Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/800

 THE LITERARY INTERESTS OF CHICAGO. V

HERBERT E. FLEMING University of Chicago

V. .ESTHETIC PERIODICALS OF THE WORLD'S FAIR CITY

1890-1900

"All this time there had been building the beautiful city of white palaces on the lake, and it was now open for the world to see what Chicago had dreamed and created. Although it had made me impatient to have Mr. Dround spend on it his energy that was needed in his own business, now that it was accomplished, in all its beauty and grandeur, it filled me with admiration.

"There were few hours that I could spend in its enjoyment, but I remem- ber one evening after my return from the East, when we had a family party at the Fair. May and Will were spending their vacation with us during the hot weather, and the four of us, having had our dinner, took an electric launch and glided through the lagoons beneath the lofty peristyle out to the lake, which was as quiet as a pond. The long lines of white build- ings were ablaze with countless lights; the mu?ic from the bands scattered over the grounds floated softly out upon the water; all else was silent and dark. In that lovely hour, soft and gentle as was ever a summer night, the toil and trouble of men, the fear that was gripping men's hearts in the market, fell away from me, and in its place came Faith. The people who could dream this vision and make it real, those people from all parts of the land who thronged here day after day their sturdy wills and strong hearts would rise above failure, would press on to greater victories than this triumph of beauty victories greater than the world had yet witnessed!" E. V. Harrington, packer, in The Memoirs of an American Citizen, by Robert Herrick, 1905.

Basking in a new light reflected over their trade city by the "White City" of the World's Columbian Exposition, the men attempting to publish periodicals at Chicago during the nineties opened their eyes to many new influences. First they adopted the appeal of pictorial art. The World's Fair was a magnificent picture. Graphic presentation was the form used to attract aesthetic interest in several journals begun just before, during, and after 1893. The copper-plate half-tone did not come into

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