AT THE EXHIBITION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1137, 26 May 1911, Page 9

AT THE EXHIBITION.

CUEIOS, LEGEND, , AND WHAT NOT. It'will take many many dftys to discover all the interesting things that are to be seen in the Exhibition. Utility, no doubt, comes first, especially when he main object of the undertaking is to display the industrial resources of Hid Dominion, but the most fascinating place of all, to some minds, is the art Gallery, whero four or live cases of curios and treasures are kept. , • ' Some of them have to do with war, and one realises, soniowhat, how great a gulf separates modern war from war as it used to be a century or two ago. One ■was a very unattractive-looking, slightly curved, knife, or probably dagger, said to havo been used at the Battle of Trafalgar. Almost beside it was a curiouslooking n reminiscence of the same battle—and what made it far nio're precious was the fact that it was "said to have Keen used" by Lord Nelson himself. Near it again was auothor weapon—a' bayonet, rusty and worn, and with great bites indented in its edge, probably more, from time and from being buried for years in the earth before it was discovered, than from work. It camo from Akaroa—mute witness of' the early settlement days. . The girl- 01 the present generation does not go in for working samplers.' These belong to far different days, uriu almost, one feels inclined to. say, to a .totally different land of being. There is ono on view that was made in 1777, .and it is n mrdcl of exquisite work. On .it tho map of England is outlined, all llr\ counties, their names, (or part-of them) being worked in red letters. One can imagine the lor.g hours of patient toil that were spent over -it--possibly punishment hours, in those'days-of strict discipline. A piece of the apple tree that first set Sir Isaac Newton pondering over the great law which revolutionised scientific ideas is also to be. seen. -At least, one Is told so. There are several Indian treasures, one a beautifully inlaid work-bos of ebony and ivory,, with sides made of black and white quills, while not far from it is a sandalwood .tea caddy—a marvel of mosaic jiyfirklj;'-}.'- ,j. . . .■'•.'., In *'"ow : df the' cases is an exhibit of. Graeeo-Roman intaglii, over which one could pore for hours. The figures are perfect in their.grace and beauty, and ono cannot help wondering what has become of all the" beauty of form that must have existed to have given birth to such things. They are exquisite in noise, and limb, and full of the ioy of fife. The heads, profile and full face, are, some of them, wonderfully beautiful. Two very old Bibles were among the treasures shown, a.few prints, one of them being nn illustration of the first steeplechase in England. They are full of minute detail, nnd'aro yet another illustration of .the differences between "then and ..now." Possibly there is something value lost in these times. ' The namo of. Cawnpore can never be forgotten, and the drawing of tho house in winch tho women and children were massacred can hardly iail to command attention. Plain building that it was it unleashed forces that thrill even now.