The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1897-03-04

AT night comes the Inauguration ball.
If the flower of fashion blooms in the
great pension Office building as it usually
does, II will be promptly crushed, for if
indications are not altogether at fault,
there will be a greater crowd this year
than has ever assembled on a. similar oc-
casion. The ball is always crowded. 1t
is an invitation affair to a certain extent,
but it is necessary TO hold ticket which
must be paid for 10 gain admission. SO
| far more than eight thousand tickets have
been sold, and this means jam of jams.
To appreciate how well adapted the
pension office building is to the purpose of
the inaugural ball, 1t is well to under
stand that the structure is built around
covered court. go by $50 feet and is
surrounded by three galleries suitable for
prOnenading. An around the court are
large rooms which can be made to serve
as supper rooms. cloak rooms, etc, and
to accommodate the press, the police, fire
! department. and the telegraph corps. The
| three roms of the commissioner of pen
sions on the second floor will be reserved
for Mr.. and Mrs. Mckinley. while adj
joining apartments will be allotted to
Vice President Hobart and the diplomatic
corps. a. -
Incidentally, there will be one feature
Of the ball which every one present will
appreciate. In order to avoid confusion
| respecting hats and wraps, each ball tick
II will carry a number corresponding
with box in the cloak room. Thus the
holder of ticket will place his belong
ines in his own box, from which, by eX-
hibiting his number, he can obtain them
again whenever he desires. OF course
there will be an awful Jana in the cloak
room, but the chances are far more in
favor of every one getting what belongs
to him than heretofore. Certainly it will
not be as it was at the last Grant inau-
gural ball, when the public took posses
sion of articles regardless of ownership.
The grand hall of the pension building
will be illuminated with countless electric
lights. Gobelin tapestries will adorn the
walls and around the room. will be dis
posed articles of furniture in the style of
Louis XVI. while Dresden candelebra
will add to the general effect. The dane
ing at an inaugural ball is a very labOred
effort. In fact it consists principally of
promenading. though at the balls opening
a vigorous effort is made to carry out the
program. Those in attendance will include
all the dignitaries of Washington official
life. from the highest to lowest. The as
semblage fairly glitters with the splendOr
of the uniforms. At first. the costumes
of the ladies are bewildering in their vari
ety.. but after they hav" endured the
crush Of the throng for an hour or two
they are but wrecks of their former great
ness. D..
When the hours become small, and the
sun is almost ready to peep above the
horizon, the bedraggled remnants of the
assemblage that graced the Inauguration
ball make their ways homewards. Long
since, the president and his family have
returned to the White House, and for the
first time since he really became pres-1
dent, the chief executive of the nation
has time to fully consider the real, solemn
portent of the words he spoke as, he
placed his hand on the Bible in the porti- |
co of the capitol Il do solemnly swear
that will faithfully execute the duties of |
the office of president of the United States |
and will, to the best of my ability, pre- |
serve. protect and defend the constitution |
of the United States" |