President Harrison responded briefly, also to the few words of welcome extended to him by the governor and the mayor; he was formally introduced to Elbridge T. Gerry, chairman of the centennial committee, and to William G. Hamilton, grandson of Alexander Hamilton, chairman of

the committee on states. The party then proceeded to the carriages, led by James M. Varnum, chairman of the plan and scope committee. The governor gave the President the seat of honor on his right hand, and Hon. Hamilton Fish and Mayor Grant were seated in the front. In the second

carriage the Vice-President of the nation and the lieutenant-governor of the state were side by side, and Mr. Gerry and the chief justice of the United States facing them. The members of the President's cabinet, the associate justices of the supreme court, the general of the army, the admiral of the navy, General Sherman, Senator Evarts, ex-President Hayes, the general committee of the celebration, governors of states marching in the order of admission of their states to the Union, the national senate, and the house of representatives, and other bodies and invited guests. Many of these were landed from the companion steamers of the Despatch. The escort of troops was remarkably fine, and when the procession was formed and was moving through Wall street to the Equitable building, the chimes of Trinity church pealed forth a glad welcome, and the cheers from the dense crowds echoed from building to building in a mighty roar that verily seemed to jar and rattle the great subterranean vaults of silver and gold. At two o'clock P. M., the exact hour fixed, the Presidential party entered the monster edifice, preceded by the plan and scope committee, marching in pairs—the President leaning on the arm of Governor Hill. The first greeting of note was from the surpliced choir of Trinity church, stationed on the first stairway, who sang the beautiful hymn which opens," Before the Lord we Bow," followed by the doxology to the accompaniment of the military band. The President was then escorted to the elegant rooms of the Lawyers' club, and by William G. Hamilton, chairman of the committee on states, presented to the president of the club, William Allen Butler, and to the secretary, Samuel Borrowe, and others. Mr. Butler at once conducted the President to the reception room, Mr. Borrowe escorting the Vice-President. The receiving party stood on a raised platform, the President with Hon. Hamilton Fish and Vice-President Morton on his right, and Governor Hill and Mayor Grant on his left, while the cabinet and other dignitaries in groups were on either side. The governors of twenty-nine states were present. When the doors were opened, some two thousand invited guests passed rapidly by the President, and he succeeded admirably in achieving upward of thirty bows a minute-there was no hand-shaking. Then came the luncheon. In the great banqueting hall, which was transformed into a bower of beauty, around an oval-shaped table sixty guests were seated. Hon. Hamilton Fish presided, with President Harrison on his right and Governor Hill on his left. At the opposite end of the table sat William G. Hamilton, chairman of the committee under whose auspices the reception was given. Grace was said by the Rev. Dr. Morgan Dix. The members of the cabinet were at this table, ex-President Hayes, Mr. Evarts, Chaun

I. VIEWING THE PARADE. FROM A DETECTIVE CAMERA PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXANDER BLACK.

2. THE PRESIDENT PASSING THROUGH WALL STREET FROM THE FERRY, APRIL 29, 1889.
FROM A PHOTOGRAPH BY C. M. HOAGLAND, M.D.

granite portals of the Equitable building into full view of the waiting crowds in the street, and a shout of enthusiasm drowned the music of the band. He entered his carriage, and the party proceeded to the City Hall in the same order as through Wall street before the luncheon. City Hall Park was encircled by a vast mass of people who seemed nearly unmanageable in crushing to see the President, and all the great surrounding buildings were alive with myriads of lookers-on. The most beautiful scene he had yet witnessed was here in store for President Harrison. Two hundred pretty school-girls dressed in white, each holding a basket of cut flowers, were arranged in double line upon the City Hall

steps from the pavement to the rotunda of the edifice, leaving a narrow passage for the President to pass between them. As he slowly ascended the steps, leaning on the arm of Mayor Grant, he was gently stormed with the flowers-he and those who followed literally walked upon a carpet of flowers. At the head of the stairs, within the building, one of the maidens stepped forward and read an address of welcome to the President in behalf of the New York public schools. She said in part:

