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THE STANDARD-BEARER

By Karl Bitter

some of great architectural beauty and others of great architectural ugliness; the Chicago Fair was much more extensive, and presented the same harmony and unity of design. The Buffalo Exposition adds to the charm of order and grace the beauty of color.

The executive genius of the AngloSaxon element organized the Exposition, but this clear handling of many diverse elements so as to secure an impression of wholeness is wrought out in forms and colors of Latin origin. In selecting the Spanish-American architecture as architecture as the norm of the scheme, the directors and managers were guided by a very happy instinct. They chose the oldest order of building known to the New World in

the history of the European races here; and thus, at the first glance, the whole group suggests to the observer the historical continuity of life in the Americas. They selected also the most picturesque type of building on the continent, and in reproducing it on so great a scale expressed the indebtedness of the executive Anglo-Saxon genius to the artistic genius of the Latin peoples who share with the English-speaking peoples the possession and the destinies of the New World. In the very structure of the Exposition the two great families of races are happily united in their characteristic qualities, and the harmony of their interests is nobly symbolized.

The first glance over the grounds discloses the simplicity and unity of the structural plan, but the symmetry of the scheme and the skill with which it has been worked out in detail become clear only upon more intimate acquaintance with the highways, byways, and out-of-the-way places of the Exposition. One must traverse the great area from boundary to boundary by land and by water to get a clear idea of the high degree of forethought with which the many-sided fair has been shaped into a whole. The entrance through the Park very happily strikes the keynote of the setting of the buildings, They are beautifully framed by nature; the features of the Park being skillfully introduced by a prodigal use of flowers, of green spaces, and of still and moving water. The Court of Fountains has a look of fairyland about it, not only by reason of the picturesque and harmonious architectural lines which mark its limits, but also by reason of the beauty of plashing water and rich masses of flowers. Through the great space occupied by the Exposition, lagoons make a continuous waterway, and by the noiseless movement of the gondola one is carried swiftly and restfully around the entire circuit; passing under arched bridges, between green or flower-crowned banks, through a grotto of very deceptive length; with charming architectural effects, picturesque views, bits of lovely color, glimpses of plashing fountains continually coming into view and as suddenly replaced by other vistas, pictures, and

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