Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1881-03-18
Inauguration Of President Garfield.
AN INTERESTING sTCTCU- PERSONAL TRAITS
OF THE PEEs1nLHT AID HIS WIFE.

a |
u The Senate was siil in session, but the
, business was Only routine ant. the chief in-
terest centred in the audience The Presl-
Dental gallery already contained Mrs. Hayes
5 in her customary black dress and while bon
c net, a little sad and rrgretful. With her
I was Mrs. Garfield who looked Unexpectedly
g pretty and unmi;akably glad. She wore
J an elegant costume of dark green velvet,
with mantle and bonnet OF the same, and
carried in her hand large bunch of JAG
queminot roses, matching similar bunch OF
2 lilies of the valley carried by Mrs Hayes.
t On the one side Of them the stern, strong
= face of Madame Garfield, on the other the
5 young girls Fanny Hayes and Molly Gar
field, too young 10 altogether conceal their
different views OF the scene, and back of
, them with several friends the four Garfield
+ boys-the older irving 10 look unconccrned
, and manly the younger tidgeting unmerci-
fully-made up the party 10 which all eyes
were turned the most of the time. Around
them the intimate friends of the old and the
new regimes, among them the family of
Secretary Evarts, and Mrs. Sprague-who is
an intimate friend of long standing Of Gen
eral and Mrs Garilell-looking frcsher than
before for a long time, and dressed as always
in faultless taste, the only conspicuous part
| VI HcT CoSluHlc btiHS inc DilllltHl CTluoou
neck handkerchief exactly matching the one
ostentatiously prutrudcd from Mr.. Conklng's
pocket.
Coming out into the unexpected sunshine,
one looked down on Il crowd of nearly
hundred thousand people, many of them SOL
diers, with Gen. Sherman conspicuous in
their midst, which Yet filled only the paved
spaces in front OF the entrance. At once
and for the first time the flat parade ground
effect to which the Capitol grounds have
been reduced commended itself, for the
crowd was dwaried, the snOw-covered grass
furnished relief, and beyond the still larger
bodies of troops and the terraced banks OF
the houses were in full view, framing the
whole into picture The platform contain
ed the reporters and Il few adventurous
ladies, conspicuous among them being the
tall figure and fine, eagle head of Whitelaw
Reid, escorting the equally striking and dis
tinguished wife of Senator Blaine. whose
official connection and long personal friend
ship for the new President and his wife en-
| titled her to prominence on an occasion
| which must have been anything but pleasant
to her. Immediately the high dgnitaries
came pouring out, much like school-boys, |
| actually treadng on each other in the door
| way. and crowdng AMI pushing the Pres-
dental party until it became necessary to
hand chairs over their heads for Mrs Gar
field and Mrs. Hayes. II was certainly
Democratic scene, and some aspects of it
unnecessary. Cheers of greeting rang out
on the appearance OF General Garfield, and, !
standing barehcaded, he began at once to /,
read an inaugural which seemed somewhat !
long and was not as unusual either as to |
matter or manner rs had been hoped. At its |
close the chief justice administered to him !
the solemn oath of Office. the whole of which !
unlike the Vice President he repeated, and !
then kissed the open bible presented to him. !
Immediately the crowd broke into cheers, ,
MIR. Hayes graspcd the hand of the Presi- .
dent most cordially, who turned, and with |
charming sentiment, quietly kissed his wife |
and his mother, and the Inauguration was |
over. Surely Il ceremony which could hard
ly be made less imposing, and with perfect /
affectation of Republican simplicity.
Not the least interesting part was the de- /
parture of President Gar..clI with Mr. Hayes |
in the Presidents carriage drawn by the four
bay horses used on state occasions the
salute of his escolt, body oi mounted men
from Cleveland, magnificent as governors
aides, with yellow trimmings and plumes
and the handsome array o1 other crack regi- !
ments who lined lis way and fell into posi-
tion after the carriage as it passed. For
more than two hours these troops. representa-
tive bodies from all parts OF the country and
all branches Of the service. rasSed in review
before the President at the White House,
and still at 8 o'clock the duties of the day
were not over. In the early evening Presi-
dent Garfield held his first reception, and the
vast multitude of strangers wandered about
the city seeing theillumnaionsan and gorgeous
fire works, untn at . -. q, carriages going
To ha hall roll |
passable, and the ayenuc itself almost
blocked by the mass of people gathered
there
At the Museum huil,iinE The scene WAS
truly beautiful. The building consists of ut
least dozen large rooms grouped round
rotunda, separated from that and each other
only by enormous pillars. This made one
scene of the whole, hut added much to con-
venience. while giving great effect to the
spectacle and much opportunity for decom-
tion with flags, garlands, etc. In the rotun-
ia the colossal goddess OF liberty held IN
electric Light, and stood above 4 mass of
ferns. palms and aaacias 1t is by no
means ''the thing 10 20 the inaugura-
ton ball; ; neveriheless hal the world
was there, Just to see what ii was like, you
know, and most o: ,..,' -..icials particular
ly the outgoing cabinet rrcornilcd the duty
Of attending upon the President; at such an
occasion. There was quite 4 sprinkling of
diplomats, many officers III uniform, and
some elegant dressing, but, rs 4 rule, the
dresses though handsome, had a somewhat
exhausted appearance The Presidential
party we're stationed in the only part of the
immense building pariilionod from the rest
and nearly filled with chairs. Into the aisles
between these seats poured the whole multi
tude; the result was pushing. struggling
T,,l I l.
composed it, and which the slightest manage
ment might have prevented. The crushing
was of little avail, too, for long before 10
O'Clock the President sudlrhly disappeared,
walking through the rooms, and aiterward
for short time re-arpcIIin" on Il balcony,
but greatly disappoin'inc the most of the
strangers who had come there to see him.
1t was however, "A m1st hcau'iful ball, and
meritcd the title of the mns sGcccssful ever
known.
1t goes without saying thlt Gen. and Mrs
Garfield come back to a very different Wash
ington from that they left six months ago.
But the people Of the country who have
heard the particulars of the Garfield menage
and the Garfield biography df aaaseam dur
ing that time can hardly realize to what an
extent this is true. Partly from choice and
partly, doubtless, from ircunlry reasons, it
was household little known 10 society. In
til within u very few years Mrs. Garfield
hardly went out at all, aud il is still true that
many widely acquainted people here have
never seen her face, OF at .hc most
scarcely known her. Ia Congressional circles,
however, and in many ui tine best houses as
well, she was to be mel 'llilc often of late
But anxiously rs the social world waits for
cabinet announcements tlie personnel of the
Presidential household makes little or no
~ 4 !