_Philip’s Day_ — _Visits the Photographic Dark-room_ — _The
Fisheries Building_ — _The Aquaria_ — _Fishing Methods_ — _The
Government Building_ — _The Japanese Tea-house._
[Illustration]
Wednesday Philip had set apart on his schedule for the Fisheries
Building, intending to spend any spare time at some less important
places near by. He had already found that it was well to save himself
what bodily fatigue he could, and so he took a rolling-chair almost as
soon as he entered the grounds, from a conical tent not far from the
Pennsylvania Railroad exhibit. The man who pushed the chair told Philip
he was from Finland; and a few attempts to converse with him were so
fruitless that Philip gave up trying.
He went first to the photographic room where he had left a roll of
pictures to be developed. Then, after making the usual morning call for
letters, he went on to the appointed building. On the way, the Finland
guide woke up enough to show some interest in photography, asking
Philip, “Do you take in colors the pictures yet?” Philip in reply gave
a short account of the state of (what is called) color-photography, and
the Finland guide was probably more muddled than ever.
Philip had once or twice stepped into the Fisheries Building before,
but so far had never been in the east wing, where the aquaria were
situated; so he selected this part as a beginning. As usual, he had
brought his camera, and right at the entrance he found a good subject—a
young man who was perched upon one side of the steps. Philip “took”
him, and then set himself to studying the decorations of the outside of
the portico.
The pillars supporting the arched doorway had in relief upon them
forms of aquatic life, modeled life-size or larger, and arranged in
geometrical patterns. For instance, one pillar was covered with frogs
arranged in diagonal lines crossing one another so as to form diamonds.
Others in the same doorway showed turtles, snakes and lily-leaves,
newts and crabs.
Philip also saw that all of the ornamental work about the building
was composed in the same way. He thought it amusing in a temporary
building, but felt sure his friend the architect whom they met on the
Whaleback would never have approved of the decorations if applied in
equal profusion to a permanent building.
Inside the aquarium wing he found a circular corridor both side walls
of which were made up of tanks filled either with salt or fresh
water. To keep this water fresh and wholesome for the fish, spurts
of water shot down through the surface from above, making a silvery
fountain upside down at the top of each tank. There were no windows
in the corridor, all the light coming through the water from the top
of the tanks. This arrangement made that part of the building rather
gloomy, but enabled the people to see the fish under the best possible
conditions.
The people seemed to enjoy the show very much, and had none of that
bored air with which they walked around some exhibits in other
buildings. Each aquarium was like a show-case, and the light playing
upon the moving fish caused them to glitter and shine. Philip heard one
girl exclaim as she entered, “Um—um! How lovely!” and wondered for the
hundredth time at the queer adjectives girls apply to what pleases them.
[Illustration: CAPITAL IN FISHERIES BUILDING.]
The building was jammed full. Judging from photographs he had seen,
Philip was sure that in the earlier days of the Exposition there was
a better opportunity for examining exhibits. Now, everywhere he went,
there were such throngs of people that he found it difficult to use
his note-book. Every time he entered a building, he found his camera a
burden and a trouble; but no sooner was he out again than he was glad
he had brought it with him.
Here he had to fall into line if he wished to make any progress at
all. People would gaze upon some slab-sided, pop-eyed fish until they
entirely forgot they were keeping others away. Then the crowd would
move forward with the gentle force of a glacier, and progress would
begin again.
[Illustration: SKELETON OF A WHALE.]
The first tanks Philip saw held various sorts of bass, sturgeon, trout,
and pike. It was a strange sensation to see the fish so near, and so
confined that they could not dart away. It gave one the idea that
swimming in the sea was not so very different from flying in the air,
except that a bird has to keep moving or descend, whereas the fish can
stop where he pleases, and hang suspended as comfortably as Mahomet in
his coffin, or more so.
[Illustration: FLYING-FISH.]
Other fish he saw were the sheepshead, who had the true sheepish
expression; catfish, with their odd sparse whiskers; some strangers
labeled “small-mouthed buffaloes” (Philip wondered how it would sound
to go into a restaurant and order “a fried small-mouthed buffalo,
please, for one”); something that was written down in his note-book
as “red-horse”—but what the creatures were like, and what their true
names might be, Philip had no recollection at all when he read over his
notes. There were, though, some whose names did recall exactly their
appearance,—the “short-nosed gars,” for instance, who had particularly
long noses.
