CHAPTER VIII
EXHIBITIONS, ENTERTAINMENTS, AND SPECIAL OCCASIONS
Type of story. News stories in this division may be grouped in two classes: (1) those of display, such as exhibitions, shows, fairs, and parades, and (2) those of banquets, holiday celebrations, and other special occasions, such as college commencements. Although the subject matter covers a wide range, the method of handling the news is much the same.
Purpose. The aim in these stories is not only to portray attractively the events and scenes but to bring out the spirit of the occasion. There is generally a dominant note in all these events, and the effectiveness of the description can be greatly heightened by selecting those details that bring out this note. The selection and presentation of details from the point of view of their value as showing the mood of the occasion results in a story of much greater interest than does the mere recording of the different incidents. Accuracy in news stories of this kind, therefore, is not simply faithfulness to fact, but truth of sentiment. Untruthfulness lies in adding fictitious details in an effort to heighten the appeal, and in substituting sentimentality for true sentiment.
Treatment. The chief problem in writing these stories is to select picturesque and significant phases from the large mass of available material, and to reproduce the scenes and incidents with vividness. These events offer one of the few chances in news writing for pure description. In general the description is of the so-called dynamic type, in that all of the details are selected with the purpose of bringing out one impression rather than of giving a complete picture.
In descriptions of holiday celebrations an emotional appeal is possible because every festival and holiday has its own particular sentiment. Christmas is distinctly the children’s day and is characterized by generosity. Memorial day is marked by patriotic reverence for dead heroes, Fourth of July by patriotic jollification, and Thanksgiving day by the idea of feasting. For banquets and similar occasions in which the spirit of good fellowship is the dominant note the descriptive method in a lighter vein is particularly appropriate.
When speeches and toasts are delivered in connection with these events, they are treated like other speeches and are fitted into the story as incidents of the occasion, or, if they are of sufficient significance, they may be played up as the feature.
AUTOMOBILE SHOW TO OPEN
New York Times
The National Automobile Chamber of Commerce will open its Fifteenth Annual National Automobile Show in Grand Central Palace next Saturday, Jan. 2. The Show Committee of the N. A. C. C., which has the exhibition in charge, consists of Col. George Pope, H. O. Smith, Wilfred C. Leland, and S. A. Miles, manager. Instead of opening at night, the doors will be unlocked at 2 P. M. Displays of goods conservatively valued at more than $3,500,000 will occupy the 150,000 square feet of floor space on four floors of the building. About 50,000 more square feet of floor space is available this year than in previous seasons.
There is a total of 338 exhibits. Gasoline pleasure cars will be shown by eighty-one manufacturers; six companies will show electric cars, and thirteen will display motor cycles. The remaining 238 exhibitors are makers of accessories. More than 400 complete cars will be shown. These will be found to range in price from $295 to $7,500. No commercial cars will be exhibited, but there will be a special information bureau for commercial vehicle manufacturers.
In order to make a beautiful setting for the cars and show them to advantage, the interior of the palace has been converted into a Persian palace. The decoration color scheme is white, gold, and crimson. The lobby of the building will be decorated to resemble a California garden.
Following the custom of former years, Wednesday, Jan. 6, has been set aside as Society Day, upon which double admission will be charged. There will also be a Theatrical Day, Monday, Jan. 4, upon which representative players will be guests of the management. The exposition will remain open for one week, until Jan. 9. On the first day the doors will open at 2 P. M., and on other days at 10 A. M., with the exception of Sunday, when the building will remain closed.
POULTRY SHOW
New York Evening Post
The twentieth annual exhibition of the New York Poultry, Pigeon and Pet Stock Association was opened several hours before daybreak this morning with appropriate barnyard pomp and ceremony. One of the 6,500 fowl assembled in Madison Square Garden, with bold disregard for the conventions of city life, started things at 3 A. M., and in an instant the whole family was flapping its wings and crowing sociably one to another.