“MR. PRESIDENT: Through us, their representatives, 180,000 pupils of the common schools of New York city, 1,650 students of the Normal College, and 1,000 students of the College of the City of New York extend to you their cordial welcome. It is, we think, appropriate that the great common-school system, which is, to a large extent, the outgrowth of Washington's repeated recommendations to the newly born republic, should be represented in the public celebration of his inauguration as first president of the United States. . . . Could he look down upon us to-day, might we not humbly hope that he would be pleased at our progress and proud of our position among the powers of the earth? Would he not rejoice over our smiling, happy, plenteous land and its active, vigorous population, sixty millions of freemen, obedient to law and faithful to the sacred charge left by their glorious ancestors, the wise and temperate use of their liberties? Above all, would he not be filled with joyful wonder at the marvelous moral and intellectual growth of the people, and feel that these blessings were a sufficient recompense for all his sufferings and an ample reward for all his toils?

Upon you, honored sir, has been conferred the highest office which this nation of intelligent, self-governing freemen has in its gift; and it is as President of the United States that you have come to help us worthily to commemorate this great centennial. Upon such worthy shoulders has the mantle of America's first and noblest son fallen that we can repeat to you to-day the words our Trenton sisters addressed to him a century ago:

'Virgins fair and matrons grave,

Those thy conquering arms did save,

Build for thee triumphal bowers.
Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers,

Strew your hero's way with flowers.""

The Presidential party were soon stationed in the governor's room, on a raised platform, under a canopy of flags, and the school-girls were among the first introduced. A public reception followed, occupying a full hour; men, women, and children to the number of five thousand, many of them in their working-clothes, passed by and paid their respects to the President. He was interrupted once for a few seconds to read the following significant telegram:

"CHICAGO, Illinois, April 29.-Seventy-five thousand people of Illinois, in mass meeting, will expect some sentiment from the President of the United States to-morrow. Please telegraph us to-day. CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE."

At five o'clock the doors were closed and the President was driven to the house of Vice-President Morton, where he rested until seven and onehalf o'clock, the hour appointed for a dinner given in his honor at the residence of Stuyvesant Fish, in Gramercy Park.

The centennial ball at the Metropolitan opera-house was the great event of the evening. It had been for months anticipated, the exciting cause of unnecessary bickerings and heart-burnings, and its spirit curiously misunderstood, but it could not be otherwise than a great historic occasion. It was styled not infelicitously the "grandchildren's ball," for never before were so many of the descendants of the founders of our country brought together under one roof. It must have been interesting to President Harrison, himself the grandson of a President, to have noted how nearly all who acted on the committees in both New Jersey and New York, or were prominent in contributing to his welcome in honor of Washington, either bore the name of or could point with pride to some illustrious ancestor associated with Washington. Of the committee who went to the capital to escort the President to New York were John Jay, grandson of Chief Justice John Jay, and John A. King, grandson of the celebrated Rufus King. We have met the grandsons of Alexander Hamilton and Elbridge Gerry at every turn, and if space would permit we might fill a score of pages with the names of others bearing similar relation to the scenes commemorated. The ball was a brilliant social affair, not only in its immensity but in the high character of those who took part in it. It was unique and interesting from every point of view. It was a vast animated picture which appealed to every agreeable sense.

The entrance to the opera-house was through a labyrinth of floral splendor. The main corridor was a veritable bower of roses, azaleas, lilies, and ferns. No wood-work was visible anywhere. On all sides were blossoms of pink, white, and crimson, set like jewels in a background of evergreens. The stairways and lobbies were lined with laurel and arborvitæ, and roses were trailed in festoons along the walls and balustrades. The space left for the guests to pass was clearly defined by garden-box. A wide, green archway spanned the entrance to this flowery scene, the dates 1789-1889 being figured in pink roses at its top, and overhead at the entrance to the main aisle a gilt eagle was placed, holding in its beak and claws a large flag, whose folds were draped down the sides of the doorway. The walls of the passageway from the door to the auditorium were covered with roses. The first glance inside the auditorium brought surprise even to those who had seen other great buildings decorated for stirring events. There was a mass of light from myriads of incandescent lamps, placed so

VOL. XXII.-No. 1.-2