SECRETARY'S REPORT. 219 



that country love the " ahnighty guinea" a great deal more than 

 five times as much as the American loves the dollar. I am bj 

 no means alone in this conviction. It is the universal impres- 

 sion upon the continent, so far as I could judge, and the 

 universal experience, so far as I could learn, of strangers iii 

 England. One can scarcely turn round, either in London or 

 any other part of England, without having to pay sixpence, at 

 least ; and if he can preserve his temper at the manifest and 

 absurd injustice of many of the charges at hotels, he must be 

 a model of forbearance, and of the other Christian virtues. 



I lost no time of course in visiting the grand exhibition of 

 the industry of all nations. It stands in close proximity to 

 Hyde Park, but more properly in Kensington Gardens. The 

 outside of the structure is by no means . imposing, having none 

 of the architectural effect or the graceful proportions of the 

 beautiTul Crystal Palace of 1851, now preserved at Sydenham, 

 twelve miles from the heart of London. Like every thing else 

 here, it is grand in magnitude, and size alone has its effect. 



As we enter, a world of beauty strikes the eye in the thou- 

 sands of every nation and every tongue that crowd the light and 

 airy structure, in the gracefully arranged fountains, the innu- 

 merable cases of rich and splendid productions of art, genius 

 and industry. After spending half a day in constant circula- 

 tion through the endless naves, galleries, annexes and courts of 

 various nations, my sensations were those of complete bewilder- 

 ment. Think of sixty or seventy thousand people collected 

 under one great roof of glass, all eager to see, and others con- 

 stantly coming. Think of hundreds of "courts," all full of the 

 choicest specimens of the industry of almost as many different 

 nations, some of them of the most gorgeous description imagi- 

 nable. Think of one vast annex, where the machinery of every 

 conceivable kind is in motion, filling the air with its buzzing 

 and whirling, its clanking and thundering roar mingling in a 

 grand harmony of confusion. I am indebted to Prof. J. W. 

 Hoyt, of Madison, Wis., who had spent weeks there, for his 

 guidance in my first visit to the exhibition. 



It was only after going again and again, and spending several 

 days there, that I could get a clear and definite idea of the 

 whole, and carry off any thing that would be of value here- 

 after. 



