were out in different parts of the city, a serious fire broke out owing to an explosion in the cellar of the Union Oil Company's store on East Water Street at about 5:30 o'clock A strong gale was blowing at the time; and the flames, against which the forces of the firemen could not be immediately concentrated, soon became unmanageable. It was well toward morning when the fire was got under control. Valuable assistance was rendered by engines sent from Waukesha, Racine, and Kenosha, Wis., and Chicago, Ill. About $6,000,000 worth of property was destroyed, and many hundred families rendered homeless. Two firemen were killed, and two other lives were reported lost. Energetic relief measures were immediately organized, and the responses to the call for aid have been many and generous. Explosions and fires have been so frequent within the last two months, that the authorities suspect the systematic work of a band of incendiaries.

Several world's turf records have been made during the quarter. Stamboul, a stallion, trotted a mile in harness in 2:071⁄2 on the kite track at Stockton, Cal., November 23; while, on November 12, Kremlin had trotted in 2:0734 on the circular track at Nashville, Tenn. A mile over a half-mile track was trotted in 2:1134 by Nelson at Trenton, N. J., October 6. Nightingale trotted two miles against time at Nashville, Tenn., October 22, in 4:334. Martha Wilkes trotted a mile in 2:08 at Chillicothe, O., October 7.

The stallion Direct paced one mile in harness in 2:051⁄2 at Nashville, Tenn., November 8; while the double team, Belle Button and Tom Rider, made it in 2:161⁄2 at Oakland, Cal., October 22. Hal Pointer paced a mile in 2:041⁄2 at Nashville, Tenn., October 18.

403

World's bicycle records were made as follows: W. W. Windle, at Springfield, Mass., October 7, the quarters of a mile in 28 seconds, 57, 1:30 and 2:02; and A. A. Gracey on Lancaster pike, Penn., a five mile road record in 13:48.

Sid Thomas, a London, England, amateur, ran 10 miles in 51:51, October 22. J. S Tyers, of Bath, swam 500 yards in 6:05 at Manchester, October 27. Both are world records.

At Travers' Island, N.Y., October 8, amateurs beat world records as follows: A. P. Schwaner made a long standing jump of 10 feet 97% inches; M. F. Sweeney made a running high jump, without weights, of 6 feet 44 inches; and J. S. Mitchell threw the 16 lbs. hammer, head and handle, 145 feet 3/4 inches, and the 56 lbs. weight 35 feet 61⁄2 inches.

In baseball, Cleveland won the second series of games, by winning 53; but Boston, the victor in the first series, won all five of the championship games, making her 102 to Cleveland's 93.

THE COLUMBIAN CELEBRATIONS.

The American commemorations of the fourth centenary of the discovery of America, were much more general throughout the country than those held in Europe. Concerted action was taken for celebrations in the public. schools, chiefly for their instructive. effect upon the pupils; and in thousands of towns and cities, and in the humble district schools of rural regions, interesting exercises were held. In some places, as in Detroit, Mich., the old soldiers of the Grand Army of the Republic took charge of the programs, and lent additional interest to them by their personal narratives or exhortations to patriotism. Over many schoolhouses the flag of the Union was formally raised and greeted with cheers, followed by a declaration of allegiance to it, the reading. of the President's proclamation for the observance, the singing of national airs, and addresses of historical and patriotic cast.

The Celebration in New York.
The stupendous celebrations of the

Columbian days, however, were naturally held in New York and Chicago, in many respects the first and second cities of the land, which had competed determinedly yet amicably for the site of the Columbian Fair. New York elected to stand on the ancient ways, and celebrate on and about October 12, regardless of the new style and the whirligig of time, which had made October 21 the true anniversary of the landing. But the older date had been solemnly enacted into law, the Legislature of the Empire State declaring it a public holiday, and authorizing the city government of New York to expend $50,000 upon the observance. Liberal contributions and the sale of seats upon the grand stands, swelled the sum available for Columbian expenditures to $150,000, which a committee of one hundred was appointed by the Mayor to disburse. Perfect weather blessed all the week; and the city was profusely, if not very elegantly or tastefully, decorated.

In Union Square, where the processions debouched upon it from 14th Street, the grand stands for the reviewing party and the favored spectators were erected, almost concealing the bronze Washington, the Lincoln, Lafayette, and other statuary clustered there. At the Cathedral of St. Patrick, on Fifth Avenue, a graceful triumphal arch had been erected, its canopy surmounted by a globe and four symbolic statues of heroic size. At 59th Street and Fifth Avenue (Central Park) was built a more pretentious structure, called by pre-eminence the Columbian Arch, designed by Henry R. Herts, a youth of twentyone, and as yet but a student in Columbia College.

