DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1311#0123
OF THE WORLD'S INDUSTRY. 95
Those who witnessed the aspect of the building on a crowded shilling-day will not readily
forget the strange and indescribable sensations with which it inspired them. "Who
can say that we shall ever be able to witness such a sight again? It is not a small
excitement which drags up humble provincials en masse from the country—which induced
an old woman of eighty-four to travel on foot all the way from the Land's-end—which
sent a bushel and a half of watches in one night to the shop of a single pawnbroker
in Leeds, and which so stirred the heart of private benevolence throughout the kingdom
that even our charity schools and the inmates of our workhouses, were largely represented
at this Jubilee of Industry. On the ground, therefore, of popular excitement alone, few
of us can expect to see the renewal of such a spectacle. Books may supply us with the
fullest information on the subject, but they can never touch the heart or stamp their
lessons upon the memory like a personal inspection of this wonderful display. For
ourselves we have always felt our powerlessness in dealing with the details of a collection
so vast and comprehensive. An Exhibition which embraced every kind of industrial
product cannot be grasped within reasonable limits, and a history of it, if attempted,
would exhaust the patience of the most indefatigable reader. The bare classification
of objects occupies eighteen closely-printed foolscap pages. The power of discussing
advantageously each division of that immense classification involves a minute knowledge
of every art to which the ingenuity and the labour of mankind have been directed, and is
plainly impracticable. For the determination of excellence in each department the public
may, however, be most safely and authoritatively referred to the awards and reports of
the different juries. There are, notwithstanding, general results which it comes fairly
within the province of the historian to point out; particular inventions, to indicate the
importance of which justifies a special notice, and lessons of experience for the guidance
of our future industrial career which ought not to be lost sight of. Many of these topics
have from time to time been touched upon. Others may occasionally suggest them-
selves ; and we shall endeavour to trace out the full significance of the objects that were
brought before us, and gather up the threads of interest which the spectacle presented.
A ROMANCE IN THE RUSSIAN DEPARTMENT.
"We have some doubts whether the Exhibition was ever so interesting in detail since
the 1st of May, as it was within two or three days of the opening. Two days
before it opened, the fulfilment of the pledge to the public appeared physically
impossible. The place was strewn over with fragments and saw-dust, and boxes and
cases, packed and .unpacked. Hundreds of fittings had yet to be finished;, men were
at work all over the counters, and up in the galleries, and on the roof, and over the floor;
and there were not twenty yards of the whole area of twenty-six acres that looked in
such a state of forwardness, as to justify a hope that they could be got ready in time for
the opening. By what magical arts all these difficulties were overcome, the confusion
cleared up, the hangings swung, the cases unpacked, the counters dressed, and the vast
superficies decorated, and put in order for the ceremonies of the inauguration, we know
not; and we are even sceptical as to the fact whether the people who accomplished
these sorceries, are quite aware themselves how they did it. The confusion of the last
two days was singularly picturesque. You could see the costumes of all nations running
about in a state of nutter and disorder, that elicited an infinite variety of tempera-
ments—the flash of the tropics, the languor of the south, the gravity of the oriental com-
plexion, and the rough bluster of the north. Some were impetuous and choleric; whilst
others, seated tranquilly on their unopened bales, waiting for instructions, looked on at
the surrounding riot with imperturbable indifference. The incidents that were every-
where disclosed to you as you passed up the nave helped, also, to give a sort of dramatic
Those who witnessed the aspect of the building on a crowded shilling-day will not readily
forget the strange and indescribable sensations with which it inspired them. "Who
can say that we shall ever be able to witness such a sight again? It is not a small
excitement which drags up humble provincials en masse from the country—which induced
an old woman of eighty-four to travel on foot all the way from the Land's-end—which
sent a bushel and a half of watches in one night to the shop of a single pawnbroker
in Leeds, and which so stirred the heart of private benevolence throughout the kingdom
that even our charity schools and the inmates of our workhouses, were largely represented
at this Jubilee of Industry. On the ground, therefore, of popular excitement alone, few
of us can expect to see the renewal of such a spectacle. Books may supply us with the
fullest information on the subject, but they can never touch the heart or stamp their
lessons upon the memory like a personal inspection of this wonderful display. For
ourselves we have always felt our powerlessness in dealing with the details of a collection
so vast and comprehensive. An Exhibition which embraced every kind of industrial
product cannot be grasped within reasonable limits, and a history of it, if attempted,
would exhaust the patience of the most indefatigable reader. The bare classification
of objects occupies eighteen closely-printed foolscap pages. The power of discussing
advantageously each division of that immense classification involves a minute knowledge
of every art to which the ingenuity and the labour of mankind have been directed, and is
plainly impracticable. For the determination of excellence in each department the public
may, however, be most safely and authoritatively referred to the awards and reports of
the different juries. There are, notwithstanding, general results which it comes fairly
within the province of the historian to point out; particular inventions, to indicate the
importance of which justifies a special notice, and lessons of experience for the guidance
of our future industrial career which ought not to be lost sight of. Many of these topics
have from time to time been touched upon. Others may occasionally suggest them-
selves ; and we shall endeavour to trace out the full significance of the objects that were
brought before us, and gather up the threads of interest which the spectacle presented.
A ROMANCE IN THE RUSSIAN DEPARTMENT.
"We have some doubts whether the Exhibition was ever so interesting in detail since
the 1st of May, as it was within two or three days of the opening. Two days
before it opened, the fulfilment of the pledge to the public appeared physically
impossible. The place was strewn over with fragments and saw-dust, and boxes and
cases, packed and .unpacked. Hundreds of fittings had yet to be finished;, men were
at work all over the counters, and up in the galleries, and on the roof, and over the floor;
and there were not twenty yards of the whole area of twenty-six acres that looked in
such a state of forwardness, as to justify a hope that they could be got ready in time for
the opening. By what magical arts all these difficulties were overcome, the confusion
cleared up, the hangings swung, the cases unpacked, the counters dressed, and the vast
superficies decorated, and put in order for the ceremonies of the inauguration, we know
not; and we are even sceptical as to the fact whether the people who accomplished
these sorceries, are quite aware themselves how they did it. The confusion of the last
two days was singularly picturesque. You could see the costumes of all nations running
about in a state of nutter and disorder, that elicited an infinite variety of tempera-
ments—the flash of the tropics, the languor of the south, the gravity of the oriental com-
plexion, and the rough bluster of the north. Some were impetuous and choleric; whilst
others, seated tranquilly on their unopened bales, waiting for instructions, looked on at
the surrounding riot with imperturbable indifference. The incidents that were every-
where disclosed to you as you passed up the nave helped, also, to give a sort of dramatic