the building by its
eastern door, and, immediately on passing the screen which interposes
between the ticket offices and the interior, the whole extent of the
palace of glass lay before me. Fancy yourself standing at the end of a
broad avenue, eighteen hundred and fifty feet in length, roofed with
glass, and bounded laterally by gayly-decorated, slender pillars. The
effect was surpassingly beautiful. Right and left of this splendid nave
were other avenues, into which the eyes wandered at will; for no walls,
no barriers are to be found in the whole building; all is open, from
floor to roof, and from side to side, and from the eastern to the
western extremity.

Proceeding westward, I saw the compartments allotted to our own country.
The first thing I noticed was a piece of sculpture,--the dying
Indian,--a fine production, though perhaps a trifle overdone. Then came
an American bridge, which painters were still at work upon; and then,
backed by drapery of crimson cloth, that splendid creation of genius,
the Greek Slave, which will immortalize the name of Hiram Powers. I
shall not, I think, be accused of national partiality when I assert
that this statue is, in sculpture, one of the two gems of the
exhibition. Perhaps, if I were not from the United States, I should say
it was "_the gem_." When I come to tell you of the Italian marbles, I
shall refer to that production of art which can alone be thought to
dispute the palm of superiority with it. Every one expresses the highest
admiration at the Slave, and a crowd is constantly around the spot. One
old gentleman, who was in an ecstasy over the sculpture, very sharply
rebuked a person complaining of the paucity of the American productions,
with "Fie, _there_ is one thing America has sent, that all Europe may
admire, and no one in Europe can equal." Turning aside from this
"breathing marble," I examined the American exhibition of products and
manufactures. I confess to you I felt mortified with the comparative
meagreness of our show, because it contrasts poorly with the abundance
exhibited by nations far inferior to us in skill and enterprise. Still,
we have much to show; but the useful prevails over the beautiful. I am
quite sure, too, that there are things here which will compel attention,
and carry away calm, dispassionate approbation from the jurors. The
United States exhibits numerous specimens of tools, cordage, cotton and
woolen fabrics, shawls, colors, prints, daguerreo