Ipswich High School - Tiger Yearbook (Ipswich, MA)

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dined to laugh at the barbarism of the first World’s Fair, for in the 1850’s America was just beginning to settle down to be a refined and cultured nation. Slavery was still existent, and New York was just discovering how corrupt its police and politicians were and, in com- parison with Boston and Philadel- phia, how unrefined its mann ers were. This was an age of rapid development in machinery, the Mc- Cormick reaper and the first steam locomotive having been invented a decade before. It was also an age of social reform : the suffrage was enlarged ; reforms took place in prisons, asylums, and schools ; and societies for the encouragement of temperance and the abolition of slavery were coming into popular favor. An interesting fact to note in passing is that the young men at Harvard were now playing foot- ball in top hats. As a result of its amazing progress, America v as eager for a fair to show the world her great achievements and to out- do old Mother England. However, “The Iliad of the Nine- teenth Century,’’ as the Crystal Pal- ace was often termed, did not prove as successful as the people had hoped, and even P. T. Barnum with his unusual gift of enticing the public could not awaken an inter- est in it. — It may have been the leaky roof. In 1876, the one hundredth an- niversary of the Declaration of In- dependence, we find America seek- ing a fitting celebration for this memorable occasion. Philadelphia was the chosen city because here the Declaration of Independence had been signed, and here the Liberty Bell had rung. The Cen- tennial Exposition, unlike our first fair, was a marked success. Slav- ery had been abolished and the country was in the midst of a new industrial age. People gazed in awe at the sewing machines, the telephone, an instrument by which one could hear another person talk- ing way down in the next block, a continuous web-printing press, the self-binding reaper, the Westing- house airbrake, the refrigerator c r. the typewriter, and Edison’s dunlex telegraph. Little can we, who consider these things necessi- ties, realize how the people of 1876 looked upon these inventions. There was also a v oman’s plat- form at this exposition. Women were just beginning to assert them- selves. but their equality was not generally assured until the cloce of the centurv. The v orld still be- lieved that the woman’s place was in the home, and although about fifteen percent of the ladies were engaged in gainful occupations b ' ' 19

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RAIN Hear the rain drops on the roof; Dripping, dripping, dripping. Dripping, dropping, drizzling. Drenching the parched, dry roof. Driving in a down pour From the drab dull sky. Drumming, drumming, drumming. On the dank, dark roof. Dripping, dripping, dropping Down the drab, dull drain. Droning on the roof top. Driving, drizzling rain. Dwindling, dwindling, dv.dndling. Diminishing, drop — drop — drop. Dropping in a drizzle. On the drab roof top. HALLOWE’EN The eerie wind, the cloud-swept sky Over the trees, where the witches fly To keep their annual rendez-vous. If you watch close, you can see them, too. Holding their cats that howl and wail, As past the face of the moon they sail. And the townsfolk lock their win- dows and doors. While the v histling wind down the chimney soars. For every one knows that ghosts are seen On the dark, weird night of Hal- lowe’en. Graduation Essays American Progress in World’s Fairs by Alma O’Brien T he first world’s fair in Amer- ica was held in New York in 1853. It v as an almost exact rep- lica of the London Crystal Palace Exposition of two years before which was still attracting huge crowds. America discovered, how- ever, that it didn’t pay to copy or to celebrate European anniversar- ies, for the Crystal Palace was not the whaling success that it was predicted it would be. This fair was very different from the ones u’th which we are familiar. The exhibitions were all housed in one hup-e iron and glass building, but the roof, which ' as to have been the crowning glory of the fair, leaked in rain storms. We are in- 18

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1870, their wages were lower than men’s, they were not admittetd to trade unions, and they were regard- ed as intruders by all men. Transportation to this exposi- tion was aided by the new steam locomotive. Only those who pos- sessed strong constitutions and were not of timorous natui-e, how- ever, dared to ride on them, al- though they had been greatly im- proved since their advent in 1830. The Chicago Columbian Exposi- tion which was held in 1893 was a booming success financially. About this time there was a great western land boom, and out of our still sparsely settled frontier rose great cities and new states. Good times, after the panic of the 1870’s, created a class of “nouveau riche” ; and this class speculated widely in land, railroads, and build- ing projects. This was the period of the gay nineties, and the Colum- bian Exposition truly depicted the spirit of the age. The architec- ture was pompous and almost gro- tesque. Strangely enough, it was widely copied by the whole coun- try. The ladies with their padded figures and false curls gazed with wonder and admiration at the rows of electric light bulbs, a house run entirely by electricity, but still primitive when compared with the electrically equipped home of to- day. A very popular phonograph, the Pullman Train, the linotype. the expansion engine, and artificial ice also brought forth awe-stricken gasps. The ferris wheel, however, stole the show, and many an im- portant lecture and exhibit was ne- glected for a ride on this fright- ful contraption. This fair is said to have created a false impression of prosperity, and many people, after having visited the fair, specu- lated wildly and lost their fortunes in building projects. The western farmer and the eastern factory worker fought hard battles at the elections to gain their just de- mands, and the age became more advanced socially. The Louisiana Purchase Exposi- tion in 1904 brought that miracle of miracles, the automobile, before our eyes. A horseless carriage ac- tually covered the distance from New York to St. Louis without a catastrophe, though the driver did look a trifle the worse for wear. Another spectacular invention was the Wright airplane which, how- ever, was rather cynically received, as it had been tested only the pre- vious year, and the automobile was hugging th.e spotlight. Then, too, very important was the wireless message sent from Cornwall, Eng- land, to Cape Cod. We were feel- ing very important about this time, for we had just emerged from the Spanish War and could now boast an outside colony which was, inci- dentally, aiding our prosperity. 20