuz holt of the horses" heads. And then I see the man had a sword in one hand and a club in the other. He wuzn"t to blame--he couldn"t hold "em. Jest like Josiah; lots of times he would be real glad to do things, only his hands are full.
And then another group wuz a beautiful female a-standin" up between two great, big, long-horned oxen, a-holdin" them powerful-lookin" beasts with a rope made of posies.
Good land! I wouldn"t held "em with iron chains. They looked so high-headed, and their horns looked so long, and it seemed too bad to put her at such a dangerous job.
But she didn"t seem to be a mite afraid; she looked calm, and she had on plenty of store clothes, which wuz indeed a comfort.
[Ill.u.s.tration: She didn"t seem to be a mite afraid.]
And then, besides these main piers, with their large, beautiful groups, there wuz fifty-two smaller piers, each one havin" a handsome statute, representin" winged Geniis, sometimes a-holdin" tablets in their hands, and anon horns of plenty, and abundance.
Most of this beautiful sculpture wuz designed by a man named Martiney, French born, but I guess a-callin" himself an American now.
And I thought, as I looked at it, I would love to see him, and tell him how well I thought on him and his works. He also made the beautiful orniments in the interior of the large rotunda, and the great figger of Ceres that stands in the centre.
In the pediment over the main entrance stands another beautiful figger of Ceres--she that wuz Demetor Saturn.
I spoze, mebby, now we ort to call her Miss Jupiter. But, anyway, she is as good-hearted as can be, always a-handin" out grain and food to the perishin".
Here she stands in the sculpture, which is made by an American, Mr. Mead by name--here she stands, tall and benignant, in the centre of as many as twenty men, wimmen, and children, a-sufferin" from hunger the most on "em, and she a-handin" out food right and left. What a good creeter she is, anyway!
Wall, mebby I have gin you a faint, a very faint idee of the beauty of the hull twenty-six hundred feet of solid loveliness and perfection.
But who--who will tell what we see inside on"t?
In this buildin" every State in the Union, and almost every civilized nation of the world, is represented with agricultural exhibits, and food products in their manufactured state. Prizes will be gin at the end of the Fair to the _best_.
Every nation is shown up here; and if you have got any learnin", you can look it up in your own Gography, and realize the number on "em, and the immense size of the exhibition.
And then there is the most interestin" exhibits in agricultural teachin", Schools and Colleges of different nations, side by side with the best American colleges of Agriculture, and Experimental Stations.
Here in this exhibit you can see everything eatable and drinkable, from Jonesville wheat to palm sugar, and all sorts of vegetables that wuz ever seen, and the very biggest ones that wuz ever grown, from a sweet potato to a squash, and peanuts to cocoanuts--
And all sorts of animal products, from a elephant"s tusk, from Africa, to a sleek deacon"s skin, from Jonesville.
And then, besides the exhibit of raw products of every kind, from Egypt to Shackville, there are shown off all sorts of manufactured foods, and everything else, and so forth and so on.
If you stay here long enough, say from 2 to 3 months, you can git a good idee of what the world feeds on, from Hindoostan to Loontown and Zoar.
Josiah enjoyed himself here richly.
He hardly could be torn away.
And I took comfort, too, in the dairy, where the b.u.t.ter and cheese from the different States is shown off in handsome cases, and kep cool and fresh in dog-days. This wuz, I spoze, to test the merits of the different breeds of dairy cattle, and teach the very best methods of makin" b.u.t.ter and cheese.
I took solid comfort here, and I also got some new and useful idees that I could disseminate to Miss Isham, and she that wuz Submit Tewksbury.
As for Philury, I mean to give her lessons daily (she runs our dairy in my absence).
In the annex of this buildin" wuz exhibits of all the Agricultural implements ever known or hearn on, from the first old rickety reaper up to the n.o.ble machine of to-day, that will cut the grain, and take out a string and tie it up in sheafs; and I guess if it wuz encouraged enough, it would take it to the mill and grind it--
And the first old cotton-gin and mower up to the finished machines of to-day.