New Britain herald., 1917-03-05

who wore a broad, contented smile. Father Time Intervcncs.
 Suddenly four sharp rings sounded out from the chamber. They meant ! that 12 o'clock had arrived, that the senate stood adjourned, and that both the Wilson administration and its his torymaking congress were at an end.. They meant. too. that the second Will
 son administration was about to be- gin.
 | Clerk Maher stood lowering about | the president and the chief justice with an open Bible In his hands; and | his fingers resting on the forty-sixth
 psalm. But the president and the
 chief justice had been too much iD- terested in their conversation to l notice the four rings. and Maher did ] not like to interrupt them. He let four minutes go by, and then he broke in with his admonition to the
 chief justice that it was 12 o'clock. and that the hour was at hand.
 Mir. Wilson and MT. White rose, Maher standing between them, and the president took the open Bible
 from his hand. his fingers resting on the words :'"The heather ragged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered AAsS 'SANSs StN CpAN NH ltACNtONsA Mrs. Wilson stood just behind the president; the crowd at the door, held
 back by the Secret Service men and the force of the sergeant-at-arms. looked in and saw the heads of two of the three departments of govern
 ment standing behind a long desk. with large windows, just behind them opening above the rainswept terrace and Capitol Hill. while behind them stood smiling, gracious-looktng woman and at 3 distance little group of friends and public officials. The president is a tall man, but he did not look big beside the tremen- dous form of the chief justice. Four years ago MT. White administered tho oath to him at the east front of the capitol before 10000 people. He was then beginning an administration
 without a cloud in its sky. and foreign complications or dangers to the re- public were the last things people were thinking of. It was a bright, sunny day ,and the multitudes that
 saw him called it good omen for
 his administration. an administra- ton elected on domestic issues and
 to deal with domestic problems. To- day he took the oath before the same
 chief justice in a room with perhaps
 thirty people in 1t, while outside the
 rain came down in a heavy, steady.
 incossant pour. and the Washington
 streets were swept bare of anything
 like what used to be regarded as an
 inauguration crowd"
 Friends Read His Thoughts.
 The momen he had taken the oath the president sat down. without any
 utS lr3
 graduation from those in the room. and went. on with what little re- mained of his work. while the Secret Service men began clearing a path for the presidents subsequent emer- gence. He had shaken hands with Mir. White and Mir. Maher: but it is really astonishing how people that know Mir. Wilson we'll became able to grasp his wishes and his mood in a telepathic sort of way. He had not said a word about it, but everybody. from Colonel House and MT. Malone to the clerks. was perfectly aware that he did not wish any formalities of congratulation and wanted the whole thing to be as business-like and in- formal as possible: so there was no movement forward from the group at the other side of the room.
 It Is characteristic of him, too, that five minutes before the oath was taken no one knew whether he in- tended to let the people at the door see 1t or wished to take 1t in absolute privacy, and equally characteristic that nobody asked him about it.. At 11:55 the Secret Service men allowed these people to step forward and get as near as they could to the door: but up to that moment not a single Secret Service man knew that he was going to do it, nor did anybody else These things are Wilsonian and unique.
 The first thing the president did was to exchange few smiling sen- tences with his wife. and then he and the chief justice signed their names to the oath, which had been copied on the fyleaf of the Bible that had been used. This done, he presented 1t to Mrs. Wilson, who tucked 1t under her arm. At the same moment Senator La Toilette dashed rapidly through the hall outside on his way out, his 1 large round face in flame.
 The senators and cabinet members and others present came up and shook l hands with the president as he was putting on his overcoat after finishing the odds and ends of work that re- mained. and then he and his smiling i wife walked out along the corridors. , with the detachment of Secret Service 1 men all around and ahead of them, l clearing way for them through the | crowd. The spectators applauded ] until they had entered the elevator, from which they stepped into an au- tomobile and started for the White l House. |
 The inauguration was over; and | there never has been an inauguration l anything like it in the history of the l United States.