interest felt by the authorities of the Third Republic in the American Centennial. The building was designed to subserve the double purpose of a home for the French Commission and of a hall for the display of models representing the public works of France.

The Building of the German Empire was an edifice still more spacious and imposing. It was located east of Belmont Avenue, near the head of the Lansdowne Valley. The structure was an imitation of stone, in the style of the Renaissance. The area of the ground-plan was thirty-four hundred and forty-four square feet, being a parallelogram. The main portico and principal hall were very beautiful, and the walls and ceilings were ornamented with frescos in the best style of art. Here were the head-quarters of the Imperial German Commission, and here also was a suite of reception-rooms for the accommodation of strangers and visitors from the different parts of Father-Land.

The single word "ESPANA" over the portal of an elegant frame structure standing on George's Hill, told the beholder that he was at the entrance to the Government Building of Spain. The edifice was of wood, was two stories in height, and eighty by one hundred feet in dimensions. As in the case of the other structures erected by foreign governments, the Spanish Building was intended primarily for the accommodation of the Centennial Commissioners from Spain, and as a place of assembly for Spaniards and their friends who may be present at the Exposition. The secondary design was that of a suitable hall for the display of models and drawings representing the more important public works, fortifications, historical buildings, etc., of Spain.

The Kingdom of Sweden made a unique contribution to the Centennial grounds in the way of a Model School-house. The building was constructed and furnished in Sweden according to the pattern commonly employed in the better class of the national High Schools. The structure was of native wood, unpainted, but brought to a high degree of luster by skillful polishing. The furniture, apparatus, and text-books displayed within, were excellent in their respective kinds; and the building in its entirety was fully worthy of the ten thousand encomiums which were pronounced upon it.

As already mentioned the different States of the Union-excepting Maine, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Oregon -erected buildings on the Centennial grounds, commemorative of the history, public spirit, and resources of the respective commonwealths. These structures varied greatly in their style, expensiveness, and proportions-according to the liberality or parsimony of the sev

eral State authorities. The buildings of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kansas were perhaps superior to any others of this class in elegance of design and structure. Of similar sort was the splendid Educational Hall of Pennsylvania, designed for the display, by models and model-work, of all the methods and products of education in the Keystone State.

Of private structures the grounds were full. There was a commodious and valuable edifice situated at the intersection of the Agricultural Avenue with that of the Republic, called the Department of Public Comfort-a name significant of its design. An elegant building, devoted to the displays of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, stood on the southern declivity of the Lansdowne Valley, north of the Art Gallery. Southward from Machinery Hall a Shoe and Leather Building had been erected, the design of which was to illustrate the various processes and products of that important branch of manufacture. The Building of the Centennial Photographic Association was located on the east side of Belmont Avenue, and was a spacious edifice where all the processes of photography were illustrated. Several of the leading newspapers of the country had buildings of limited size, where their respective publications were advertised and offered for sale. Then came the restaurants, cafés, and bazaars, varying in their sort from common-place and mediocrity to a high degree of elegance and luxury.-An extended description of structures of this grade and fashion would hardly be appropriate in an abridged history of the great Exhibition.

This account of the Exposition buildings can not be better concluded than by a brief reference to the unexpected and extraordinary part which the Empire of Japan had taken in the Centennial. The Japanese buildings-two in number-though neither elaborate in their style nor expensive in construction, were far more elegant, tasteful, and commodious than had been anticipated. The Japanese Dwelling stood on George's Hill, north of the Spanish Government Building; and the oriental edifice was the better of the two! Spain, whose immortal navigator of the fifteenth century "gave a New World to Castile and Leon," did obeisance at the American Centennial to the dusky Island Empire of the Far Pacific! The Bazaar of these progressive foreigners was located near the Building of Public Comfort, and extended around three sides of a court. The edifice was of carved wood, built without nails, low in elevation, covered with tiles. The grounds were laid off in the style of a Japanese garden, and were surrounded with a quaint fence of interwoven bamboo. These buildings, however,

creditable as they were, by no means did justice to the enterprise and wit of the men who had them in charge. The people of the Western Nations have felt a keen surprise at the intelligence, public spirit, and progress manifested by the Japanese at the Centennial Exhibition.

Such were the buildings erected for the great occasion. And the time drew near when they were to fulfill their purpose. On the 5th of January, 1876, the formal reception of articles for the Exposition was begun. From that time forth the work of setting in proper array the almost infinite variety of materials which came pouring in. from all quarters of the world, was pressed with the utmost expedition by the Centennial Commissioners. A branch track of the Pennsylvania Railway was laid to the very portals of the great halls, and every measure was adopted by the managers which could facilitate the delivery and arrangement of the articles of display. Still, there were delays, foreseen and unforeseen; and it became apparent that a brief postponement of the formal opening of the Exhibition would be necessary. The anniversary of the battle of Lexington had been fixed upon as a suitable time for the inaugural ceremonies; but the work lagged, and the Commissioners reluctantly changed the date of opening to the 10th of May, and of closing to the 10th of November.

Meanwhile, on the 13th of October, 1875, A SYSTEM OF AWARDS had been adopted by the Centennial Commission. The members of that body-availing themselves of past experience, and improving upon the imperfect methods employed by the managers of the International Expositions of Paris and Vienna-presented the following General Scheme:

I. Awards shall be based upon Written Reports, attested by the signatures of their authors.

II. Two hundred Judges shall be appointed to make such reports, one-half of whom shall be foreigners, and one-half citizens of the United States. They shall be selected for their known qualifications and character, and shall be experts in the departments to which they shall be respectively assigned. The foreign members of this body shall be appointed by the commissioners of each country, and in conformity with the distribution and allotment to each, which will be hereafter announced. The judges from the United States shall be appointed by the Centennial Commission.

III. The sum of one thousand dollars will be paid to each commissioned judge, for personal expenses.

IV. Reports and awards shall be based upon Merit. The elements of merit shall be held to include considerations relating to