At 59th Street and Eighth Avenue, still stands, and is to stand permanently, the grand memorial of the great week, the Columbus Monument, fitly presented by the Italians of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Central America, and the American people. The corner-stone of the monument was laid September 16 last (p. 297). It originated with the Chevalier Charles Barsotti, proprietor of the Progresso Italo-Americano, an Italian journal published in New York, who,

in July, 1889, proposed the graceful duty through his paper, and opened a subscription to execute it. A generous gift by the Italian Government presently insured success; and, on the 1oth of December, 1890, the models submitted by a number of sculptors, and exhibited in Rome, testified the interest which had been awakened. The design selected is by Professor Gaetano Russo, a native artist of Rome. The monument is considered one of the finest, most expressive and effective memorials anywhere erected for twenty-five years. The monument itself is of Baveno granite, seventy-five feet high. Upon the base are two bas-reliefs in bronze, representing Columbus at first sight of land and Columbus landing. The statue of Columbus is fourteen feet high, of pure white Carrara marble; and, in the same material, is a figure of the Genius of Geography, ten feet in height. On the side opposite the latter, is a bronze eagle six feet in height, carrying in its claws the shields of Genoa, the native city of Columbus, and of the United States.

The formal commemorations began on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), October 8, with suitable religious observances in the synagogues, which were followed the next day by sermons and services in most of the Christian churches of the city.

On Monday, a grand procession of college and other students, including children from the public schools, all together numbering about 25,000, moved down Fifth Avenue from the new Columbian Arch at Central Park to the Washington Arch at the foot of the avenue, which was left from the Inauguration Centennial of 1889. After the mounted policemen and the Grand Marshal and his staff, came Mayor Grant, of New York City, on foot. Next came the band of the famous Seventh Regiment, heading twenty battalions, 10,000 strong, of the city school-boys, followed by the Mayor of Brooklyn and a large contingent from her public schools, and a boys' company from Jersey City, N. J. Next marched a strong division from the Catholic schools, nearly all the companies uniformed. In this,

special attention was directed to a company of miniature Zouaves and another of very little negro boys in uniform, who carried small muskets. The private schools were headed by a juvenile drum corps, in age from four to ten years. A troop of Indian boys and girls from the government school at Carlisle, Pa., attracted much notice. The college students in large numbers represented Columbia College and respectively the University and the College of the City of New York. From the College of Physicians and Surgeons, came a battalion marked by somewhat ghastly badges in miniature skeletons upon their hats, some bearing human bones in their hands. Finally the young gentlemen of the Art League came on, each with palette in hand. A vast throng, estimated at half a million, viewed the parade with great satisfaction. The Vice-President of the United States, with several Governors and other dig. nitaries, occupied the reviewing stand past which it marched. At 42d Street, a large number of girls from the public schools, who had not been asked to join the procession, "were banked like flowers on a stand," and sang National songs. About the Lafayette statue in Union Square-on three sides of which the long line moved-several thousand Catholic school-girls were so costumed and grouped as to represent an enormous, but beautiful and living, Flag of the Union. The procession was disbanded at Washington Square, but remains in memory as one of the most interesting displays of the occasion. On the same day, the Art Loan Exhibition was opened at the National Academy of Design; in the evening, Pratt's cantata of " Columbus Triumphant" was sung at the Carnegie Music Hall; and the day closed with brilliant coruscations of fireworks from the Brooklyn Bridge.

On Tuesday, the 11th, occurred the naval parade, in which were about fifty vessels of all classes in the United States Navy, several Spanish, Italian, and French war-ships, the steamers of the New York Fire, Police, and Dock Departments, and one hundred vessels of the merchant marine. The fleet rendezvoused at Gravesend Bay,

405

on the Long Island shore, just outside. the Narrows, and moved at 12:30 o'clock, the course up New York Bay and the North River having been cleared by twenty steam tugs,acting as a platoon of naval police. The Admiral's flag-ship, the huge Philadelphia, led the way, with the graceful Dolphin next, followed by the French gunboat Hussard and man-of-war Arethuse, and the rest in gigantic and stately procession. National salutes of twenty-one guns were fired in rapid succession from Forts Wadsworth and Hamilton, Bedlow's Island, and Castle William, and the heavy ordnance of the men-of-war. Salutes were repeated from the ships, when, at the end of the parade, Vice-President Morton, Governor Flower, and others passed in the steamer Howard Carroll down the mighty line. The parade ceased opposite the tomb of General Grant, 126th Street, in the Riverside Park. The same afternoon, an "athletic carnival" was transacted at Manhattan Field, on Sixth Avenue; and, in the evening, a parade of the Catholic societies, and a chorus concert of 6,000 from the German-American societies at the Seventh Regiment Armory. Another pyrotechnic display was made from the Brooklyn Bridge, but was brought to a hasty close by the premature ignition of the principal piece, representing Niagara Falls.

