We went over to the South Gardens to see the lights change on the Tower
of Jewels, passing the half-dome of Philosophy, the stained glass of the
windows enveiling the background. They were still robing the tower in
pure white, and the hundred thousand pieces of Austrian cut glass were
shimmering. "They must have had a hard time getting those jewels
fastened on the ornamentation of the upper tiers. The wind up there is
very strong. Some of the men came near being blown off. It took pretty
expert acrobatic work to hang the jewels out on the extreme edges.
Suddenly the lights on the tower glowed into red. The tower itself
seemed to become thinner and finer in outline.
"There are people who don't like this color," said the architect. "It's
fashionable nowadays to feel a prejudice against red. But it is one of
the most beautiful colors in nature and one of nature's greatest
favorites, associated with fire and with flowers. To me the tower is
never so beautiful as it is when the red light seemed to burn from a
fire inside. See how it tends to eliminate the superfluous
ornamentation. It brings out the grace of line in the upper tiers, like
folded wings. With just a few eliminations the improvement in that tower
would be astonishing."
Presently the lights in the tower went out altogether. The four Italian
towers also grew dim. It was getting late. People were hurrying out. But
we lingered. We wished to see this city of domes as it appeared without
any lights at all, except for those that were kept burning to meet the
requirements of the law.
For an hour we roamed about the deserted place. Here and there we would
meet a belated visitor or a group of people from some indoor festivity.
The material had taken on a finer quality. It looked like stone.
Wonderful as the Exposition was by day and in the evening, it was far
more wonderful at this hour.
Now it was easy to imagine the scene as a city, with the inhabitants
asleep in their beds. But just what kind of city it was I could not make
up my mind. When I expressed this thought to the architect, he said:
"Have you ever seen David Roberts' big illustrated volumes, 'Travels in
the Holy Land'? If you haven't, look them up. Then you will see what
kind of a city this city is. It's a city of Palestine. It's Jerusalem
and Jaffa and Akka all over again."