CHAPTER III.

ANOTHER DISTINGUISHED ARRIVAL,

Independence Bell— Its Progress From Philadelphia to Chicago— It Receives an Ovation all the Way —
Cannons and Speeches by Day and Bonfires and Red Lights by Night — The Venerable Relic Seen
by Great Crowds of People — It Shares the Honorable Welcome Paid to President Cleveland and
the Duke of Veragua Upon its Arrival in Chicago— Received by Military and Music and Escorted
to Jackson Park by a Procession Two Miles Long — George Lippard's Vivid Picture of the Revo-
lutionary Tones Whose Echoes Have Never Died Away — Its Sounds Still Listened to by the
American People.

NE of the most interesting events connected with the offi-
cial opening of the Exposition was the trip of the Lib-
erty Bell from Philadelphia and its arrival at Jackson
Park. Throughout its entire journey this possibly great-
est of all Revolutionary relics was the recipient of pro-
found homage and respect; and the thoroughfare over
which it traveled was lighted with bonfires and red and
blue lights by night and decorated with flags and bunting
by day. At all the towns along its way large numbers of
people gathered and made the event occasion for cannonad-
ing and speech-making. Attended by all the pomp and cere-
mony which may well appertain to the transit of this historic heirloom, it left
Philadelphia on the morning of April 28, and was carried to Chicago
mounted on an open flat car constructed specially for the occasion by the Pennsyl-
vania Railroad company. About the car containing the venerable relic was a nickel
fence with thirteen posts, representing the original thirteen states, each post having
the name of the state in raised letters on a gilt ball. Thirty-one polished steel bars
represented the remaining states. The fence was octagonal in shape, and its panels
were interlinked in a manner emblematic of the union of the states. The car was
attached to a special train conveying the members of the committee, the mayor of
Philadelphia, the director of public works and public safety, the city comptroller
and others.

It arrived in Chicago on Saturday, the 29th, and was received by a vast mul-
titude, dividing the honor of welcome to President Cleveland and the Duke of
Veragua who arrived the same day.

This great bell, weighing 2,080 pounds, was cast by Pass & Stow, Philadelphia,
and around it near the top were cast the prophetic words from the book of Leviticus,
" Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Early

• HOI

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR. 153

in June, 1753, it was hung in the belfry of the State House in Philadelphia, with no
thought of the liberty it would one day proclaim.

Let us look back over the hundred and seventeen years that have passed
since this bell rang on that Fourth of July, 1776, and gaze upon the picture of the
scene so vividly drawn by George Lippard in his " Annals of the American Revolu-
tion."

" Let me paint you a picture upon the canvas of the past.

" It is a cloudless summer day, a clear sky arches and smiles above a quaint
old edifice rising among the giant trees, in the center of a wide city. Plain red
brick the walls; the windows partly framed in stone; the roof eaves heavy with
intricate carvings; the hall door ornamented with pillars of dark stone. Such is
the State House, Philadelphia, in the year of our Lord 1776."

"Within the house was Congress assembled. During the session of Congress
this summer Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, moved that 'the reunited colonies are,
and ought to be, free and independent States' John Adams, of Massachusetts,
seconded the motion, and a committee of five was appointed to draw up a declara-
tion of independence. It was Thomas Jefferson that wrote this strong and forcible
declaration. And now it was submitted to Congress for adoption.

"The people knew that their destiny was hanging in the balance. All day the
streets were crowded with anxious men and women, impatiently waiting to hear
the decision. They surged against the barred doors of the assembly rooms and
stood upon one another's shoulders to peer in the windows.

"In yonder wooden steeple which crowns the red brick State House stands an
old man, with white hair and sunburnt face. He is clad in humble attire, yet his
eye gleams as it is fixed upon the ponderous outline of the bell suspended inthesteeple
there. The old man tries to read the inscription on that bell, but cannot. * * *
He is no scholar, he scarcely can spell one of those strange words carved on the
surface of the bell.

" By his side, gazing in his face in wonder, stands a flaxen-haired boy, with
laughing eyes of summer blue.

"'Come here, my boy; you are a rich man's child, you can read. Spell me
those words and I'll bless you, my good child!'

" The child raised himself on tiptoe and pressed his tiny hands against the
bell, and read in lisping tones these memorable words:

" ' Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof!

"The old man ponders for a moment on those words; then gathering the
boy in his arms he speaks:

" ' Look here, my child! Wilt do the old man a kindness? Then haste you
down stairs and wait in the hall by the big door until a man shall give you a mes-
sage for me. A man with a velvet dress and a kind -face will come out from the big
door and give you a word for me. When he gives you that word, then run out
yonder in the street and shout it up to me. Do you mind?'

" It needed no second command. The boy sprang from the old bell-keeper's
arms and threaded his way down the dark stairs.

154 HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

" The old bell-keeper was alone. Many minutes passed. Leaning over the
railing of the steeple, his face toward Chestnut street, he looked anxiously for that
fair-haired boy. Moments passed — an hour — yet still he came not. Impatiently the
old man shook his head and repeated: 'They will never do it; they will never do it!'

" As the words were on his lips a merry, ringing laugh broke on the ear.
There among the crowds on the pavement stood the blue-eyed boy, clapping his
hands, while the breeze blew his flaxen hair all about his face, and, swelling his
little chest, he raised himself on tiptoe and shouted a single word —

"'Ring!'

" Do you see that old man's eye fire? Do you see that withered hand grasp-
ing the iron tongue of the bell? The old man is young again; his veins are filled
with new life. Backward and forward, with sturdy strokes, he swung the tongue.
The bell speaks out! The crowd in the street hears it, and bursts forth in one long
shout. Old Delaware hears it and gives it back in the hurrah of her thousand sailors.
The city hears it, and starts up from desk and workbench, as though an earthquake
had spoken.

" Yet still, while the sweat pours from his brow, that old bell-keeper hurls
the iron tongue, and still — boom — boom — boom — the bell speaks to the city and to
the world.

"Yes, as the old man swung the iron tongue the bell spoke to all the world.
That sound crossed the Atlantic, pierced the dungeons of Europe, the workshops
of England, the vassal fields of France.

" Proclaim liberty throughout all the land, and to all the inhabitants
thereof!

" That iron tongue spoke to the slave — bade him lock from his toil and know
himself a man.

" That iron tongue startled the kings upon their crumbling thrones.

" That echo was the knell of kingcraft and priestcraft, and all other crafts
born of the darkness of ages and baptized in seas of blood.

" Yes, the voice of that little boy, who, lifting himself on tiptoe, with his flaxen
hair blowing in the breeze, shouted 'Ring!" had a deep and awful meaning in its
infant tones."

. Yes, sturdy John . Hancock, President of the Congress, had signed the
declaration of American independence in that bold hand which " the King of Eng-
land could read without spectacles," and the other signatures followed and our
Nation was born.

When the British forces approached Philadelphia in 1777 the bell was taken
down and carried to Allentown to prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy.

In 1781 it was placed in the brick tower of the State House. For more than fifty
years the bell was rung on the anniversary of Independence Day, when it was cracked
while ringing. For many years the old bell remained in silent dignity in the tower,
when it was taken down and placed on a platform in Independence Hall, where it
has ever since remained. The great bell was conveyed to New Orleans for the
exposition held there in 1884, and it remained in the Pennsylvania State building in
the "White City" until the close of the Exposition.

CLEVELAND PRESSING THE BUTTON THAT STARTED THE EXPOSITION.

HISTORY OF THE WORLD'S FAIR.

155