The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-05

their own hall at the other end of the capitol, headad by their redoubtaple leader, Speaker Cannon. with all the assurance of an invading army. and when the south doors of the Senate chamber swung open and Assistant Sergeant-at-Arms Layton announced .The Speaker and the House of Repre- sentatives,". they walked proudly to the seats assigned them on the Democratic side of the chamber. accepting as their due the honor done them when, upon the stroke of the gaval of the president pro tempore, the Senate and its visi- tors rose as one person to welcome them.
 The Speaker had scarcely taken his seat at the side of the presiding off, cer and Senators and guests had not more than resumed their chairs, when Stewart. also assistant sergeant-at- arms. heralded in genuine feudal style the approach of the diplomats headed by Count Cassini, dean of the corps.
 Ambassadors and Ministers.
 'srhe ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary.' he said In ringing tones, and again. upon the fall of the favel all came to standing posture. which Sergeant-at-Arms Ransdell es- corted the foreign dignitaries to their places fronting the presiding officer The foreigners attracted much atten- tion, and the brilliancy of their dress and the distinction of the gentlemen themselves, were the subjects of much admiring comment.
 Events followed quickly. From this time until Senator Fairbanks began his address the Senators and their visitors were kept quite constantly en- gagged in rising to receive newcomers. The ministers were sharply followed by the Supreme Court. officially gowned in long Monkish robes and with Chief Justice Fuller. distinguished in appear ance. leading the van. The judiciary was in turn succeeded by Lieu tenant General Chaffee. Chief of Staff, and his aid. who were separately an- nounced as the representatives of the two warlike arms of the government.
 Gradually the hall was filled, and the scene had become more and more anil mated. until for the last time in con- nection with the occasion. the doors were opened to admit a guest. He was the guest of guests--the President the President and the President elect, Theodore Roosevelt. 'The President and his Cabinet" proclaimed Sergeant at-Arms Ransdell in well modulated phrase.
 Again all were on their feet, and again was attention sharply fixed. Tn the entire assemblage there were com paratively few who could not boast personal acquaintance with the Chief Executive. but this fact did not pre- vent a general craning of necks to ob- serve him on this. the crowning occa- sion in his career
 President Enters.
 All eyes were turned upon his as. accompanied by the Congressional Committee and the members of the of- ficial household. he walked down the center aisle of the chamber in the wake of the conveying Sergeant att Arms, who placed him in a big red leather chair immediately in front of the presiding officers desk, where, him- self an interested spectator, and still fianked by the Committee on Arrange monts, he sat facing the other specta- tors. He had gone directly to lis seat looking scarcely to the right or to the left, but evidently never un- mindful of the splendid scene about him. He has once before been a par ticipant in an inaugural ceremony but then only as the recipient of second honors. He was there now as the head of the people of the nation, and by right of their choice. His manner was that of a man who appreciates respon- abilities and at the same time feels capable of assuming themself conscious and self-reliant, the object of all obser- vation and alive to all surroundings.
 But the Chief Executive had very little time for reflection. Inauguration time had arrived. The man who had shared with him the honors of the last election had been ushered in in the per- son of Senator Fairbanks, and was even now standing where on the fourth of March, 1901, MT. Roosevelt himself had stood, to take the oath of the Vice. Presidential office. Senator Fairbanks had been escorted by the committee on to the platform on which sat President Pro Tempore Frye and Speaker Cannon, the former of whom was on the eve of performing the last act of his present term in that office by administering the oath which would ident. but also the permanent presid- ing officer of the Senate.
 Transformation of Fairbanks.
 Senator Frye does all things with and decision. The two of- ficial time pieces were agreed in pro- the hour of 12, when, accord Ing to the requirements made and pro- vided. the Fifty-eighth Congress must come to a close. the Fifty-ninth Con gross be started on its career, and the new presiding officer introduced and in- stalled. MT. Frye had already said farewell; the visitors were in their seats. Not a moment was lost. Rising In front of the slender but towering form of his successor, the President pro tempore repeated to him in the form of an official oath the ew impressive words which transformed the Indiana leader from the position of a Senator to that of President of the United States. The ceremony did not con sume to exceed two minutes of time, but 1t was conducted with such dig nity and solemnity as to make last Ing impression on all present. Profound stiffness characterized the dense as- while it was In progress, none apparently failing to appreci- ate that an act of sacred national im- port was being performed. The oath the two leading participants shook hands cordially, and MT. Frye spoke A few hurried words of congrat- ulation. With a last positive thump of the gaveI the Maine Senator relin- luished his position as President pro tempore by announcing the final ad Iournment of the Fifty-eighth Con- gress. Without a look backward, he vacated the seat he had occupied for almost four years, stepped from the presiding officers platform to the Sem ate floor and there took his seat to listen with other Senators to the ad- iress of the new Vice-President.
 FairbankN's Voice Good.