[Illustration: I see dozens of folks weepin' quite hard before some
on 'em.]

For these picters wuzn't picked out haphazard all over the country. No,
they had to, every one on 'em, run the gantlet of the most severe and
close criticism.

The Jury of Admittance stood in front of that gallery, and over it, as
you may say, like the very finest and strongest wire sieve, a-strainin'
out all but the finest and clearest merits. No dregs could git
through--not a dreg.

I guess that hain't a very good metafor, and if I wuzn't in such a hurry
I'd look round and try to find a better one, not knowin', too, but what
that Jury of Admittance will feel mad as hens at me to be compared to
sieves; but I don't mean the common wire ones, such as tin-peddlers
sell. No, I mean the searchin' and elevatin' process by which the very
best of our country and the hull world wuz separated from the less
meritorious ones, and spread out there for the inspiration and delight
of the assembled nations.

And wuzn't it a sight what wuz to be found there!

Landscapes from every land on the globe--from Lapland to the Orient.
Tropical forests, with soft southern faces lookin' out of the verdant
shadows. Frozen icebergs, with fur-clad figgers with stern aspects, and
grizzly bears and ice-suckles.

Bits of the beauty of all climes under all skies, dark or sunny.