Even though it was only the light from an arc lamp outside, which the birds mistook for the rising sun, they resolved to make the best of it, and at noon all the inmates were in excellent voice.
The great arena, filled row upon row with every variety of domestic fowl, resounded with echoes of the farm.
It was one long, continuous cock-a-doodle-doo, that gave the impression that all the barnyards of the world had suddenly been combined in one.
A flock of white Wyandottes, looking very pompous, supplied the baritone parts of the medley, while occasionally a peevish falsetto cackle could be discerned issuing from the bantam household. Melodious squawks from several turkey gobblers, who had escaped the axe this season, added to the hoarse cackle of numerous ducks, helped to fill in the gaps.
One change was noticeable to-day in the absence of Canadian-bred birds. In former years, fowl from across the border have been among the most interesting in the exhibit, affording a basis for comparison of the poultry of the two countries.
But, owing to the strict quarantine regulations now in force, officers of the New York State Association found it impossible to include this feature in this year’s show. The fact that there are no Canadian entries is accountable for the smaller number of exhibits, some six hundred Canadian specimens having been withheld by the Canadian fanciers. The reason, it was stated, was the prevalence of disease among cattle at the present time. The Canadian inspectors had announced that they would not allow consignments shipped to the exhibition to reënter the country.
All States north of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi have sent specimens to the exhibit, while a number of Southern and Western States are represented also.
On the main floor the entire space is devoted to fowl, of every variety, displayed in steel cages. The centre of the arena is occupied by a small tank, used as a duck pond, and grouped around this are several large cages, containing specially rare specimens. The balcony, circling the enclosure, is devoted to pigeons and pet stock, including guinea pigs, rabbits, and white mice.
Along with the poultry display, there is the usual accompaniment of farmyard devices, brooders, incubators, and patent feeders, which occupy booths in various parts of the main floor. John, a fine white Wyandotte cock from Jersey, was on hand to-day to do his share in exhibiting a device for grinding bones. He was hitched to a miniature mill, in which he had been trained for months to make the circuit like a horse. But everything at the Garden was so different, and so unlike life in the peaceful Jersey farm, that the rooster had an attack of stage-fright and couldn’t navigate the turn. He crouched down in the traces and refused to budge, while the demonstrator applied persuasion and a horsewhip to coax him on.
But the trained hens, who were there to show how a combination “feeder and exerciser” worked, lived up to expectations, and gave an admirable performance. They were caged in a shed with a miniature turnstile in it, and every time they took a few steps, the stile was sure to move, bringing down upon their heads a shower of corn.
AGRICULTURAL FAIR
Boston Herald
SALEM, N. H., Aug. 21—Fair skies, weather of ideal coolness, the grand circuit races, a horse show of unusual excellence, pedigreed cattle and blue-blooded poultry, fruit and vegetables that made the onlooker hungry, in fact, all the accessories of half a dozen county fairs rolled into one—not forgetting the Looney Lane and its leather-lunged ballyhoo men—lured to Rockingham Park today a crowd variously estimated at between 60,000 and 80,000 persons.
Whatever the correct figures of attendance may have been, it is certain that the grand stands were jammed solid with cheering humanity, that men, women and children of all ages and types swarmed like a colony of ants through the various exhibits, and that automobiles of every kind known to the trade were paraded all over the parking space.
It was a happy, good-natured crowd, in which the millionaire rubbed elbows with the farm boy, and those who came by trolley had just as much chance for enjoyment as those who came in the most expensive touring car. To be sure, the horse is the star performer at Rockingham fair, but that is no reason why the other features should be overlooked, and they were not.
This was Governor’s day on the program, but in reality it might better have been described as Everybody’s day. At least, that is the way it looked to the visitor. Gov. Samuel D. Felker of New Hampshire was on hand, of course, with Mrs. Felker and members of his staff.