Wednesday, the anniversary day, witnessed, of course, the culmination of the celebration in one of the finest military parades ever formed, some 70,000 being in line. General Martin T. McMahon, Grand Marshal, was in command, with a numerous and glittering staff. The marching column was headed by the West Point Cadets, who appeared at their best. Then came the field batteries of the Regular Army and other branches of the service, including the Marine Corps. and sailors from the war vessels, then the Signal Corps of the State service, with the famous city regiments, notably the favorite Seventh, and another brigade of out-of-town regiments of the National Guard of the State of New York, with batteries and independent companies, and the Naval Reserve. A detachment of several

regiments followed from the National Guard of Pennsylvania, led by Governor Pattison, and the picturesque City Troop of Philadelphia. Smaller bodies from New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, and even the Gate City Guard, all the way from Atlanta, Ga., closed a line some part of which was on the march from 10 A. M. until sundown. It is estimated that not less than 2,000,000 persons witnessed this parade. In the absence of President Harrison, kept away by the fatal illness of his wife, the Government was represented on the reviewing stand by the Vice-President, who was supported by Ex-President Hayes, President-Elect Cleveland, Governor Flower, and other Chief Magistrates, General Schofield, and a brilliant cluster of famous men and women. At the close of the parade, the Columbus Monument was unveiled with becoming ceremony. An address was pronounced by Baron Fava, Italian Minister to the United States; and General James G. Wilson represented the city in receiving the noble gift from Signor Barsotti, chairman of the Italian committee. At night the city was illuminated, and another series of fireworks set off from the great bridge. A stupendous night parade, with bicycle clubs carrying lanterns, numerous historical and allegorical floats, and other spectacular features, proved a comparative failure, from the lateness of its start, the weariness of the people, and the darkness that settled upon some of the streets before they were reached by the procession.

A banquet at the Lenox Lyceum on Thursday evening closed the New York celebrations. Mayor Grant presided.

The Celebration in Chicago. Chicago preferred to place her memorial celebration upon the true anniversary of the discovery, Friday, October 21, new style. On this day, the great military parade moved, and the wonderful White City" at Jackson Park was dedicated to the purposes of the Columbian Fair. The entertainments of the week opened with a ball in the immense Auditorium on Wednesday evening, given by Chicago so

ciety to the representatives of Federal, State, and Foreign Governments, and other dignitaries. The next day, came the civic parade, in which about 75,ooo persons took part, with massed lines of spectators filling every available square foot along several miles of march, and estimated at 1,200,000, half a million of them from out of town. President Harrison was prevented from appearing by the illness of Mrs. Harrison, and the Vice-President was again the Nation's foremost representative. He, with other eminent persons, viewed the procession from a stand erected near the Postoffice. Major-General Miles, commanding the Military Division of the Pacific, with his numerous staff, was Grand Marshal of the day. Governor Fifer, of Illinois, and Mayor Washburne, with the City Council, were escorted by the Chicago Hussars, in their unique uniform of black and white. The Governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Iowa, Colorado, California, and Washington, also rode in the procession with their staffs. There were a few other military features, as a Scotch regiment with band of bag-pipes, which led a heterogeneous division of societies composed of Scotchmen, Irishmen, Englishmen, Italians, Swedes, Poles, and others. The Italian associations had the post of honor, and, among other attractive exhibits, presented a float carrying a miniature Santa Maria rolling and pitching on a mimic sea, and full of sailors, with Columbus himself on the lookout at the bow. The Orangemen and Turners, the Catholic and innumerable societies and guilds. of native American membership, the Indian boys with their gray uniforms from the Carlisle Industrial School, 2,000 boys from the Chicago public schools, and many other parts of the tremendous column, were viewed with peculiar interest. Another ball was given in the evening at the Armory of the First Infantry; and a dinner by the Chicago Fellowship Club, to 115 of the more distinguished guests. Among them were Cardinal Gibbons, Ex-President Hayes, Vice-President Morton, Chief Justice Fuller, Postmaster-General Wanamaker, Governor McKinley, Dr. Gaudens, the sculptor, and F. Ď.