The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-10-04

nent, after his trip around the world, his
line of march was one mass of decoration
from San Francisco to Chicago and still
farther east Ornamental arches spanned
the streets, flags hung from every window,
festoons of bunting draped the buildings,
and portraits and medallions of the war
rior statesman were suspended across the
streets and, wreathed with evergreens, re
posed in the windows of prominent stores
The effect of this profusion of color was
inspiring but bewildering. No expense had
been spared to make the various display
effective. Every device that could be
thought of was employed TO do honor to
the distinguished guest But there was q
painful lack of harmony in many Of the
decorations. 1t seemed as If every citizen,
while apparently cooperating, had allowed
his individual taste to prevail, and artistic
harmony was often lacking. The fact is,
we have much to learn in this matter OF
street decoration.
Perhaps one of our greatest faults in
this respect is the too lavish use of the
stars and stripes in decorating. While il
is true that we cannot too highly honor the
national flag, it would be better to use il
more sparingly as means of decoration.
1t is truism in art that no flag is in itself
a thing of beauty. 1t is almost impossible
to artistically blend square or rectangular
pieces of bunting. The American flag is a
brilliant piece of color, which may be used
to accent artistic decoration, but should
not altogether take it's place.
England is fond of displaying her ma
tional colors, and carries the fad to almost
as great extremes as Americans. On the
continent Venetian flags are almost exclu.
siyely used for decorative purposes, and
they are the only kind which can really be
used artistically. They consist of long
streamers attached to embroidered ban.
ners. The wind plays curious freaks with
them, blowing them into all manner OF
fantastic forms that delight the eye and
impart an air of gayety to any festive scene.
Oriental rugs, prayer carpets and devices
of flowers, natural or artificial, deck the
fronts of the houses and give a most pic,
turesQue effect.
Some of the European fetes have passed
into history as wonderful pictorial dis.
plays. The celebration of the eleven hun.
dredth anniversary of the founding of the
city of Munich, about thirty years ago,
was one of the most notable festivals OF
modern times. Its leading feature was an
historical procession, headed by Carl Pi
Lofty, the famous artist. The costumes
represented every century since the found
ing of the city, and models of the princi
pal buildings went along with the proces
sion. The houses on the line of march
were hung with tapestries connected with
wreaths of flowers, and Venetian flags
foated from tall masts in the streets. AT
night there were Examinations, many OF
the pieces being elaborate designs of parti,
colored crystals. The celebration only
lasted one day. Every one who took part
in it bore his own proportion of the ex.
pense.
Brussels, the capital of Belgium, is wide
ly known for the number and brilliancy OF
its fetes. It's citizens are lavish in the use
of tapestry and flowers, and they always
intrust the adornment of the city to some
well known artist. This seems to be the
general practice in Europe. 1t is recog.