THE POET’S REPLY
To a request to contribute to “ Our Daily Fare.
Why in these breathless, sleepless times,
When every hour is like an age,
Should poets pair the rusted rhymes
That elimb in every school-boy's page?
Are these the days for idle songs?
Are these the nights to doze and dream
When all our fiery manhood throngs
A perilled nation to redeem?
Yet blame not him whose slender tono
Blends with the lining battle-call;
’Twas but a crooked ram's horn blown, —
Down crashed the (lodless heathen's wall!
A word of cheer may nerve tin.* blow
That turns the conflict's trembling scab*,
Ami he that never saw his foe
May pierce him through his triple mail.
Oliver Wendell llolme3,
Boston, June 4, 3S*'4.
DOS 01 GREAT CENTRAL FAIR
Description of the Various Departments.
Gossip of the Fair.
milE Fair opened, yesterday morning, with
"*■ a great throng of visitors; “fair women
and brave men” thronged the avenues and
departments; contributors were hurrying in
their final goods; fair young dames, with
wliole parks of artillery in their flashing eyes,
and with tasteful scarfs upon their plump
shoulders, were hurrying around like Lieu
tenant Colonels upon a training day, and
“things looked like business.” The initialnum
ber of Our Daily Fare made its appearance
just at the nick of time, and the sheets, hot
and fresh from the press, “went off like hot
cakes.” At noon, or thereabouts, the Execu
tive Committee determined to close the build
ings for the day, to re-open at ten o’clock this
(Thursday) morning, in order to finish up the
decorations, and to make some necessary im
provements in a portion of the carpenter
work, for reason explained elsewhere. This
interregnum has enabled us to jot down
some of our observations concerning how
things look both outside and inside at the Fair.
Let the reader imagine a park, iron-railed
around, amid handsome public buildings and
private houses, the wliole neighborhood abound
ing in trees. Across its centre passes a gal
lery of boards, more than sixty feet wide, and
five hundred feet long, shaped cn ogive, or like
a Gothic arch, rising directly from the ground,
and producing, of course, precisely the effect
of a ship upside down—realizing more accu
rately than was ever yet done in any cathedral
the origin of the word nave —from navis, a
ship.
On the sides of this great nave, called Union
Avenue, and adown its centre, tables glittering
with every variety of brilliant and beautiful
fancy wares are ranged. Those who will
pause at the second centre table from the door
Oub H)_A-1 XjTT Pabb.
will find it devoted to the sale of Our Daily
Fare, the voting for the Garibaldi dagger, and
the Book of Honor. The tables beyond it are
filled with perfumery and other articles. Four
hundred feet on the north side of this park are
devoted to an Art Gallery, containing the largest
and incalculably the most valuable collection of
paintings ever seen in America. On either
side of Union Avenue are two enormous circles,
each more than 190 feet in diameter—the one
a very beautiful restaurant, the other a foun
tain, and the finest floral display ever made in
Philadelphia.
The parallel and intersecting avenues which
surround this ground plan are respectively
devoted either to special subjects or to sepa
rate delegations ; as may he inferred from the
following, by no means complete, list. There
is an old Pennsylvania Dutch kitchen, admi
rably arranged, and a “William Penn’s par
lor:” an engine and boiler room; rooms for
Committee Meetings, the ice-house, fish pond,
fountain, skating pond, brewery, bank, police
room, divan, water-color paintings' gallery,
the tobacco department, that of agricultural
implements, the fancy hall, exhibition room,
German Club, confectionery department, and,
finally, the long ranges devoted to every
variety of solid domestic manufactures. New
Jersey and Delaware have shown a glorious
spirit in maintaining the credit of their people ;
and it would ho difficult, to point out a yard
of space in which great taste and zeal have
not been manifested.
In view of our pre-arranged plan, we will
first take up for description,
TUB DEPARTMENT OF ARMS AND TROPHIES
This Department is one of the most inter
esting of the numerous exhibitions in the Fair.
