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BUFFALO BILL AT BROMFTON.
In connection witht the American Exhibition an unusual attraction has been offered to Londoners in the large encampment of SIoux Indians at present located within the confines of the extended area which is occupied by the former project. This is Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, organized by the "Hon." W.F. Cody, whose sobriquet stands at the head of this article. After being in course of erection for some time, the American Exhibition was formally opened last Monday, many thousands of people being present. So far as attractiveness goes, however, the Exhibition compared with the startling realism of the picturesque appearance of the Buffalo Bill contingents, whose white tents, with their curiously coloured totems, and their semi-savage looking appointments, seem in curious contrast with such modern appliances of civilization as underground railways or the fashionably-dressed habitues of one of London's most fashionable suburbs. A large company was bidden to the opening of the Exhibition proper, which preceded Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. As is customary upon such occasions, a pleasant lunch was given by the executive, after which the visitors adjourned to a platform erected by Washington-avenue, the name of the location in the Exhibition where the function was held. Amongst those present were Alderman Sir John Staples, the always-youthful Sir John Bennet, Sir H.C. Knight, Colonel Hughes-Hallet, M.P., Cardinal Manning, and the Venerable Archdeacon Farrar, D.D. After the Grenadier Guards' band had played "Hail, Columbia," Dr. Farrar read a prayer, a poceeding which appeared to be almost painfully artificial, the crowd barely preserving a decent silence, and the clergyman, as he read the works from broad slips of blue paper, really seemed to be acting a part; and at this point, as throughout the whole of the proceedings connected with the opening itself, an air of unreality prevailed. Upon the conflusion of the prayer, which was followed by some verses from the First Book of Chronicles, and a repition of the Lord's Prayer, the Grenadiers played the National Anthem. Lord Ronald Gower next stepped to the front; and instead of addressing a few manly and hearty words to the assembly, proceeded with great deliberation to drone forth a set oration, in which he said he was speaking on behalf of the executive council of Englishmen who had been formed to welcome the American guests. If the welcome was not more warn than Lord Ronald Gower's speech, it is highly probable that no American of standing would care to have anything to do with it. After Lord Ronald had mangaed, by the help of keeping his eyues carefully upon the text, to get through his task, the president of the Exhibition, Colonel Henry Russell, responded in a manly and vigorous way. Colonel Russel said: -- "In the name of those who are here from America with their products and inventions, I thank you for your generous welcome, and, through you, I beg to thank all the many Englishmen, high and low, for the encouragement they have given us in our effort to make a fair show ofYankee industries. When our forefathers two and three hundred years ago set sail from these shores in search of freer lives and opportumities, they may have dreamed that their sons would some day be back to claim a place in the busy markey of the world, but never could they have realized the generous hospitality and brotherly kindness with which we have been received. It would be an easy task to lay before you figures showing the enormous yearly product of our country and prove that her resources still underground are abundant to tempt many generation of Englishmen to explore and develop lands yet untouched; but our object here is merely to show what improvement we have made since the days when our ancestors reclaimed the American forests from the families of the very red men who are with us here. Sincerely we thank you, and cordially do we invite you, one and all, to join us in the future development of the New World."
Upon the conclusion of Colonel Russell's speech, Mademoiselle Lilian Nordien, the famous prima donna associated with Mr. Mapleson's Royal Italian Opera, made her appearance upon the platform, and was loudly cheered. After being presented with a superb bouquet of azaleas and white roses, the cantatrice sand with charming feeling "The Star-spangled Banner," and in response to the applause which it evoked gave a verse of "Rule Britannia," the notes in the upper register being delivered with a crystalline resonancy, the effect of which could be heard in the most distant corners of the building. Mr. John R. Whitley, the director general of the Exhibition, next made his appearance, and treated those present to a dissertation, which he also, like Lord Ronald Gower, carefully read. And after all these essays had been duly given, it was quite pleasant to hear the familiar air of "Dixey's Land," after which Colonel Russell declared the Exhibition open. Finally, came a few extracts from "Yankee Doodle," while, the ceremonial business of the day being over, the crowd adjourned with some haste to the huge stand, which accommodates some 20,000 people, and which overlooks the vast area in which Buffalo Bill's troupe gave their performances. In fact, so dull and so dreary was the make believe speech making, that long before Mr. Whitley had concluded his remarks nine-tenths of the audience were racing rapidly upstairs, ready to cross the bridge which leads to the other part of the grounds. Here a word. The pitch at this flight of steps is most dangerously steep. In the event of a panic occurring with a crowded audience, it would be, to all appearance, practically impossible for a large number of people to walk swiftly down them, and the directors of an Exhinition, which is otherwise remarkable well provided with almost every modern appliance pertaining to the comfort and security of those who patronise it should vertainly in this respect make some slight structural alterations. On arriving within the arena set apart for Buffalo Bill's show, a most pituresque spectacle presented itself. Two-thirds round the expanse set apart for the evolutions of the redskins, the Western cowboys, and their various cavaclades, has been constructed an enormous range of seats, which rise tier about tier. This was absolutely crowded with a dense mass of spectators. On one side may be seen --- and the make-believe is most perfect--- the blue skies of California, its rocky canons, and its waving pine-trees. Punctually to the moment appointed, what is quaintly termed the "orator" of the show, Mr. Frank Richmond, made his appearance in the stand, constructed out of rough-hewn pieces of timber, and proceeded clearly, in a voice which reached every individual, to describe the various items of the performance. Evidently, wherever Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show has travelled, it has not been the custom to purchase programmes, and this verbal indication in the several parts of the entertainment was as welcome in its vigorous tenseness as the previou speech reading had been wearisome. At the far end of the ground, yet apart from the exercises of the SIoux and their confreres, a long procession of braves and Indian warriors was now seen making its appearance, gaily garbed in mocassins and feathers, daubed from head to heel in hideous green or yellow ochre, and presenting a fluttering of finery, the chief artistic merit of which was its violent contrast of tint. As the redskins entered the enclosure, and while the long line of riders and steeds was still coming into the field of view, they wheeled sharply round, and the various bands of colour seen as the whole tribe deployed was striking in the extreme.