The tank of goldfish was really “lovely,” for as one approached them
the light shone upon them as brilliantly as if they had been sunset
clouds. One visitor was so impressed with this fine display that he
remarked with more feeling than logic, “It is wonderful what human
flesh can do when they put their heads together!” Philip laughed at
this, and after having had his elbow joggled four or five times,
succeeded in writing it down so that he hoped he could tell Harry about
it.
[Illustration: A FISHING-BOAT: GROUP IN GOVERNMENT BUILDING. The nearer
fisherman has woolen rings upon his hands to protect them from the
line.]
Harry and Mr. Douglass were at the other end of the grounds; for Harry,
in view of his father’s letter, felt that he ought to go through the
little convent, and Mr. Douglass found that end of the Fair full of
interest.
It was oppressively warm in the Fisheries Building, and Philip, often
over-prudent, had carried his overcoat with him. He had heard so much
before coming to Chicago of the “cold breezes from the lake,” that he
hardly dared to enter the grounds without some protection. At first the
coat was light enough, but as time went on it seemed that each moment
dropped a leaden bullet into one of the pockets, and his arms ached
though he changed the burden continually from one to the other. His
camera he made use of as a desk, fastening his note-book to the top of
it by putting a rubber band around one end, but the coat became a great
nuisance before the tour was finished.
In one tank he saw a queer turtle whose flippers were so broad that
they reminded Philip of four fans on the ends of a frog’s “arms” and
legs. The sand-pike, the golden ide (“A queer way to spell it!” said an
old lady), and the Missouri catfish occupied more tanks, and claimed
Philip’s attention in their order. The last tank of the outside row was
filled with minnows,—such as boys call “shiners,”—and reminded him of a
big bait-box.
Then came salt-water fish, and the change in the color and clearness
of the water was very noticeable. It was much harder to see the fish,
and when they scooted off to the other side of the tank, they were
lost to view. The lobsters had a sort of pile of rocks to which they
clung fast, and the crabs also seemed disinclined to move about. When
he came to a tank labeled “sea-robins,” it was some time before Philip
could see why the queer little fish were so called. At last, when one
came near, he noticed a red spot beside its head, and concluded that
this accounted for the name. One of the oddest specimens he saw was
called the “paddle-fish.” It had a long flat nose extending out flat
forward—probably it was used by the fish as a sort of shovel to stir up
the sandy or muddy ground where its food was found.
[Illustration: MODEL OF A GROUP OF INDIAN METAL-WORKERS, IN THE
GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
Philip wondered what the fish thought of their queer situation. Instead
of having the whole ocean to roam through, they found themselves in
narrow quarters around which great animals with staring eyes pressed
continually. They did not seem at all frightened, and had probably
given up their situation as a problem the solution of which was not
meant for them to know. At least they must have found some satisfaction
in the absence of the enemies who usually chased them about without
regard for Sundays or holidays. Philip, who was of a speculative turn
of mind, wondered how it would seem to men if lions and tigers might
at any moment come around the corner to devour them. He hoped that the
fish were less sensitive, or he was sure their lives in the ocean would
be so unbearable that they would commit suicide by leaping out on shore.
[Illustration: MODEL OF AN INDIAN WARRIOR: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
“Them’s catfish.”
“Oh, no, they ain’t.”
“I tell you, they be.”
“Wal, I guess not.”
“Wal, I guess yes.”
“Oh, you go ’way; I guess I know!”
The scientific discussion given above had proceeded no further when a
cooler-headed member of the party pointed with a peace-making finger
to the label, which read “Catfish,” as plain as print. Hoping that
these visitors’ knowledge of fishes had been improved by this little
difference of opinion, Philip found that he had exhausted the contents
of the outer corridor, and went into the middle, where he found a
rockwork fountain surrounded by a pool full of other fish. He went
around the tanks seen from the middle of the building with the same
care he had given to those outside, and found plenty to pay him for the
trouble.