He was received fittingly with the customary brass band accompaniment, was whisked across the track in a miniature procession of automobiles and escorted to the grandstand. There he made an appropriate speech, or went through an animated pantomime, the impression differing with the distance the listener was from him. At any rate, the crowd judged him by his good intentions and applauded heartily. Gov. Foss was unable to be present, but was well represented by Mrs. Foss and his two pretty daughters.
“Something doing every minute” seems to have been the motto of the fair management, and the motto was well observed. Apart from the racing, the fair has enough attractions to keep a visitor busy for a couple of days at least, and then said visitor would be better satisfied if he could possess himself of an extra set of eyes.
The effect of the place is kaleidoscopic, or rather that of a talking moving picture run wild. It is a perfect jumble of color and sound. Bands are playing, husky barkers are shouting, bulls are bellowing, cows are lowing, sheep are baaing, hens are cackling, auto horns are tooting—all off the key but in a pleasant discordance.
And people—as an exhibit of the plain people and of the varnished people, too, the place has few rivals. There is the man from back in the hills, whose bucolic chin whisker wags in rapture over some particular breed of hogs, and there is the landed proprietor, who is as interested as an amateur in some particular strain of stock. You see an overalled individual drawling casual orders to a stolid yoke of oxen, and then, turning again, you come upon Arthur Waldo in the pink of sartorial neatness, sizing up a prize sheep.
There is contrast everywhere. If you are looking for the latest in horsey fashion, stroll about the grandstand, and if you want to see what the agriculturist considers a good all-purpose costume, run down to the sheds. Young America with his best girl is much in evidence in the vicinity of the ice-cream cone and lemonade stand, and Old America is there, too, just as young as any of them.
Away over behind the grandstand are the cattle sheds, where one may fill his eye with as many different kinds of cows, bulls and oxen as he ever imagined. There they are—the Jerseys, the Guernseys, the Holsteins, the Ayrshires, and whatever other kinds there be, all beautifully groomed, with horns polished. Some are decked with blue ribbons and some with red, and some which have no ribbons at all appear about as good as their rivals. Out in the field to the rear, quiet men take technical notice of good points of competitors, and make the awards without any fuss.
Judges are everywhere. They are busy with cattle and they are busy with hens and with geese, with hogs—there is a whole exhibit of blue ones—with fish, with fruit, with vegetables, with embroidery and with needlework. By the way, the housewife should not be overlooked, for the skill of the woman of the Rebeccas and the Granges, either with the needle or the cook-stove, is not to be despised.
There is much to attract the serious-minded, and for those who are not so serious there is the Looney Lane. It is a long lane, a good half mile, if not more. And there is to be found about every side show that ingenuity has yet devised.
The streets of this midway are dense, and the business flourishing. You can try your luck on a “beautiful, blue-eyed baby-doll,” or a teddy-bear, on umbrellas, on rings, on stickpins and a variety of other useful commodities. You can visit strange oriental houris, see the wild girl, or pay your money for some allurement that is “for men only.” Lady wrestlers, diving girls, freaks without number, even the “original cigarette fiend” are all to be viewed “for the trifling and inconsiderable expenditure of one dime.” But what’s the use—they are all there with “spielers” to match.
With the exception of the races, probably the most interesting feature was the horse show. Yesterday’s program was one of unusual excellence, and ran through several of the most striking classes of saddle horses and hunters and jumpers.
The Lawson cup, presented by Thomas W. Lawson, for gig horses not under 15.1 or over 15.3 hands, went to Sir James, Alfred G. Vanderbilt’s entry. Glen Riddle’s The Virginian carried off the Copley-Plaza cup in the Corinthian class, and Mr. Riddle was again fortunate in capturing the Andrew Adie cup in the class for hunt teams of three each.
One of the prettiest classes of the afternoon was that for park four-in-hands with lady drivers, which was won by Mrs. P. T. Roche of Leominster, after a skillful exhibition. Another spectacular number was the tandem race, a one-mile dash on the race track, which was won by P. T. Roche.
