The San Francisco call., 1896-05-02
Clouds That Darkened the Sky
Retreat and the Pageant
Moves Forward. ::
EACH FLOAT a POEM IN COLOR
The Procession an Immense Flower
Garden Awheel-A Carnival
=: Ball at Night.

SANTA ROSA, CAL, May L-"AlPs
well that ends we'll is the general opin-
Jon expressed on to-day's parade. The
rain. threatened to play havoc with the
whole thing this morning. 1t was pouring
bye o'clock, and an. hour later the red had
begun to melt into the yellow of the bunt-
ing, and Fourth street, where the decora-
tions were thickest; began. slowly but
surely to. look like q many-colored rain
bow. It cleared up later and "all went
merry as q marriage bell."
=. Butthe Santa Rossns felt like lynching
the.clerk of the weather abo ut 10 o'clock
III the morning when the first train from
,. San Francisco arrived and disgorged a
crowd of gayly dressed holiday-makers,
: who had not come prepared for rain.
. = There were umbreIIa-less ladies in lace
hats and spring suits and men in light
clothes and straw hats, and they all
looked in horror at the rain and began to
wish they had not come. Other trains,
with gayly dressed crowds, followed in
rapid succession, and umbrellas were
more in request in the neighborhood of
the Donahue depot thad nuggets of gold.
However, Santa Rosa has one charming
characteristic for rainy weather-its side
walks are to great extent covered by
oyerarching awnings, and before the last OF
the morning trains had been in ten
minutes the big crowd of holiday makers
had dispersed and was sauntering along.
:. for he:most part engaged in admiring the
-store-Window decorations, while the rain
pattered overhead but could not reach
them.
The store windows were well worth a
prolonged inspection, for the merchants
had Wed one with another in arranging
beautiful floral devices, both within and
outside their windows, In fact roses were
like silver in the days of King Solomon
so plentiful that they were nothing
thought of.
While the rain was descending hard the
carnival committee held hurried consul.
.tat1on and resolved to postpone the parade
until this afternoon. This was a nice
move, for about II o'clock it began to clear
up and before 1 O'clock the rain had ceased,
though the clouds still hung low. On the
whole the decorations were very little in
jured by the downpour.
= Esthet1c people said that they had
grown more beautiful, for the carnival
colors are so loud that they shout at one
another, and the rain reduced the ram
pant red, green and yellow, to delicate
pink. soft maize color, and gaslight
green.
The procession was announced for
O'Clock, butit started out punctually at 4.
Just as the clocks were striking the hour
the sun burst out from behind the clouds
and sent his first ra Us on the Queen and
her ladies, who were just ready to fall into
line. -...
In another minute the whole town was
bathed in. sunlight. The procession was
not avery long one, but it was one of the
prettiest that has been seen this year.
Seen from Fourth street, under the arches
and futtering flags, it looked like fairy
pageant.
The procession formed at Fourth street
and, Mcdonald avenue and proceeded
thence tothe Donahue depot. The marshals,
on black horses, gsyly decorated with the
carnival colors, dashed on ahead to see
that the way was unobstructed for her
Majesty and suite.
They kept the route so clear that every
one was loud in praise of Chief Marshal
George Hall, mis- chief aids-A. l.. Fisher
and Robert Ross, and their aids, who were
both numerous and efficient. After the
marshals came Rome ovieri's band, playing
lively strains, and the military contingent,
consisting of Company D, N. G. c., of San
Rafael, commanded" by Captain Elliot;
Company E of Santa Rosa, Captain Haven
and Company of Petaluma, Captain
Phillips. .
The queens float, which came next, was
the most splendid outfit in the whole pro-
cession. represented large, graceful
boat, the frame of which was covered with
white roses and snow balls, enough foliage
being left on the flowers to give the ap-
pearance of hlmy green. over the white.
The queens throne and cushions and the
harness of her six white horses were all of
apple green. A canopy of white roses
supported a large crown of pink roses,
placed above the throne.
Her Majesty wore her coronation robe
and looked very gracious and pretty as.
she bowed right and left in response to her
subjects salutations. Surrounding Queen
Laura were ber maids of honor, also in
their coronation robes. The horses of the
royal float were led by six men dressed in
white with blackened faces, but little Irma
Gage, dressed as Cupid, sat in front of the
car and ostensibly drove the milk-white
. steads with network of futtering pink
lines
'There.was scarcely float carriage, pha-
eton, buggy or cart in the procession fol-
lowing the Queen which was not well
worth :admiring. Those to which the
judges awarded prizes are worthy of spe-
cial mention, however.
Among the equipages that of Miss Mile
Mathews was considered to have well de-
served the first prize The turnout was
so covered with marigolds that no part of
the original carriage could be seen. The
pair of handsome black horses had orange
colored harness; the carriage-hood was
of orange-colored chiffon. Miss Mathews,
who drove, had yellow ribbons. and she,
Miss Irma Wood and the Misses SeawaJl
were all gowned alike in orange-colofed
chiffon.
Another first prize for carriages was cap
tured by Mrs. DR.. Wiley and Mrs. ]. w.
Oates and child, who were dressed in pink
roses.
An equipage that Augustin Daily would
have courted for his performances of "a