[Illustration: MODEL OF A GROUP OF ZUÑIS: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
In one compartment were several sharks, and affixed to one of the
sharks were two of those fishes called “remoras,” who have upon their
heads a sort of sucker that can be used to hold them to any smooth
surface. Philip remembered reading that the ancients thought these fish
could stop even a large galley. He had always regarded the statement
as a wild yarn of antique romancers, but he was glad to see just how
the remora applied himself to his vocation. The shark was unable to
get at his unwelcome guests, and there were two of them, each more
than half as long as his host. Philip said to himself that it was a
shame, and then he happened to think that it was not necessary to be
very sorry for sharks—which are not a kindly race. What the remora had
to gain by this attachment he couldn’t exactly see, unless it was mere
transportation from place to place. Possibly the shark would leave
something of every meal, and then the remoras would dine at the second
table. It was as if a banker should have two professional beggars sit
upon his shoulders, and pick up the odd change that he didn’t look
sharply after.
[Illustration: ARMY WAGONS, WAR DEPARTMENT, GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
The next remarkable fish that attracted his eye—or rather, repelled
it—was the file-fish. This creature, if it _was_ the file-fish, had a
strong family resemblance to an unequally cooked and lumpy buckwheat
cake, and was hardly thicker. It was an animated pancake swimming edge
up. But what interested Philip was its method of propulsion. Along
its back ran a fin for nearly the fish’s whole length, and this fin
waved in a curving line like the path of a serpent. Philip had heard
Harry wonder why ships were not propelled by some such device, and he
resolved to tell his cousin that Nature was ahead of him in using that
means of going through the water.
Then Philip walked along the curving corridor with ornamented columns
that led to the main building. Just as he entered this part of the
central hall, he saw a clever bit of advertising. It was headed, “They
say it’s hot in Southern California,” and below was a statement of the
daily temperature contrasted with that of Chicago. For that day the
California temperature was 67° as contrasted with Chicago’s 73°.
[Illustration: GUNS, TORPEDOES, AND FLAGS: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
Philip did not find this main building as interesting as the aquarium
part. There were many models of fish, but they seemed very tame after
the live ones. In the Netherlands exhibit (as, indeed, in most of them)
was a model fishing-boat, but Philip did not know enough entirely to
comprehend the purpose of the different devices shown, so he gave them
only a glance. The exhibits of nets were likewise of small interest to
him, though a fisherman would, no doubt, have been long entangled in
their meshes.
The red disk on a white field that again marked the Japanese show
promised him more entertainment, and he entered the inclosure. Here he
found several fine little models, the most novel being that displaying
the method of fishing with cormorants. A little boat full of fishermen
was upon the painted waves, and in the bow was a torch made of an iron
basket wherein flamed some material that had been soaked in oil. In the
model this was represented by dyed wool. Each fisherman held in his
hand a cord fastened to a ring fixed tightly around a bird’s neck. The
birds were swimming about and diving for fish. When a fish was caught,
the bird was hauled in, deprived of his prey, and sent out to try again.
[Illustration: THE WORLD’S FAIR POST-OFFICE: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
[Illustration: AN OLD-FASHIONED MAIL-COACH: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
[Illustration: “FURTHEST NORTH”: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
There were in cases different kinds of fish-hooks, twisted and turned
into all European shapes, besides some eccentric ones of their own,
spoons and other devices for trolling, snells and lines, not very
different from those used in America and Europe. Their sail-boats
differed, however, from ours in the way the sails were made. Instead
of being in one piece, the sails were in perpendicular strips fastened
together by a network of cords so as to leave open spaces.
Philip saw a young Japanese (he looked young, but may have been fifty)
who was eating lunch in a corner of the room, and asked him the reason
of this arrangement. “To hold wind less,” he said; but the American boy
was not quite satisfied, for he could not see why a smaller sail would
not meet the same need. He thought it more likely that the sails were
so made in order to stow away more easily. The Japanese boy saw nothing
queer in the boats, but Philip’s camera was to him a great wonder, and
he politely asked an explanation of its working. This Philip gave, and
took the little Jap’s picture in the course of his lecture on cameras.
He also gave the foreigner a memorandum of the name and price of the
camera, whereupon courteous Japan presented a catalogue of the exhibit
and a business card.