It, runs at right angle with Union Avenue, and
the entrance is near to the eastern door. Two
smoke stacks of the Monitors in front of
Charleston flank the entrance, and not only
guide the visitor, hut also attest the terrible
effects of modern weapons of war. Within
the Department, (lie decorator has exhausted
his resources in order to secure a magnificent
display, and the result is a rare combination
of bunting, cannons, arms and trophies artis
tically arranged. At the northern end of the
room there is a collection of muskets, swords,
spears, &c., arranged in a semicircle, tier
after tier, the whole surmounted with an eagle
and American flags. The effect is very fine.
Within this circle there are a number of inter
esting trophies. The two brass guns presen
ted by the Dutch Government to Admiral Van
Tromp in 1673, attract much attention. Be
tween these a warrior in full armor stands
guard.
The prowess of our American soldiers
upon the battle fields of the Revolution, the
war in 1812, the Mexican war and the Rebel
lion, is well illustrated by the numerous tro
phies arranged on the tables and along the
walls, and the gallant Jack tars contribute
their share of flags and sword captured from
the enemy on the ocean. The collection is ar
ranged by divisions, and each table is decor
ated with the flags of brave Pennsylvania
Regiments, Their worn and stained folds
speak more eloquently than any inscription of
the deeds of daring performed by those who
rallied beneath tlie stars and stripes. Rebel
flags captured by our soldiers are also made
to do duty as decorations.
Scattered throughout, the department are
cannon, muskets, swords, shot ami shell, each
of which has a history. There is a solid 10-
inch shot fired from Battery Gregg—and its
broken particles attest the. strength of Phil
adelphia's pride, the New Ironsides, on whose
deck it lodged. A ten-inch shell, fired from
Fort Moultrie, forms its companion piece. A 1 fl
inch shell, from tlie siege of Yorktown in 1781,
rests near these Rebel shot. It was found at
Yorktown, eighteen feet below the ground, ami
when the Rebels were retreating from West
Point, in May, 1802. this shell was taken in a
train captured by tlie Union troops. Samples
of canister and grape-shot are also exhibited,
and a comparison of the modern with tlie more
ancient is suggestive of the rapid strides
made by the Yankees in the art of war.
The most formidable of those shell is a DIO
pound Parrott, two feet in length, calculated
to penetrate even the sides of an iron-clad.
Oval shields are placed at regular intervals
along tlie walls, and in these there is a dis
play of small arms, some foreign and others
domestic, but all valuable by reason of the
history connected with them. An English
cavalry sword, taken at Toulouse, in the fight
between the English and the French; rebel
bayonets from Chicamauga and Missionary
Ridge; a sword used by Gen. Gibson during
the Revolution ; and a sabre borne by General
Heynolds in the Mexican war, are atnongn few
of these articles. An ugly looking Bowie,
knife, taken from one of Forrest's cavalry
men, attests the ferocity of the owner. It is
20 inches long, and weighs about lo pounds.
One of the rarest curiosities of the display is
a Scottish claymore, nearly 5 feet in length,
and with blade 2£ inches wide.
This sword was used by Colonel Donald
MacGregor, of Klcngyle, father of Ron Roy,
during the struggle between the Covenanters
and the Cavaliers. Mr. RoiiertMacGregor, a
lineal descendant of lion Roy, has made this
rare contribution, which is a relic almost out
of Scott’s famous romance, and certainly out
of one of the most interesting portions of Scot
tish history.
An Albanian pistol, from Constantinople.
John Brown's spear of Harpers Kerry no
toriety; a Chinese matchlock taken at Bar
rier Fort; and a French canteen from the battle
field of Waterloo, are exhibited near together
and attract much attention. A trophy from
Shiloh, consists of the lock of a musket. The
inscription gives the history', as follows :
“ This is the lock
That cracked tlie cap
That fired the gnu
That carried the ball
That caused the fall
Of General Johnston.”
The shreds of the flag of the Fifty-sixth
Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers are en
closed in a frame, and covered with a glass.
This regiment opened the battle at Gettysburg,
and won imperishable renown in the three days’
struggle upon those bloody heights.
Gettysburg is well represented in the de
partment, and a handsome sum will, no doubt,
be realized from the sale of relics from the
battle-field. At one of the tables there is a
large collection of goods, rendered valuable by
reason of the association with this battle.
These relics are offered in the form of walking