“The reception of the guests began at three o’clock. At the front-parlor entrance stood Mr. Bloomer attired in a black broadcloth suit. Next to him sat Mrs. Bloomer. She wore a black-satin costume en train with gray damascene front, crêpe lace in the neck, diamond ornaments. There were present Chas. A. Bloomer and wife, of Buffalo, N. Y., N. J. Milliken and wife, of Ontario County, N. Y., and Miss Hannah Kennedy, of Omaha. Chas. A. Bloomer is a brother of D. C. Bloomer, and is president of the Buffalo Elevator Company. N. J. Milliken is a nephew by marriage and publisher of the Ontario County Times, of New York. These constituted the reception company. The evening reception commenced at eight o’clock, and lasted until a late hour. Among the callers were the vestry of St. Paul’s Church, who paid their respects in a body to the worthy couple.”
Mrs. Harris read a beautiful poem, and an original poem was also read by Mrs. C. K. White, of Omaha, and Prof. McNaughton, superintendent of city schools, read the following address:
“To Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer: It seems meet and proper on this joyous occasion that the public schools, their officers and teachers and pupils, should send kindly greetings to one who for the past thirty-five years has extended to them a generous sympathy and, in the earlier days of their existence, rendered them distinguished service by aiding in the erection of a well-planned and commodious edifice, the adoption of a wise curriculum, and the laying of a broad and deep foundation upon which has been reared the fair structure of to-day; one who has aided the teachers and pupils by words of wise counsel and kindly sympathy and is, by common consent, regarded as the father of the public-school system of the city.
“To you, Mr. Bloomer, and your estimable and noted wife, in behalf of the public schools of the city, I wish to offer sincere and hearty congratulations; congratulations that, under a rare dispensation of Providence, you have been permitted to enjoy together a half-century of companionship in the sacred bonds of family ties—fifty years of mutual helpfulness and love! fifty years of sowing and reaping together in the fields whose fruitage is intelligent progress and eternal joy! And now, amid the abundance of the harvest, in the golden glories of life’s autumn, may you be long permitted to remain among your devoted and admiring friends!”
The following letter from Miss Susan B. Anthony was received and read:
“Washington, April 9th, 1890.
“My Dear Friends, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer:—
“And is your Golden Wedding to be here April 15, 1890? That seems quite as impossible as that I should have rounded out my three score and ten years on February 15, 1890, just two months before.
“Well, your lives have been side by side for a whole half-century, and this, too, when the wife has been one of the public advocates of the equality of rights, civil and political, for women. I hardly believe another twain made one, where the wife belonged to the school of equal rights for women, have lived more happily, more truly one.
“Your celebration of your fiftieth wedding day is one of the strongest proofs of the falseness of the charge brought against our movement for the enfranchisement of women, viz., that the condition of equality of political rights for the wife will cause inharmony and disruption of the marriage bond. To the contrary, such conditions of perfect equality are the best helps to make for peace and harmony and elevation in all true and noble directions. Hence I rejoice with you on having reached the golden day of your marriage union, not only for your own sakes, but for our cause’s sake as well.