The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-20


 blue of the day sky, The vast un- broken eXpanse of this color forming the canopy of the ceilings made it ap- pear as if a part of the blue sky itself was imprisoned in the armory, while to the imaginative mind the white and gold which blended so beautifully in the wall draperies might have suggest ed the rising or setting sun, presuma- bly, the former to those who attended the prom.
 Neither time. money nor labor was spared in the decorations, and the re- suit was artistically harmonious and beautiful.
 How was the miracle wrought? c. H. Roster, the famous decorator of New York, was the magician. The materials with which he conjured up Fairyland were ten or eleven thousand square yards of white, gold and light blue bunting, besides quantities of ever green.
 The rough ceiling was concealed by a canopy of pale blue, shade match ing as near as possible the blue of the day sky. The tie rods, which in the past have always been an eyesore, were covered with the same light blue as the canopies above, giving a har- monious, unbroken effect to that part of the decorations which was never obtained in past years when they were wound With evergreen.
 The boxes were covered with white before background of white and gold bunting, and canopy of the two col ors extending out from the side wall formed a canopy roof over the boxes, the canopy being faced with a display of white and gold and broken up at regular intervals with fiounces in gold. The end walls were treated to corre- spond with the sides. the same white and gold effect being produced. The gallery front showed a gold background with festoons of white.
 The two bandstands, placed opposite each other midway on the sides of the armory, were covered with pure white with the exception of light twining of Virginia smilax to correspond with the boxes.
 A new feature, and one never intro- duced here before, were the white Dor ic columns placed on white pedestals at regular intervals against the white and gold background on the four sides of the room. These were topped with a trellis hung with green vines and smilax, producing the effect of the old historic pavilion on the grounds of the old Lee homestead at Arlington, Vir- ginia.
 The electric lights were so arranged above the white and gold canopy at the sides as to throw a mellow light, taking it's color from the gold of the canopy
 The lights over the main floor were enclosed In dainty white cornucopias to soften the glare and the general ef- feet of the entire picture.
 The stairways at both ends of the room were banked with evergreen, smilax and tropical foliage, the idea being that they should not appear at all.
 The boxes were furnished and ar ranged to suit the taste of their in- dividual occupants, and all were luxu- riously furnished with rugs, chairs and divans fit for an eastern potentiate. The value of the furniture used is great, one firm having an insurance of $2,000 on what it put in. The decora- tions took seven artists nearly week to complete. They were done by c. H. Roster of New York, one of America 8 foremost decorators, he having decor ated for the worlds fair, the inaugural ball and the Columbian celebrations, and for the junior promenade for many years The plants were furnished by Champion.