tic not visible from the
sidewalk. Below the street there is a basement and a sub-cellar, so that
the monster building is really eight stories in height. There is no
attempt at outward display, the fine effect of the edifice being due to
its vast size and its symmetry. The interior is as simple. The floors
are uncarpeted, the shelves are plain, as are the counters and the
customers' seats. The centre of the building is occupied by a large
rotunda extending from the ground floor to the roof. All the upper
floors are open around this rotunda. Two flights of massive stairs lead
to the upper floors, and there are three handsome elevators for the use
of customers who do not care to make the journey on foot. Three other
elevators on the Ninth street side are used for carrying goods. Each of
the floors covers an area of about two acres, so that the whole
establishment, including the cellar, occupies sixteen acres of space.

The cellar contains coal bins with a capacity of 500 tons. Close by are
eight Harrison boilers of fifty horse power each, used for operating the
steam engines and warming the building with steam. There are in all ten
steam engines located in this immense cellar. These are used for running
the elevators, for working seven steam pumps, for feeding the boilers,
and for forcing water up to the top floor, which is used as a laundry.
In a certain part of the cellar is located the electrical battery, by
means of which the gas jets in the building are lighted. Here are also
rooms for the storage of goods.

The basement is occupied by the Carpet-making and Parcel departments. It
is the largest room in the world, and is unbroken save by the light
pillars which support the floors above. The Carpet-making department is
interesting. The house deals largely in carpets, and one is surprised at
the smallness of the force employed down here. The carpets purchased are
cut, and the pieces matched as they lie on the floor by women. Then they
are placed on a wide table, forty feet long, and are sewn together by a
machine worked by steam. This machine moves along the edge of the table,
and the man operating it rides on it. His only care is to hold the parts
to be sewn perfectly even, and the machine sews a seam of forty feet in
from three to five minutes.

In the centre of the basement floor is a space about thirty feet square,
enclosed by counters. This is the Parcel department. All purchases to
be sent