Part 62 (1/2)
The most interesting historic papers were letters penned by Napoleon, Alexander of Russia, and other foreign potentates, the Webster-Ashburton treaty signed by Queen Victoria, and a shark's tooth sent as a treaty by the king of Samoa. Precious relics were Was.h.i.+ngton's commission as commander-in-chief of the colonial forces, his sword, his diary, and his account books and army reports; the sash with which Lafayette bound up his wound at Brandywine; the calumet pipe which Was.h.i.+ngton smoked when seventeen years old; Benjamin Franklin's cane; the sword of General Jackson; a waistcoat embroidered by Marie Antoinette; wampum made before the discovery of America; camp service of pewter used by Was.h.i.+ngton throughout the Revolution; Bible brought over by John Alden in the _Mayflower_; and a piece of torch carried by ”Old Put” (General Israel Putnam) into the den of the wolf which he killed.
A section of one of the big trees of California was 20 feet in diameter at the top and 26 feet at the base.
The dreadful sufferings of persons imprisoned for debt in England, which led to the founding of Georgia, were recalled by a warrant for the arrest and imprisonment of one of the unfortunates, issued in 1721.
There also were to be seen a page from the Plymouth records of 1620 and 1621; a land patent of 1628; the royal commission creating the common pleas court of Ma.s.sachusetts in 1696; a page from the horrible witchcraft trials in Salem in 1692; a door-knocker brought to this country in the _Mayflower_; and portraits of many historical persons.
In the War Department were shown a six-pounder bronze gun presented by Lafayette to the colonial forces; the four-pounder gun that fired the first shot in the Civil War; the rifled gun that fired the last shot; cannon used in the Mexican War; cast-iron cannon found in the Hudson River; Chinese cannon captured at Corea; cannon captured at Yorktown; boot-legs from which the starving members of the Greely Arctic expedition made soup; relics of Sir John Franklin; a wagon used by General Sherman throughout all his marches; the sacred s.h.i.+rt worn by Sitting Bull at the time of the ma.s.sacre of Custer and his command on the Little Big Horn.
EXHIBITS OF THE TREASURY AND POSTOFFICE DEPARTMENTS.
In the Treasury Department was represented the United States Mint in operation, besides historic medals, ancient and modern coins, including those of foreign countries, a ten-thousand gold dollar certificate and a silver certificate of the same denomination.
The eyes of the philatelists sparkled at the treasures in the Postoffice Department, which included all the issues of stamps from 1847 to 1893.
Some of the single stamps were worth thousands of dollars, and it would have required a fortune to purchase the whole collection, had it been for sale. The methods of carrying the mail were ill.u.s.trated by a representation of dogs drawing a sled over the snow and a Rocky Mountain stage-coach. It would require volumes to convey an intelligent idea of the display in the Patent Office, Interior Department, Geological Survey, Agricultural Department, and the United States Commission.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THOMAS A. EDISON.
(1847-.)]
Everybody knows that wonderful discoveries have been made in electricity, and no doubt we are close upon still greater ones. The name of Edison is connected with the marvelous achievements in this field, and there was much food for thought and speculation in the exhibits of the Electricity Building. These, while profoundly interesting, were mainly so in their hints of what are coming in the near future.
Machinery Hall was a favorite with thousands of the visitors. The exhibits were so numerous that they were divided into eighty-six cla.s.ses, grouped into:
1. Motors and apparatus for the generation and transmission of power, hydraulic and pneumatic apparatus.
2. Fire-engines, apparatus and appliances for extinguis.h.i.+ng fire.
3. Machine tools and machines for working metals.
4. Machinery for the manufacture of textile fabrics and clothing.
5. Machines for working wood.
6. Machines and apparatus for type-setting, printing, stamping and embossing, and for making books and paper making.
7. Lithography, zincography, and color painting.
8. Photo-mechanical and other mechanical processes for ill.u.s.trating, etc.
9. Miscellaneous hand-tools, machines and apparatus used in various arts.
10. Machines for working stones, clay, and other minerals.
11. Machinery used in the preparation of foods, etc.
OTHER NOTABLE EXHIBITS.
The cost of the model of the Convent of Santa Maria de la Rabida, where the wearied Columbus stopped to crave food for himself and boy, was $50,000. The relics of the great explorer were numerous and of vivid interest.