The San Francisco call., 1898-01-02
THE DAY AND
 THE WEATHER Crowds and Sunshine
 WelcOm e. the New Year.
Punch Bowls Filled and Often Enptied to Coming
 Prosperity.
General Shafter Was the Only One at
 Horne-He Received Guests at Fort Mason.

Bright and blithe as was the passing of the old year, it was no more genial than the birth of the new. Winter seemed to have retired for the time being and the city woke to as fair | day as she could we'll expect in the midst of spring, and the crowds which thronged her streets were of the dis tinctively holiday order.
 At all the clubs the best punch bowl, well filled and often replenished, stood on the sideboard, and the fragrance of the Christmas evergreens lent their memories of another holiday to add to the air of hospitality over it all. There were no special New Years festivities at any of the clubs, but there were egg nog and sociability and the reception rooms were gay with good wishes un- til second day had marked the en- trance of '98.
 At the theaters, for there were sev- eral matinees during the afternoon, there was little room to spare, and it seemed as if the old set that used to spend it's New Years Day in calling on its friends had substituted the play for the parlor, and being entertained for the art of entertaining others. It
 
 nees, at least that part of it which did not pass the day out at the ocean beach or on the driveways of the park or away from town.
 Among the special haunts of men the punch bowl was also in evidence, and sometimes it was multiplied by two and by three in order to keep pace with the demand for holiday cheer. The Tine" was a scene of the greatest activity, and after the theaters had poured their streams of humanity out upon the sidewalks locomotion on Market and Kearny streets became a matter for serious consideration. The home of Brigadier-Gener Shafter, out at Fort Mason, was the scene of a brilliant reception during the afternoon, when the officers from Benicia, Angel Island, Alcatraz and spects to their commander. Com mander Baird of the British torpedo | boat destroyer Virago and Captain Fred F. Feger of the British cruiser Leander were among those present. All the officers were in full dress uni form. Mrs. Shafter received the guests as they arrived, and after a few words of greeting they mingled to- gether and enjoyed a pleasant hour
 Among those who called were:
 Colonel Miles, Colonel Busby, Captain Starr, Captain Petit, Captain Brant, Captain Fister, Captain Gale, Captain Rogers, Captain Thompson, Chaplain Mo Cumber of Angel Island, Lieutenant Graf ton, Lieutenant Wilcox, Adjutant Benja- min, Lieutenant Bennett, Lieutenant Raudiez, Lieutenant Erwin, Lieutenant Benson, Captain NeiIl. Lieutenant Danes, Captain Pratt, Lieutenant O'Hara, Cap tain Potts, Captain Chester, Major Kin zie, Colonel Williston, Lieutenant Ran
 
 Captain Berkhimer, Lieutenant Foster, Lieutenant Skerritt, Lieutenant Wilson, Lieutenant McNair, Lieutenant England Lieutenant Woodward. Colonel Miller. Lieutenant Colonel Middleton, Deputy Surgeon General; Charles M. Candy, as- sistant surgeon; Paul F. Straub, assist ant surgeon; Colonel George H. Burton, inspector general: Colonel Moore, Major Field, Edwin O. Sarratt, Dr. Prick, Rob- ert S. Abernathy, Adjutant General Bab- cock, Paymaster John $. Wftcher, H. E. McVay, assistant surgeon, and John D. Miley and Robert Noble, ,aides-de-camp to General Shafter.
 The Y M. c. A. was open all day, and from 2 in the afternoon until late at night there was not an hour during which there was not some form of en- tertainment in progress. There was an informal reception in the parlors from to 330, during which music, songs and recitations helped to pass the time. Then followed a game of basket ball in the gymnasium, with tumbling and springboard work by the association athletes to add to the interest.
 In the evening there was a concert in the auditorium in which several well-known local artists assisted and which drew an audience even larger than that of the afternoon.
 Outside the army what little remained of the old custom ofmakins New Years calls seemed to have died from mani fion Nobody was at home and those who are somebody spent the day at thelr country seats, when provided with such luxuries, and when not so incumbered, they at least went away from the family rooftree until the evening shadows gathered. It was sociable day. however, if not a social one, and even if there had been noth- ing beyond the good wishes, the gay crowds and the truly Western sun