The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1889-05-07
THE GREAT BALL.
A Wonderful Scene of SplendOr
i'm New York.
The President and his Party
Present and Other Distin
guished People.


Ynrk in these days of celebration, the
greatest feature II ali is the grand cen
lenni al ball, which took place at the Mep
rrppolltan Opera House tonight. All thai
m rn-y could do To cary out the i',menss
SCI m- that was TO give a night of pleasur,
10 q 0D0 people was done, and the result
attained was satisfactory. There was Ger
taIn liule TO he wished for In point OF at
tendance, unless, indeed, one might have
wished from selfish motives, that half tn,
people had sia:d It home, snd vet il was
taken in all, night.long exempli6catior
of the old adage, "fhe more the merrier
The carriages began 10 roll up to the
Broadw y entrance soon after 8 o'clock
though the bali was pm down on the pro
gramme cor 9, and by $50 there were quite
enough people IN the corridors Of the great
building to have put many preteniiOu:
ball 10 the blush. And what beautiful
tablraux surrounded them on every hand.
You entered from Broadway into the very
midst of what see ned lo be an old fashioned
garden The outer walls of the auditorium
and The sides of the double staircase formed
lhree sides of the garden and vines and
towering shrubs ad led 10 the mural effect,
~hiie real IrnIt tr es set about In artistic
abandon ch ill-ngei one to dispute the
fact that oie had just come In from out OF
uoOrs. There were spp'e trees In blossom
and pear trees IN bud, peach trees with 4
strong suggestiveDess of fruiIfulness and
cherry trees with every evidence of reality
except the haIchet sticking in the base.
The mural decorations included ounces
and prunes, aud crap S, even, while lilacs
and smilax climbed the balus rades and
made up a continuous panorama of floral
verdure wherever you might choose to 60
la some cUrners of the corridors stood still
rarer ID ants, and ON each stair landing Was
a miniature grove Of beauty. Around on
the Thirty street side there we're at
least score of beds of plants, but no two
were the same shape. Here was q Tectangle,
there diamond here crescent of ross 6.
here an oval. here circle and there some
more complex design. One bed was ::sll
violet, another all geraniums, another was
a complete bed of daisies and still another
was full of tulips, while all around there
was border of dwarf shrubs and daisies,
and between the figures was room for
couples to ak in comfortable admiration.
A DAZZLING SIGHT.
The immediate entrances 10 the great
dancing floor was keep clear for obvious
reasons. But what sight met the eye
when once within. There is no word that
better describes the first sensation one ex-
perienced on entering the auditorium to-
night than TO say that il was dazzling.
Luckily for Americans the national colors
blend WELL Even black and gold are more
harsh TO the eye than red, white and blue.
The colors were still more scftened By the
fact that it was not all bunting that met
the gaze. The folds of silk and velvet aud
plush are more tolerable. From the center
of the dome long streamers radiated TO the
side walls, and all around the tiers Of
boxes, and balconies as well, there Was d
wealth o. decoration such as never before
had been attempted in New York. Little
knots OF coloIs, picturesque with trimmings
of red, white and blue, were so arranged that
the advent of pretty costumes themselves
benefited thereby. The fronts of the lower
tier of boxes were draped with red plush as
a backgIound To the Costumes OF those dane
ing, and were festooned with wreaths and
flowers, while great piles of flowers on the
front rails of most of the boxes gave color
TO the rumOr that all the flowers in New
York had been brought up for the evening".
There had been another story abroad TO the
effect that the decorations had exhausted
ten carloads of evergreens, 1000 specims rs
of szalea 5000 ferns, 900 palms, 5000
psnsies and about 10000 tulips. One had
only To turn from the contemplation of the
tiers of boxes aud look toward the stage
and the vast dancing floor TO see where sew
eral carloads OF plants and hJwers had
been besto Sed.
There, on the stage just before the cur
tain arose, was a most ma este floral pile.
Not only was this huge architectural
mass of q Dwers and plants, but their dis
position was so artistic a. TO demand adj
miration al first sight, that grew as it was
studied more closely. This structure
arose apparently to half the height OF the
arch. The base occupied sew
ersl yards of the dancing floor. but the
loss of space was atoned for in the gain to
the spectacle. Ii arose in several terraces
of different colosed flowers First terrace
OF red azaless, then q terrace of white ones,
then blue hydrangens, and then a repeti-
tion Of the three colors, culmiuating in a
beautiful speI Of dropping plants.
BEAUTIFUL EFFECT.
Nh CdCh bluC vi thlc
stood gigantic palm tree, each doing staff
duty 10 beautiful silk flag, while back of
it all was perfect grove CT pines, cedars
and other evergreens. Nor did the article
of the designer stop here. Poised over
this floral mound were q flock of snow
white pigeons, so suspended as to admit of
the inference that they had just left the
shade of that forest of green. The leader
of the birds held in Its mouth a wreath of
flowers trimmed with streamers, and Its
position in relation to the presidents
box was such that one could
easily imagine that the wreath was
destined to 6nd place on the head of his
Excellency. The presidential box was the
center one of double tier erected at the
back of The stage. The front was almost
covered with palms, with q large Ameri-
can eagle in the center surmouuted by the
words, Washington, 17S9-1SS9," in col