e with the precision of machinery, no pillar varying half
an inch from its line. Machinery, indeed, rolled the quadrant-shaped
sections of each column and riveted their flanges together with
hydraulic hammers; great steam-derricks dropped each on its appointed
seat; and the main tasks of manual labor in either building were
painting, glazing, floor-laying and erecting the ground-wall of
masonry, from five to seven feet high, that fills in the outer columns
all round to a level with the heads of theorists who, holding that _la
propriete c'est le vol_, assert the propriety of theft.

Following Belmont Avenue, the Appian Way of the Centennial, to the
north-west, we penetrate a mob of edifices, fountains, restaurants,
government offices, etc., and reach the Agricultural Building--the
palace of the farmer. The hard fate of which he habitually
complains--that of being thrust into a corner save when he is wanted
for tax-paying purposes--does not forsake him here. The commission
does not tax him, however, and the boreal region whereto he and his
belongings are consigned is in no other way objectionable than as
not being nearer the front. The building is worthy of a Centennial
agricultural fair. Five hundred and forty by eight hundred and twenty
feet, with ten acres and a quarter under roof, it equals the halls of
a dozen State cattle-shows, The style is Gothic, the three transepts
looking like those of as many cathedrals stripped of the roof, the
extrados taking its place. The nave that spits them is a hundred and
twenty-five feet wide, with an elevation of seventy-five feet. An
ecclesiastical aspect is imparted by the great oriel over the main
entrance, and the resemblance is aided by a central tower that
suggests the "cymbals glorious swinging uproarious" in honor of the
apotheosis of the plough. The materials of this bucolic temple are
wood and glass. The contract price was $250,000. Its contents will
be more cosmopolitan than could have been anticipated when it was
planned. Germany claims five thousand feet and Spain six thousand.
Among other countries, tropical America is fully represented.

Besides this indoor portion of the world's farm-steading, a barnyard
of correspondent magnitude is close at hand, where all domestic
animals will be accommodated, and the Weirs, Landseers and Bonheurs
will find many novelties for the portfolio. A race-track, too, is an
addendum of course. What would our Pan-Athenaic games be without i