Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-04
PAGEANTS OF THE PAST
IN NATIONAL CAPITAL
From Time Of Jefferson Up to
President Roosevelt.
PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE MOST FAMOUS PARADE
GROUND IN THE WoRLD-TRoOPERs AND
CIVILIANS MARCH FREQUENTLY.

Ever since the seat of national govern
! rnent was removed to Washington. Pennsyl-
pania avenue. straightest and broadcast and
most famous of the city thoroughfares,
has been the scene of paraGes and public
pageantries of every description. some OF
them of such a character as to marx
epochs in the nations history. Inaugural
professions, triumphal pageants, funeral
eorteges, civic outpourings and military re-
views have occupied the long stretch of
straight wide street times without number.
and it will undoubtedly continue to be the
place for such affairs to the end of time
And in the spirit of comparison by which
the nature and Importance of past parades
has been judged the inaugural procession
on March 4, when President Roosevelt Is
| indicted into office for the second time. viii
not be the least interesting of all the list
| Of public pageants. Certainly by compare
son with WaShingtonS first inaugural pa
| rade.' or in fact the first parade of any
| kind. it will be remarkable. For the first
| inauguration of Washington was on March
| 4. 1901 and Pennsylvania avenue was then
| merely strip of country road with the
| Presidents residence-it wasn't called the
White House then-at one end, and very
i,small portion of the present Capitol build
liing at the other. The inaugural parade
must have been anything but imposing. for
at the appointed time. Thomas Jefferson
he of the hom5spun clothes and the Oft
! quoted simplicity-jumped on his horse,
| rode to the Capitol, accompanied only by a
| small guard of militia, cavalry and friends.
| took the oath of office. and returned in the
| same manner And according to contempt
! raneous accounts, "a vast concourse' of
! leo citizens stood in the orchards and
| gardens and fields behind the old worm
fence that bordered the avenue in those
| days to witness the affair.
| This March 4 there will be 10000 men in
fipn nd "
of the United States, many of them hailing
from portions Of the country and its
| colonies that at the tire of that first in
auguratiou were bowling WilderneSSeS. 1t
has taken more than n century for the little
body of militia cavalry that accompanied
jefferson to the Capitol to expand into 30,000
regular and militia troops, and the vast
cOncourSe of 1,2eJ citizens who stood along
the line of march to grow into a truly great
crowd of several hundred thousand. And
in the hundred years between. the march of
parade and Of pageant has been steadily go
ing on, and some of them will always live,
in the pages of history at least.
Nothing Very Imposing.
But to bark back to the days of the first
parade. neither was there anything i'm
posing about Jefferson's second Inaugural
ton, although on this occasion the little
cavalry escort was supplemented by body
of employees from the Washington navy
yard. In 1917 President Monroe was salts
fed with an escort of citizens on horse
back, and the performance repeated at
his second inauguration. But when An
drew Jackson was inaugurated in 1899
Pennsylvania avenue had its first glimpse
of the popular feeling, the enthusiasm. the
patriotism. the sympathy the hospitality
that would be the occasion for great pa
geants in the future. OF Jacksons inaugu-
ration Daniel Webster said, Never was
such crowd seen here before. There
must have been fully 5000 people along
the line of march. Persons came five hum
dred miles to see the President inaugu-
| rated
Van Buren, in 1897 had splendid escort
for those days, and twenty thousand spec
tators stood along the line of march. And
the carriage in which the President rode
attracted almost as much attention as he
did himself, for it was made out of wood
taken from the old hull of the victorious
| American frigate Constitution, and built
at the expense of the New York democ-
racy.
| The parade on March 4, 1871 was proba-
bly, the most Interesting up to that time
| General Harrison, the Presdent-elect rode
on horseback to the capitol and came BACK
! in a coach presented to him by the wings
of Baltimore. Hundreds of log cabin"
floats were displayed in the parade. and
among his escort were members OF the
| Harrisburg convention and veteran SOL
diers who had fought under the President
at Tippecanoe. Seventy-fve thousand spec
tators attended to do the general honor.
President Polk was rather fond of dis
play and his tastes not particularly mill
tary, consequently his inaugural escort was
more mixed than any other up to that
time. 1t included a number of military or
CARNATIONS, veterans of the revolutionary
war, members of his cabinet, the clergy of
the District and the professors and stu
dents of Georgetown College. His carriage,
| both to and from the Capitol, was hanked
by the Fairfax Cavalry, a kid-glove Viz
ginia regiment recruited by the gentleman
planters of the old dominion.
| In 1919 March fell OH Sunday and so
| General Zachary Taylor inaugurated
! a o'clock on Monday morning. That old
fighter liked to do things in style, and the
| carriage in which he rode to the Capitol
| was drawn by four prancing grays. and
| his escort. almost exclusively military. was
| particularly large and imposing for those
days.
Nothing of Holiday Spirit.
| There was nothing of the holiday spirit
| present when President Lincoln was in
| aUgurated on March +, 1861 1t was true
| he had large escort, but it exclusive
| ly military, and every soldier of the many
who marched before and beside and behind
| his carriage held his musket ready for in
slant use. Many spectators lined the side
| walks, too, but nine-tenths of them were
soldiers as well. some in their regimentais
| and more in citizen dress, but all armed
J and on the watch for the ever-present dan
| ger that threatened the chief executive.
| The housetops and windows along the way
| were crowded with spectators. but nine
! tentfS of these We're soldiers also. and they
| paid more attention to the civilian spec
! tators on the pavements below and in the
| windows and on the housetops opposite
| than they did to the inaugural procession
| itself. There was little cheering and in
| fact no demonstration of any kind for
even the most enthusiastic and optimistic
| of patriots felt anything but hopeful in
| those dark days. On the occasion of Lin
| coins second Inauguration, in 1865. the
coft was larger and even more exclusively
military, and the watch that was kept
| along tho line of march was even more
| vigilant than before But enthusiasm and
| patriotism was given free reign then. and
| the procession was cheered to the echo.
| OF course. during the years that had
| passed stree President Jackson and his lit-
| tie party rode on the first avenue parade
| many funeral professions had passed down
| its length, some of them large and mpos-
| ing affairs. but it was not until April 10 OF
| 1865 that the thoroughfare received its first
| real baptism of national sorrow. That was
| when the funeral cortege, in its midst the
funeral car on which lay the body of Lin
| coin, passed down the avenue from the
| White House to the Capitol, where the re-
| mains of the nartyred President were