Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-21

florist being to secure the nearest pos
sible replica Of the famous patio scene
from the Rose of the Rancho. There
will be a pergola from which Will be
suspended hanging baskets of japanese
lanterns and on the beams of which
viii run streamers of ribbon and hun
dreds of strings of smilaX and other
greens. The rear will be another bank
of green, dotted with lights and flowers.
The center piece on the table of the
president and the principal guests will
be of orchids, maidenhair ferns and
lilies of the valley. This table will be
crescent-shaped, with the president of
the evening in the center, facing the
throng of diners on the floor, and
President Taft on his right, the next
guest of honor on his left and the first
speaker of the evening on Mr.. Taft S
right. The lesser lights at this table
will be placed so that all will face
the floor of the hall.
Seated in his place, President Taft
will see on the table before him the
beautiful center piece, and beyond
that a fountain playing almost at his
feet, lighted with electric lights of
many hues, splashing merrily all even
ing and breathing forth the sweet per-
fume of California violets. This effect
will be produced by mixing a suffi-
cient amount of highly concentrated
perfume with the water of the foun
tain itself Beyond the fountain he
will look down the bank of ferns,
through the beautiful proscenium arch
on to the snowy eXpanse of tables, each
sur, ounded by ten we'll groomed and
conventionally attired men.
Novel Electric Display
In the rear of the hall he will see
an electric piece that is a novelty of
particular interest. This will be a
map, 15x15 feet in size, electrically
lighted and showing the itinerary of
the president from Boston, around by
way of the northern states, through
Helena, Seattle, San Francisco to Los
Angeles, thence on through the south
and home to Washington. And con-
tinually on this itinerary a light will
move. following the geographical lines
of the trip, reminding the president of
the distance he has covered and show
ing him the space yet to be trayersed.
To right and left the president will
look at the galleries, both upstairs
and down, crowded with women and a
few men, guests of the banqueters.
Each holder of ticket to the banquet
will be given three additional tickets
admitting one person each to the bal
comics. The fronts of these balconies
will be hidden under greenery splashed
with flags and shields. 1t is desired
to do away as much as possible with
bunting and flags, however, as the
committee argues he president will
see plenty Of these on the rest of his
trip. a sufficient number of these viii
be used to show our respect for the
cOlors and for the flag of the president
himself.
Beams AbIaze with Light
Behind these balconies will be palms
and potted plants, with more lights
and flowers. Looking up, the president
will see every beam in the great span
of the roof decked with masses of
smilax and asparagus plumosus, dot
ted at a distance of one foot all the
way with white electric GLOBES. Sus-
pended from these beams and from
the twenty-eight chandeliers will be
great hanging baskets, all lighted up.
The baskets on the chandeliers will be
riLged with colored lights LIT for the
rest all the lights will be white, frosted
globes. In these baskets will be ferns (
and huckleberries. The hanging bas-
kets, too, will vary in size from seven
to twelve feet.
It will be the effort of the decorators
t leave practically no woodwork ex-
posed to view. Varying shades of
green, thousands OF flowers, hundreds
of yards of ribbon and probably no
less than 10000 lights will transform
the auditorium into a bower of proper
tions so enormous as to stagger the
senses. No such elaborate scheme of
floral decoration has been attempted
before in the west, and it is doubtful
if it was ever surpassed in the history
of beautiful schemes for making
garden scene of rarest charm indoors.