The San Francisco call., 1898-05-10

NLEAR as an alpine horn the notes ofa
 bugle rang out, then a wave of the
 directors hand and the great doors >~H of Mechanics Pavilion swung open at [ o'clock last evening, and the Masonic Festival, instituted in the cause Of char ity, was on. In mystic maze Of color, in a fairy land one can imagine, the festi- val was opened and there it will close, but behind the doors will be left gold enough to almost if not quite enough to complete the home where the fatherlesS and the penniless widows may live in com- fort and peace.
 Shortly after the doors of the Pavilion swung open the crowds began to pour into the building, and by 10 o'clock 10000 people were grouped about the booths. Every one who came came in char1ty's cause and had either penny or an eagle or perhaps more to add to the growing fund. From thousands of lips came words of praise for those who have the festival in their charge, for the great amount of labor they had expended in decorating the hall and the booths and for their taste in that work. Overhead, stretched across the great building, hang draperies blue as the Armament and like the heav- enly bodies of the night golden stars are hung. Red. white and blue, blue and gold predominate In the decorations below and in between a Kaleidoscope of rainbow colors complete the picture. all except the life that is added by dalntily dressed maidens and matrons, who with merry laugh and jest sell their wares that the poor may laugh and jest with them. Out from behind the draperies of these daz- zling booths are maidens and matrons also. and those who come to look remain to buy, and not one plea for charity is passed unhOnored.
 At a quarter of s clock the clarion notes of a cornet told that preparations ha n being hurried, and soon from a distant wing of the building column Of march. the booths, made its appearance and started around the hall In and out in lines and figures they marched, and, dressed in white gowns with dainty caps, they made a picturesque but in no way formidable appearance, quite different from the boys in blue of the Fourteenth Regiment who arrived yesterday from Vancouver on their way to the front Fol, lowing the march Bennets band rendered a selection, Songs Of All Nations, ana then Charles L. Patton took the stand 10 deliver an address of welcome to the Masons assembled guests. The speaker asked all to be merry and accept the nos pitanty of the lodge and to remember the noble cause that had brought them to- gether. He spoke of the waifs and widows tion, and all evidently were in sympathy with his views if the applause that fol- lowed can stand as a basis for Judgment.
 Thomas Flint Jr., grand master of the Patton, and then the event of the evening took place. The children of the public schools. dressed in white. here and there a little relief in color. sang the national anthem. America" Half thousand or more childish voices swelled with the notes of the selection that thrills the pa troits' blood, and when they had finished 10 900 voices cheered the flushed and hap py singers until the Pavilion trembled. Dr. Jacob Voorsanger was next on the programme, and he delivered an eloquent oration on the cause the Masons were furthering When he had concluded the