The applause started again and amidst yells, cheers, and the stamping of hundreds of feet there came through the again opened ranks of the crowd at the north door a large, stout, red-faced man past middle age with gray hair and moustache of the same color, Don Juan Luis Sanfuentes, followed by his new cabinet, a mitered archbishop in robes of purple and red, and several purple-robed bishops. Sanfuentes took his seat on the platform to the right of Luco. Two short speeches were made by statesmen; Luco then rose and taking off his tricolor handed it to Sanfuentes who pinned it on himself and changed seats with the former President. Thus at this transmission of command which takes the place of our presidential inauguration, Sanfuentes became President of Chile; his term does not expire until December 23, 1920. The whole ceremony lasted less than twenty minutes.
Monument of Don Pedro Montt, Cementerio Jeneral, Santiago
From the Capitol the procession went to the cathedral where the archbishop held mass and delivered his blessing, for Chile is still allied to the Roman Catholic Church. There was a great street parade after this ceremony. I viewed it from a balcony on the Ahumada down which street it marched. It was really very good. Helmeted German officers galloped back and forth giving orders, while a cordon of blue-jacketed, white-trousered policemen held the sidewalk mob back by means of ropes strung lengthwise the whole block. No procession ever lacks something of the ridiculous. It was in evidence this day. Scarcely had the presidential victoria passed when a limousine automobile containing high officials appeared. To its running board clung a large, middle-aged, drunken monk, his black and white garments tied together by a cord, flowing in the breeze. This hideous spectacle had reached a spot underneath the balcony where I was standing, when a dignified man wearing a silk hat stepped from the crowd and grabbed the inebriated fool, dragging him from the running board. A good-sized crowd hissed the monk as with staggering steps he betook himself to the sidelines.
View Looking West on Compañia Street from Estado at the Plaza de Armas, Santiago
The large building prominent in this picture is the Portal Fernans. Its ground floor beneath the arcades is given up to small shops and vendors' booths. It faces the south side of the Plaza de Armas, Santiago's most prominent square
With the exception of two military parades which I had previously seen in Europe, that which took place at 6 P.M. the next day at the Parque Cousiño in front of the temporary grandstand and which was reviewed by the President was the finest that I had ever witnessed. Picture to yourself a large hard dirt oval parade ground, half a mile long by nearly as wide; imagine this oval to be bristling with the lances of cavalry and glittering with the bright light of polished weapons. Picture in the foreground a small grandstand of lumber draped with the red, white, and blue Chilean flags; imagine this grandstand filled with beautiful ladies in gowns of the latest creations, whiskered gentlemen in silk hats, and army officers in full dress uniform. Behind this scene imagine a forest of pine and eucalyptus above whose dark green crests tower high brown, barren, snow-capped mountains. This is the scene that unfolded itself to the spectator of that memorable military review.