Evening star., 1898-04-21
The Masons Will Continue Their En- :
terprise Until Wednesday Next.
CROWDS CONTINUE TO INCREASE
Mystic Shriners and Visiting Knights
TempIar Tonight.
\ HOT TIME CERTAIN

If some ingenious architect could invent
| building of the India rubber elastic sort
which could be stretched to meet unusual
| requirements upon its capacity whenever
| they were made. he would undoubtedly be
| employed to exercise his genius on Conven-
| ton Hall. The probabilities are, however
| that the utmost extension of which the
vast structure would be capable. even I'M
| der such remarkable circumstances. would
| not make it commodious enough to accom-
modate the immense throngs which come
| to the Masonic fair ard exposition every
night. Certainly no enterprise of the sort
in this or any other city has been mag
netic in attracting the masses. and the
longer it lasts the greater the crowds
| grow. By $50 o'clock last night there
| were so many people in Convention Hall
and so many waiting to get in that 1t was
necessary to admit the holders of season.
| tickets through the entrance to the armory
annex In order to accommodate the pur-
chasers Of :dmissicn tickets at the regular
entrance to Convention Hall. Three-quar
| ters of an hour later locomotion in any
part of Convention Hall and the annex
was almost difficult.
Civic ORGANIZATIONS.
| The civic organizations were the guests
of the evening, and marched to the nall
escorted by detail of knights Templar
| Band. The visitors included the United
| Order of American Mechanics, about a
thousand strong. under command of State
Counsellor Moore: the four local branches
! of the Knights of Malta, under command
of Commander w. Beach. and the Red
| Men. under leadership of p G. S. John c.
Dunning. and the Columbia Typographical
Union of this city led by its officers. The
| Red Men. about 100 in number. were at
| tired in regular Indian costumes, blankets.
feathers, bear claws, jingiing spang.es. and
all. and added most attractive feature
to the picturesqueness of the scene.
After tie visitors had marched through
} the hall and passed in review before their
respective officers, ranks were broken and
a delightful evening enjoyed by all hands.
Another one Of those significant :lustra-
tions of the enthusiastic patriotism which
inspires every American breast WAS given
last night, when Haleys Washington Con-
cert Band played The Star Spangled Ban
ner.' AS the strains of this great anthem
rose upward a large American flag was
waved by one of the musicians. The crowd
simply cheered itself hoarse, and all during
the evening outbursts of the same sort were
in order wherever the slightest incentive
was given for them.
The Mighty Mystic Shriners.
The Mystic Shriners will pervade the en-
tire enterprise tonight. Six hundred and
fifty or 100 of them. attired in full dress
suits and wearing the fezzes which indi-
cate nobility gained by a perilous trip
across the burning sand and the difiic Ilt
journey up and more difficult journey
down the preciptous slope of Mt. Ararat,
will assemble at the National Rifles Arm
DRY at 6:l5 o'clock this evening, and half
an hour later will form in line behind
Haleys Band and the Mount Pleasant Field
Band and march to Convention Hall by way
of 9th street, Pennsylvania avenue, 18th
street and K street. There will be large
number of visiting Shriners from other cit
les. and in addition to these will be the
Old Dominion Commandery, knights Tenn
plar, Alexandria, Va, and 800 representa-
tives of the communicates In baltimore,
W ho were prevented from coming last week
on commandsry night. and very SenSihly
selected Shriners' night for their visit. The
Baltimore knights will come in special
train over the B. and O. road, returning at
midnight OF course they have all pur-
chased round-trip tickets. knowing wsll
that If this important matter has not been
attended to many o, 1nem n"m woua re he
effect Of the fair upon their pocket books
had been realized.
Fair Notes of Interest.
Grand Commander f. b. Downham Of
Virginia was In attendance at the fair last
night in full regalia. He had expected the
Alexandria Commandery to come up, but 1t
had postponed its visit till this evening.
AS indicated in The Star yesterday, the
board of control at Its meeting last night
decided to keep the fair open Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.
closing at midnight on the latter day. The
books containing the records of the various
voting contests will be called in at $50
o'clock Wednesday night. The interest In
these campaigns has grown SO great that
the blackboards containing the tabulated
returns so far received will be removed to-
day from the corridor In the armory an
mex to the space under the west side of the
gallery in Convention Hall. next to Hohen-
zollern Castle.
Columbia Commandery booth contains
many attractive features, but none Is more
magnetic than Mrs. Spencer. who Is past
grand mistress of the occult art of PALM
istry, reading with fidelity the characters
Of those whose hands she examines. 1t Is
impossible for Mrs. Spencer to accommo-
date all the crowds who desire to test her
powers. and long lines of people await
their turns with patience that is more
than complimentary to her. when the sur
roundings are of such character as those
at the fair.
De Molay Mounted Commandery No. T.
Knights Templar, has been doing hercu-
lean work in behalf Of the temple fund.-
and still continues to receive substantial
assistance from its numerous friends.
Among the recent cash donations received
by De Molay were $50 from John r. Nc
Lean and $ each from P. f. Pursell, H. NJ
Cake, Senator Shoup. s. c. Neale and r..
A. johnson. One Of the most magnificent
donations yet made to De Molay was made
today when Brother B. F. McCauley pre-
sented to 1t fine bay saddle horse to be
voted for the most popular member of the
commandery.
The program in the exhibition hall of the
annex tonight will consist of various at
tractive dances by the Misses Mott, Leon
ard, Stevens, Diver and Hodgson. who
are pupils Of Miss Geddis; Juvenile athletics
by the pupils OF Miss Cora B. Shreye. a
scarf drill by ladies, led by Miss Bertha
Heinline. and expert bicycle riding by Mr.
Samuel Howard.
The following is the program for tn,
Old English Village tonight: Part 1, T:4J
p.m:-Exhibition of bag punching, Mr. Gee
a. Crawford. r.; Columbia Athletic Club
fancy dance. Miss Virgie Luckett: banjo
solo, Steve Clements, Burnt Cork CIuh.
wrestling, Messrs Sterling Kerr. jr.. of
fer Allegheny Lodge, No. 258. Virginia.
IEtermission. Part 2, Sis pm-Tricks
Black Bonnie" owred and exhibited bv
Mr Fl. o. French; acrobatic. W. c. Drury
Harmony Lodge. No. II; caricature sketch.
es. Mr.. Felix E. Mahcny: serpentine dance
Miss Mabel Thomson: fancy bicycle rid
ing by "Racycle'' Baker Intermission.
Part 3. s:46 p.m.-Specialty. Mr. Henry
Hills. Burnt Cork Club: wrestling, Messrs
T.ee md Scha fhfr. w T. op5 n