Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1901-03-05
DECORATIONS GORGEOUS.
Washington Fairly outdid Itself Ii
Beautifying Its Streets.

Beautifying Its Streets.
4 The city of Washington today sur
passed itself in the quantity and quail
ity of it's street decorations in honor
of the second Inauguration of Presi-
dent Mckinley. No gala event in the
city's history has, seen such fine and
general decoration.
House Fronts Hidden.
+ Along the 1ine1pf march from the
foot Of the Capitol to the point Of dis
missal at-the upper end of Pennsyl-
vania avenue there was scarcely a
house front that was not almost hid
den from view bylred, white and blue
bunting. The stands that had been
erected from which to view the pa
rade, were more highly finished than
on any previous occasion. Being the
work of the inaugural committee they
were uniform in character and their
white. fronts and yellow facings acted
as foil to the brilliant display of the
national colors on the house fronts
around them. The whole route of pa
rade was gorgeously patriotic sight.
But it was at the Court of Honor con-
structed on Pennsylvania avenue be-
tween Fiftieth and Seventeenth streets
that the decorators fairly surpassed
in pretty and effective decoration any
thing ever before seen here in street
ornamentation on large scale. Here
the scene rivalled that of an Italian
carnival display in the era of the
Medici. Probably no other public
thorofare in the world of equal length
lent itself more readily to artistic dec
u; CIV nj, n
treasury to the state, war and navy
departments building. For almost a
quarter of a mile the magnificent
stretch Of asphalt runs straight as an
arrow due east and west. The $50
foot roadway and paralleled by stone
sidewalks almost half as wide again
shaded by magnificent trees whose
planting antedates the civil war. On
the south side of this court its length
is shared almost equally by the gray
old treasury building, massive and i'm
posing in it's severe simplicity, the ex-
ecutive mansion, half hidden, but
cleaning snow white thru the sur
rounding trees, and the state, war
and navy building, an artistic pile of
granite with row upon row of balloon
les and columes towering above all
tn surrounding buildings. On the
north side of the court two-thirds of
its length is occupied by Lafayette
Square with its equestrian statue of
Jackson set as the central figure in a
mass of shrubbery and towering
trees. Within this generous setting the
decorators had wrought transforms
ton. Along each side from end to
end were erected continuous line of
covered stands with terraces of seats
rising thirty feet above tn level OF the
roadway and transforming the court
into great amphitheatre thru which
the procession was to move. The
lower sections of the stands present
ed an unbroken band Of white, save
that in front of the navy department,
which was stopped by frieze of cross.
ed anchors and cannon In recognition
of the allied branches of the service.
| The roofs of the stands were support
ed by slender white columns, while in
front of the lower tier of seats ran a
lattice work railing of white backed
by old gold cloth that lent a touch of
color to the general effect. The only
other color was a dropping fringe OF
holly falling from the caves overhead
and Topped in sections below the rail
ing.
Magnificence Unrivaled
The setting of the court did not stop
with the stands The roadway was
| fianked on each side with a row of col
umns between which the troops were
to move. Eight massive pilons, four
on either side, marked off the court
lin equal lengths. These were copies
lof the decorations of the Alexandrian
/ Bridge at the Paris Exposition and
CONSISTED of :, nod act al fen feet on the