OPENING OF MARKET
New York Times
Crowds of many thousands filled Washington Market yesterday to celebrate the formal reopening of the building since it has been reconstructed and converted into a model market of glass, marble, porcelain, enamel, and nickel flooded with light from a series of large overhead windows.
The ceremonies began with the arrival of a procession with a band at its head, city officials in automobiles following and the forty exempt firemen with their antiquated engines bringing up the rear. The main floor and galleries were thronged, and hundreds of persons had to be turned away while the speechmaking was going on.
Mayor Mitchel said that the reopening of Washington Market as a modern institution was only a step in the plan to dot the city with model markets.
“The new Washington Market,” he said, “is a link in a chain of retail markets which I hope that the city will some time own and control. Such a system of retail markets will be a part of a still more comprehensive system of food distribution. The entire plan will comprise wholesale terminal markets which will receive supplies of all kinds for distribution with the least possible handling and waste and will have a marked effect in keeping down the cost of living.
“We want to reduce the cost of bringing food into the city, and this can be done by means of better transit facilities with terminal markets to increase the convenience of the people of this city in buying at retail in some of the finest and most sanitary markets in the world. The plans are only now in the process of formation and I hope that the people will support the city officials in bringing them to completion.”
George McAneny, President of the Board of Aldermen, briefly reviewed the history of the market and of its reconstruction.
“This building was a disgrace to the city four years ago,” he said. “But the new building is offered as a promise that this in time shall be the standard of all markets of the city. The start toward the reconstruction of Washington Market was made six years ago by the money saved through other economies. We saved nearly $500,000 from the $3,000,000 given to us to use and $43,000 of this saving went toward the remodeled market.”
The history of Washington Market and a detailed explanation of the great improvements that had been made were given by Matthew Micolino, President of the Washington Market Merchants’ Association. Others on the speakers’ platform were Ralph Folks, Commissioner of Public Works; Simon Steiner, one of the oldest dealers in Washington Market, and Mrs. Julian Heath, President of the National Housewives’ League.
Borough President Marcus M. Marks, Chairman of the Market Committee, who called up on the long-distance telephone from San Francisco when he was at the exposition to settle some of the details of the market and to decide on the date of its opening, told yesterday of the visits paid to the old market by Edward VII. when he was Prince of Wales and by Presidents Grant, Garfield, Arthur, and Cleveland. He added:
“Presidents bring honor, but residents bring business. I wish you both—business and honor. The oysterman, Cornelius Vanderbilt, was among those who in early days helped to make the market a success. In the old building the business had been carried up to more than $5,000,000 a year, and I prophesy that your business will run up to $10,000,000 a year.”
Controller Prendergast said that the new market ought to arouse the people of the city to the possibilities of having a fine market system.
“We have been trying to solve the market problem through three or four unrelated departments,” he said, “but nothing can be accomplished without central authority. Last Spring we asked the Legislature for authority to amend our charter to provide for a Department of Markets, but it refused. I think this was a great mistake. We shall make the same application again this Winter. If the new Constitution goes through we will ask the Board of Aldermen to pass a bill creating such a body.”
During the week the special exhibits will occupy places in the galleries. Up in the gallery is a woman suffrage booth, from which printed arguments in favor of giving women the vote were distributed yesterday, with oral arguments for those who stayed to listen. In another corner of the gallery the National Security League had an exhibition of modern small arms and various charts showing the low rank in military strength held by this country in comparison with other powers. The National Housewives’ League had a booth from which advice on reducing the cost of living was issued and various patent foods were advertised.
Today will be given over to an exposition of the pure food principles for which the market stands. The speakers will be Alfred W. McCann, Joseph Hartigan, Commissioner of Weights and Measures; John Boschen, Sidney H. Goodacre, and Frank H. Hines. Tomorrow will be suffrage day and Thursday the day of the National Housewives’ League. Friday and Saturday will be market days, with reduced prices on everything.
