The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-03-05

Splcu0us absence Is part and portion OF a
arranged programme of avoid
ance.
The Former Exceeded Anything Known--The
Elaborate Display on Pennsylvania Avenue.
WASHINGTON, March 4.-With simple and
solemn ceremony, in the presence of all of
the wisdom and authority embodied in the
coordinate branches of the government,
all the great nations On the face of the
globe, BENJAMIN Harrison was to-day in
Quoted into the highest Office within the
gift of the American people. Gathering up
the reins of power as they fell from the
grasp of his predecessor, he took the oath
which bound him to the service of his coun-
try and charged himself with the destinies
of sixty million people. And SO it was that
Washington. the capital city, was to-day
the Mecca of liberty worshipers in all parts
of the land. They were here in countless
thousands. Weeks ago little rivulets of
humanity began TO flow in almost unno-
ticed. AS the day drew nearer, the streams
increased to rivers, the rivers combined in
floods, and to-day veritable ocean of fer
vent life surges through the city. 1t has
filled all of the hotels that form the regular
channels; it has overfiowed the boarding
house by-ways, and, finally, it has per
meated the sacred Businesses of the
private home. There never was
such crowd in Washington. Train
men could not begin to estimate the
,A.r c<>f; - 20
the river were laden with human freight,
and the roads leading in from the country
saw professions of wagons filed with fam
lily parties, all coming to see President in
augurated. Every available room in the
hotels had been engaged weeks In advance.
The boarding-foases had changed their
halls into dormitories. A great army of
soldiers had camped in the public buildings
Poor indeed was the private family that
did not accommodate its country cousins
A myriad of cots sprang up like mushrooms
over night and filled almost every place
that boasted roof and walls as shelter
from the keen March weather. 1t was the
reign of the cot; itwhitened every floor and
appeared In every shape, from the humble
cross-legged army couch to the new-fangled
two-storied variety, which some rare genius
invented to help out city in such emergen-
cies as these. In all of its many forms it
was welcomed and not despised by the vast
majority of the half million OF free Amer
lean soiourners in Washington. Great
numbers of them had not even this comfort,
and were forced to content themselves with
q mattress thrown on the floor, or an un-
easy slumber on a bill ard table, while it is
q matter of record that more than one vii
lage magnate repose1, last night, in state
in the cool embrace of the copper sides
Of a bath-tub. Many other persons, too,
more unfortunate, disregarding the kindly
precautions of the hard-worked committees
OH public comfort, came at q late hour yes
terday to the city, and. straying from the
overcrowded benches of the railroad station,
wandered about the streets at night
seeking for shelter. and places to rest their
trayei-worn bodies. Yet, IN all cases, where
to the indefatigable efforts of the public
spirited committee having their comfort in
charge, some sort of shelter was found, and
it may truthfully be said that Washington
successfully accomplished the herculean
task of receiving and caring for an army
of strangers twice as numerous as the popu-
latiOn of the cltv.
Surely there never was such another pub
lie way as Pennsylvania avenue-one so
we'll adapted for the elaborate pOmp and
circumstance of a great public demOnstra-
ton, such as the inaugural procession. On
ordinary days, when tree from ornamental
tion, the eye takes IN its majestic stretch
from the fair white Capitol crowning the
i've portico of the Treasury building cuts
off the view. 1t is noble sight. But on this
4th of March, 1889, when, as if to make
amends for the foliage stripped OFF by the
blasts of winter, tall trunks and trailers of
bunting sprang up and have vast bowers of
various-hued cloths and flags and stream
ers and lanterns. adding beauty to archi-
tectural forms already full of grace, and
burying in happy oblivion the palmer
homes and shops, this grand thoroughfare
of every American who gazed upon it, and
stamped upon his mind picture never to
be forgotten. On every reservation along
its length-in summer reStful spots OF
green-the turf and shrubs have been hid
den by vast temporary structures for the
accommodation OF the gazing public. The
sound of the hammer had been heard in the
land for days past, and the result, up to
yesterday, was not pleasant to look upon.
General Reynolds in bronze, appeared to be
making the greatest effort of his life to ex-
tricate himself from the massive timbers
that bound his feet and forced him to help
bear up the stand which was to carry some
sitting hundreds of spectators. The allegori-
Gil UeUTtS OH tuc ptdCC nlOuuiututJu JuSt btlOW
the Capitol seemed to have real cause for
their marble tears in the unsightly scaffolds
that encompassed them. But, over night,
Aladdin rubbed his lamp, and the good
genii assisting, when the day dawned all
was changed. and these same struct-
ures were draped with stars and
stripes and flags of every kind, and warm
hued cloths hid from Wow the strong but
homely pine, and they were beautiful to
look upon. Few. indeed, were the houses
along the avenue. from the Capitol to the
Treasury, not arrayed in holiday attire.
The hotels and other buildings of public
character were ornamented with lavish
ness never before equaled, while from every
window and cornice of the business places
and shops the national colors were dis
played in streamers, banners and flags. and
lines of beauty. Here the decorator
achieved his perfect work. Where all the
bunting came from was q mystery. 1t
waved from lofty poles IN banners Of i'm
perial size; it dangled from slender ropes
and wires, and thousands of little triangles
and pieces of fantastic shape; it ran rot
like the couvolutions of giant creepers