The Progress., 1892-08-06

A a Drel minary to this, the next presi- !
dent snoulu reaG his inaugural address
with his face turned to the west instead
of TO the east, looking toward the great,
mass of people who have chosen him, not |
away from them. Fortunately the new |
improvement in the Capitol-the terrace |
of which have spokcn-provides place |
for the inaugural address than which |
nothing could be more magnificent or |
beautiful. Let the president and his inn |
mediate retinue take their stand in the |
porticO which opens from the congress
sional library. In front of them, to the
right and left, is the great terrace, on
which temporary seats could be provided
for 20, 600 people, all within view and hear
ing. Over this assemblage 1t would he
m easy matter to erect a temporary roof
of canvas or boards, thus protecting the
president and his auditors of distinguished
men and women from the seventies of the
weather.
1t has become tradition In Washington
that March 4 invariably ush"rs in rain or
snow storms. When President Harrison
was inaugurated he stood for half an hour
In cold, beating rain with uncovered
head. Thousands Of the attending crowd
were wet to the skin and chilled to the
marrow. A number of well known men
lost their lives from disorders directly
trnceable to this exposure, and hundreds
of lives must directly or indirectly have
been sacrificed to the rapacity of the ele-
meuts on this occasion.
l,eyond the terrace is Capitol park, in
which 10000 troops could mass, and be-
yund the park the broad avenue which
leads to the White House, Il mile and n
half distant. The western front of the
Capitol is preemincntly the place for the
inaugural ceremonies, and unless tradition
prove too strong the next president Will
| there take his stand when he reads his first
| official utterauce to the American people.
Speaking of the spot at which new presi-
| dents are inaugurated reminds me of the
remarkable curiosity displayed by visitors
! in the city concerning the scenes of the two
| great presidential tragedies. 1t is now
more than a quarter Of century since
Lincoln was shot in Ford's 1heater, but tC
| this day thousands of visitors 10 the city
take the trouble to hunt up the weather
worn old building, in which il skeleton stll
fingers and will always linScr till th'
march Of city improvement does what Sec
| retary Stanton threatened to do and r2Ze
| the structure TO the ground. Even thei
| and for century to come dare say th
new and grander building which takes it
place will he known far and near as stand
ing on the site formerly occupied by Ford
theatcr. in which Wilkes Booth shot Abru
ham Lircoln."
Nothing fingers so long in the popula
imagination as the memories and associa
tions of some great tragedy. OF this W
have daily evidence in Washington. /
Statuary hall, where the house OF repro
sentativcs met so many years, no on
thinks Of the chair in which Henry Cla
, sat while speaker or Of the great orators
orations and legislative acts of the pas'
but every one asks TO be shown the spot Il
which John Quincy Adams fell TO the iioc
dying And, having seen this spot, no
, marked by brass star, they want to 1
, taken to the clerk Office near by where
tablet on the wall tells us Adams breathe
! his last
1t is so with this old theater. Not ainC
: Booths fateful shot startled the audient
that dreadful night has the building bee
: used for the purpose for which 1t ";
E erected. No play tragedy has been pc