The procession passed up Cambridge Street under a line of flags and streamers, and a large shield bearing the inscriptions, “All hail to the Stars and Stripes.” “Honor to the brave defenders of the Star-Spangled Banner.”
The grand feature of the reception in East Cambridge was presented between Fourth and Fifth Streets. Here ropes had been drawn along each side of Cambridge Street, and on the south side were ranged about eight hundred children from the public schools in East Cambridge, bearing small flags and bouquets in their hands. The Putnam and Thorndike Grammar Schools were designated by shield-like bannerets, bearing the names of the schools. On the opposite side of the street, a long table was spread with a bounteous supply of cake, pies, sandwiches, and other tempting baits to hungry men, to appease their appetites. This pleasing feature was an impromptu one, conceived by the ladies on the evening previous, and executed in good taste.
As the procession passed this point, the school-children sang patriot songs of welcome. When the veterans reached it they were halted for a few minutes, and partook of a light collation provided for them, washing it down with tea or coffee as they preferred. This being accomplished, it was the children’s turn at presentation. They presented their bouquets to the soldiers, who then took up the line of march, when all the scholars partook of a bountiful collation from the same table.
The procession passed on through Cambridge and Winsor streets to Broadway, along which it passed under flags and streamers, bearing mottoes of welcome, and acknowledgments of thanks, passing houses appropriately decorated,—among which was a beautifully draped portrait of the martyr president,—to Prospect Street. Here a line of flags and streamers was pendent, and a motto, “Death to Treason.”
On Prospect Street, at the residence of J. C. Wellington, Esq., sixteen beautiful young ladies, dressed alike, in white waists and black skirts, trimmed with national colors, emblems of Love and Hope and Faith, were ranged. Each held in her hand a splendid bouquet, which they presented to the veterans as they passed. The decorations in this vicinity were superb; among which was an elegantly mounted full-length painting of the Father of his country. Among the mottoes here were, “You left your homes at the call of duty. You return victorious, the nation saved.” “1776. Liberty. 1865. May we never forget your comrades who sacrificed their lives on the altar of liberty.”
From Prospect Street the procession moved on through Harvard Street to Quincy. Lines of flags and streamers crossed Harvard Street at different points; nearly every house exhibited, by flags, drapery, or mottoes, the thanks and esteem of the residents. The Mayor’s residence was very elegantly decorated, and bore the mottoes, “All hail to the Stars and Stripes.” “Welcome!” “One Flag—One Country—One Constitution,”—“Welcome Veterans.”
On the south side of Harvard Street, near the Mayor’s residence, fifteen hundred scholars of the different schools of Old Cambridge and Cambridgeport were stationed to do their part in the outpouring of welcome home to the veterans. It was the most pleasing feature of the day. The hundreds of happy children, bearing flowers and flags, singing songs of welcome home, waving their tiny flags, and swelling the pæans of praise and welcome to the returned braves, was indeed well calculated to please, and will doubtless remain vividly impressed on the memories of the beholders, until long after those little ones have become actively engaged in the manifold cares and duties, joys, sorrows, frivolities, and responsibilities of adult life. Bannerets were distributed through the ranks of the scholars bearing the inscriptions, “Cambridge High School”—“Harvard Grammar School”—“Webster Grammar School”—“Allston Grammar School”—“Washington Grammar School”—“Shepard Grammar School.” As the veterans passed the scholars, they were made the recipients of so many flowers, that some difficulty was experienced as to the disposition they should make of them.
The procession passed on through Harvard and Quincy Streets to Broadway; thence to North Avenue, and to Harvard Square, amid the shouts of welcome from the hosts that were assembled in the front of “Old Harvard.” As the procession passed from Broadway, through Harvard Square to Main Street, an opportunity was afforded to take something like a full view of the whole.
It was a magnificent scene as the procession passed from Broadway to North Avenue, and through the Square. The profusion of flowers among the military escort, and veterans, the gayly caparisoned horses of the marshal and his aides, the tall figure of Col. Richardson, mounted on a splendid charger bowing his acknowledgments on either hand, the proud bearing of the veterans, their torn and shot-riddled colors, the throng of cheering welcomes, the glittering polish of the steam fire apparatus, decorated with choice flowers, the uniform of the Fire Department, the larger part wearing scarlet jackets, the long line of Cavalcade, with their banners,—all combined to make a display worthy of transfer to canvas as a memorial of the happy day. Here were seen to great advantage the banners, mottoes, and inscriptions borne in the procession.