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James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.

July 10

The Tower of Flame

By Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909)

  • On July 10, 1893, the Cold Storage Building at the Columbian Exposition was burned.


  • HERE for the world to see men brought their fairest,

    Whatever of beauty is in all the earth;

    The priceless flower of art, the loveliest, rarest,

    Here by our inland ocean came to glorious birth.

    Yet on this day of doom a strange new splendor

    Shed its celestial light on all men’s eyes:

    Flower of the hero-soul,—consummate, tender,—

    That from the tower of flame sprang to the eternal skies.