Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/33

Rh The architectural nobleness of the Fair soon became known to the nations. The ample site on the shore of Lake Michigan was transformed into a scene of more than Venetian loveliness. The buildings, planned by the leading American architects, which shelter not only the riches of the soil, the sea and the mine, but also the industries and machineries and inventions of the world, which are crowded with the jeweled and silken marvels of Europe and Asia and the floral wonders of the Amazon and of the forests of New Zealand, were made still more beautiful by the pomp of the decorator's art and the triumphs of the sculptor's genius.

But has not Religion built temples more beautiful, spacious and imposing, and far more enduring, than those gorgeous palaces of the "Dream City" which will soon fade away?

A series of Congresses covering the chief departments of knowledge was soon provided for by the wise and far-seeing managers of the World's Fair.

It became evident that multitudes would be eager to hear the representative leaders of human thought, and to meet the experts, the famous teachers and preachers, whose words had become a part of their nobler lives.

It was believed that these conventions and the world-wide fraternities of scholars, historians, physicians, reformers, artists and divines which were to be formed, would surely give an enduring luster to the Columbian Anniversary.

But the event which that anniversary celebrated carried the mind back to an era of persecution and of abysmal separations between the Christian and non-Christian peoples.

Many felt that Religion was an element of perpetual discord, which should not be thrust in amid the magnificent harmonies of a fraternal assembly of the nations. It was said that there could be no Congress of Religions without engendering the animosities which have embittered much of man's past history.

On the other hand, it was felt that the tendencies of mod-