ailed up
the stream, and a man dressed like the famous old Quaker landed and was
greeted by a number of men who took the part of Indian chiefs.

In 1887 Philadelphia had another grand anniversary, that of the signing
of the Constitution of the United States, which was celebrated by
magnificent parades and processions, while the whole city was dressed in
the red, white and blue. In 1889 New York celebrated the next grand
event in the history of the nation, the taking of the oath by
Washington, our first President.

The next great anniversary was that of the discovery of America by
Columbus, four hundred years before. This was celebrated by a
wonderfully splendid exhibition at Chicago, the most beautiful that the
world had ever seen. Columbus landed in October, 1492, and the buildings
were dedicated in October, 1892, but the exhibition did not take place
till the next year. Those who saw this exhibition will never forget it,
and very likely some of my readers were among them. Its buildings were
like fairy palaces, so white and grand and beautiful; and at night, when
it was lit up by thousands of electric lights, the whole place looked
like fairy land. The world will not soon see anything more beautiful.

I cannot tell of all the exhibitions. There were others, at New Orleans,
Atlanta, and other cities, but I think you will be satisfied with
hearing about the large ones. The Centennial at Philadelphia set the
fashion. After that, cities all over the country wanted to have their
great fairs, and many of the little towns had their centennial
celebrations, with music and parades, speeches and fireworks.

During all this time the country kept growing. People crossed the ocean
in millions. Our population went up, not like a tree growing, but like a
deer jumping. In 1880 we had 50,000,000 people. In 1900 we had half as
many more. Just think of that! Over 25,000,000 people added in twenty
years! How many do you think we will have when the youngest readers of
this book get to be old men and women? I am afraid to guess.

As our people increased in number they spread more widely over the
country. Railroads were built everywhere, steamboats ran on all the
streams, telegraphs and telephones came near to every man's front door,
the post-offices spread until letters and newspapers and packages were
carried to the smallest village in the land. Nobody wanted to stay at
home, in the old fashion. People thought nothing of a journey acro