Everything that comes to Philadelphia, save a little from Canada, will
traverse the sea. We are assuming the metropolitan character, whereto
isolation is a step. All the imperial centres, old and new, have been
seated on islands or promontories. Look at England, Holland, Venice,
Carthage, Syracuse, Tyre, Rome and Athens. Shall we add New York and
San Francisco--little wards as they are of a continental metropolis?

A unanimous, graceful and cordial bow of acceptance having thus swept
round the globe in response to the invitation of the youngest
member of the family, let us glance at the preparations made for the
comfortable entertainment of so august an assemblage. An impression
that its host was not yet fully out of the woods, that the
chestnut-burs were still sticking in his hair, and that the wolf, the
buffalo and the Indian were among his intimate daily chums, may have
tended to modify its anticipations of a stylish reception. The rough
but hearty ways of a country cousin who wished to retaliate for city
hospitalities probably limited the calculations of the expectant
world. This afforded the cousin aforesaid opportunity for a new
surprise, of which he fully determined to avail himself. It is not
his habit to aim too low, and that was not his failing in the present
instance.

[Illustration: HON. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY, PRESIDENT OF THE CENTENNIAL
COMMISSION.]

The edifices, according to the original plan, were to excel their
European exemplars not less in elegance and elaboration than in
completeness for their practical purposes, in adaptation and in
capacity. The uncertainty, however, of success in raising the
necessary funds in time enforced the abandonment of much that was