Under like leading it built the "White City," the ephemeral city of the
World's Fair, in the celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the
discovery of America, and that splendid achievement of the black, unkempt
city back of it gave first hint, in the co-operation that made this
possible, of what a community could do and at the same time gathered to it
the teaching of the older cities of the earth from their long striving for
the city beautiful.
The city provides its own water-supply, it lights its streets, it has
recently acquired control of its street-car lines, and every passenger is
notified as a shareholder that 55 per cent of the profits comes into the
city treasury. And now under this inspiration and yet of its own will it
has begun a transformation of itself into the likeness of what it dreamed
in those evanescent buildings and courts and columns and statues and
frescoes out by the opalescent waters of its sea. It saw the reflection of
that "White City" in the lake and then the image of its own workaday face
--and it has not forgotten what manner of city it was.
Pages:
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395