[Illustration: THE BIG TREE: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
In the main hall the State of Washington had hung an enormous
“humpbacked whale” skeleton nearly forty-eight feet long, and showed
the jaws of another as a gateway to its inclosure. Norway showed great
harpoons and guns to project them. Baltimore, Ireland (a critical
passer-by said, “How very Irish to have a Baltimore in Ireland!”),
showed a model fishing-school, a set of tiny buildings with little
dolls at work making nets. The dolls’ idiotic faces took away all
likeness of the exhibit to nature; and Philip, just from the tiny
Japanese fishermen, so perfectly modeled, thought the difference spoke
strongly in proof of the artistic sense of Japan.
Philip examined the models of German fishing-craft, and was
particularly curious to know about a small boat moored to a tiny tree,
one of three trunks below the surface of the water. He consulted the
label, and found out that this was a “_Miesmuschelzucht in der Kieler
Bucht_,” and with that information written down carefully he departed,
satisfied to wait until he had more time and a German dictionary.
[Illustration: ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES ARMY.]
More netting exhibits—“strings and things”—did not long delay Philip,
who had caught sight of the space covered with green cloth where
Gloucester, Massachusetts, had arranged her boats and buildings so that
one could understand how they contributed to the comfort of mankind and
themselves. A lobster-packing house had made the same attempt to inform
the world just how the poor lobster came to be caught, canned, and sent
to table; but here some cheap dolls again marred the effect of the
well-made apparatus.
North Carolina showed a “rush camp,” a round hut of rushes in which
had been put the proper fittings to show what accommodations their
fishermen made for themselves. Mexico had a display that may have been
worth seeing, but Philip noticed the fence only, which was a clever
bit of work. As he left the Fisheries Building, he felt that, like the
others, its display was too good and too full to be appreciated by any
but experts—for whom, probably, it was especially prepared.
[Illustration: MAIL-SLEDGE AND DOGS: GOVERNMENT BUILDING.]
He felt sure that every man or boy who went to the Fair saw some device
or method that he would either adopt or improve in his own work. With
a people so quick of apprehension and so inventive as Americans, the
benefits arising from the World’s Fair must be beyond exaggeration.
After leaving the Fisheries, Philip made up his mind to give the
Government Building a good two hours of his day. He had passed through
it several times, but he had never examined thoroughly the guns and
wax Indians and mail-wagons which seemed especially provided for the
delight of boys. Now he was glad that he had saved up the pleasure.
The Government Building was as crowded as the Fisheries had been, but
Philip pressed slowly along, catching sight first of a fishing-boat
and the figures of two men in it arranging their shad-nets. The
Patent-office exhibit, which he had promised himself much joy in
looking over, he found almost too confusing, as had Harry before him.
So he passed quickly through this section and reached the exhibit of
the Post-office Department, where one could see at a glance every
possible way of carrying the mail, from an old stage-coach to the
latest mail-car.
The Smithsonian Institution and the Ordnance Department of the United
States Army exhibited what Philip felt were really just the most
interesting things he had seen in the whole Fair. The groups of wax
Indians, the great guns, the army-wagons, and the dog-sledges were
surrounded by groups of delighted people of all ages.
Then Philip decided that he would go to the Japanese tea-house, taking
in the beautiful model Japanese house on the Wooded Island. He found
the model house, but it took him fully twenty minutes to find the
tea-house, with four consultations of his map; and while seeking it he
saw the Brazilian Building for the first time, although he must have
passed it again and again. This will give some idea of the size of the
Fair, for that building is 140 feet high, 148 feet long, and of equal
width.
In the Japanese tea-house Philip sat upon a wicker stool, and received
a cup of “ceremonial tea,” a half-pound of the tea, a wafer, some
sweetmeats, a souvenir, and elaborate courtesy. He also received a
ticket entitling him to enter the tea-houses where the cheaper tea
was served. After a long rest within this pretty inclosure, Philip
took the electric launch to the southern part of the park, where he
wandered about, taking an occasional snap-shot, until he felt his legs
would no longer submit to be imposed upon. He went home very weary; but
he was getting used to that.
[Illustration: THE JAPANESE “HOUSE OF THE PHŒNIX” ON THE WOODED ISLAND.]
[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS, BY LORENZO LOTTO, 1512. In the
Convent of La Rábida. Lent by James W. Ellsworth.]