364 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
connected with a retiring room in the rear. The floor is covered 
■with Brussels; the walls covered with gilt paper, the ceiling with 
light blue, and panelings with thick Wisconsin paper, in imitation 
of woods, being arranged at the proper places. On the east side 
there is a reception room, 20 by 16 feet, for gentlemen, baggage- 
room, wash-room, and a reading-room, which is furnished with files 
of papers published in Wisconsin. A stairway leads to the second 
floor, upon which the main hall, running from north to south, is of 
the same width of the one below. This story is divided into six 
rooms, three upon each side of the hall, which are used as sleeping 
apartments by employes, in addition to which there is a business 
office.” Here, says the writer, “ presides the war eagle, ‘ Old Abe,’ 
a bird which can boast of a biography, the particulars of which 
some of the Badger State attendants will be glad to relate.” Thus 
does a stranger describe the Wisconsin headquarters on the cen¬ 
tennial grounds; and from this description, and an examination of 
an excellent picture of the building, in this volume, a person can 
form a reasonably correct idea of the Wisconsin Home, at the Cen¬ 
tennial Exhibition. 
SUPERINTENDENT OF HOME. 
The State Centennial Managers were certain that the people of 
the state would feel much better pleased with a building bearing 
the foregoing plain description, than they would be with one pos¬ 
sessing more costly ornamentation, and with less comforts. It was 
the comfort of the people that the board endeavored to provide 
for; and in this, from the many expressions of commendation they 
have received from visitors, they feel assured they were reasonably 
successful. Col. Elisha Starr, of Milwaukee, an old settler, well 
known to the people of the state, was selected as superintendent of 
the Wisconsin Home; a choice that was universally commended by 
all who visited the centennial grounds from this state. Mr. Starr 
was constant in his attendance; gentlemanly in his conduct to ail 
persons; and, in all things, devoted to the comfort of visitors, and 
to the interests of the state. 
STATE AGRICULTURAL EXHIBIT. 
Of the several state exhibits, a few words may be properly writ¬ 
ten in this place. In the Agricultural Hall, there was a fair dis¬ 
play of the agricultural products of Wisconsin. A stand was 