OPENING OF TUNNEL
Chicago Record-Herald
NEW YORK, Feb. 26, 2 a. m.—Just at midnight an electric train, jammed to its capacity with marveling passengers, slipped out of the Nineteenth street station, darted down beneath the Hudson River and, a few moments later, pulled into the terminus at Hoboken, N. J.
This train was the first actual passenger train to run through the new $60,000,000 tunnel and submarine system which connects New York and New Jersey, and which had been officially opened at 3:40 o’clock yesterday afternoon, by the pressure of the presidential finger on a gold-mounted telegraph key on President Roosevelt’s desk at the White House.
At the instant the signal flashed over the wires from Washington, the power was thrown into the machinery and the first official train of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company, which constructed the tunnel, started on its way.
Governor Hughes of New York, Governor Fort of New Jersey, city officials and railroad men of prominence, 800 altogether, were in the official party.
The official train carried eight cars, all of them filled to overflowing. Millionaires joined the ranks of the straphangers on this occasion, E. H. Harriman among the number, while further down the same car Cornelius Vanderbilt was propped up against a door jamb.
Under the bed of the river midway through the tube the train hesitated for a moment where the boundary line between New York and New Jersey was marked by a chain of glittering incandescent lights. The two governors arose and clasped hands, and then the train dashed on and climbed out of the big hole into the Hoboken depot of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.
There a jollification meeting was held over the successful accomplishment of a task which has been repeatedly attempted, but without results until William McAdoo took hold. Governors Hughes and Fort were the chief speakers and there were short addresses by representatives of the railroads and of the cities interested. President Roosevelt sent a personal letter to President McAdoo, which was read.
The letter follows:
Feb. 17, 1908. My Dear Mr. McAdoo:—Now that a beginning is to be made in opening for operation the Hudson tunnel system, I write to express my regret that I cannot be present in person, and my high appreciation of what you have accomplished. The tunneling of the Hudson River is indeed a notable achievement—one of those achievements of which all Americans are, as they should be, justly proud. The tunnel itself and the great buildings constructed in connection therewith represent a work of extraordinary magnitude, represent extraordinary difficulties successfully overcome, while difficulty and magnitude are even surpassed by the usefulness of the achievement. The whole system is practically below tidal water, and this makes it much the greatest subaqueous tunnel in the world. It is a bigger undertaking than any Alpine tunnel which has yet been constructed, and the successful completion represents the moving of New Jersey bodily three miles nearer to New York in point of time and immensely increases the ease of access from one state to the other. You who have brought this great achievement to a successful conclusion ought to be most heartily congratulated. It is the kind of business achievement which is in the highest degree creditable to the American people, and for which American people should feel and publicly acknowledge their hearty gratitude. Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
After the oratory, the guests were escorted through the imposing system of underground terminals at the New Jersey end of the tube, and then the official party retraversed the tunnel to New York.
Last night, the celebration of the event, which is believed to be the first step in a great system of tunnels under the Hudson, was continued with a banquet at Sherry’s. The regular service began with the starting of the first train at midnight.
President Roosevelt pressed the button which formally opened the tunnel at 3:40 o’clock eastern time, yesterday afternoon, immediately following the receipt of this telegram from President McAdoo:
The first official train of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company, under the Hudson River, awaits your signal and pleasure.
UNVEILING OF STATUE
New York Evening Post
With the unveiling on Monday of the new statue on Riverside Drive, Jeanne d’Arc takes her place permanently in New York city. New York is not the most natural of settings for Jeanne d’Arc, burgerette of Domremy-sur-Meuse, warrior, woman saint of France, but since she is to be here, the Drive is a good place for her. There is an open sweep of view there, and hills beyond. And, in early mornings, and at twilight when the lights on the river begin to show coral in the blue-gray mist, something very like the spirit of the city is made visible.
It is this same characteristic—the seeing of the invisible, the touching of the intangible—which is in the statue and makes it what it is. Anna Vaughn Hyatt, its sculptor, sees only the spiritual in Jeanne, and in her work she holds indefinitely for us the moment after the finding of the consecrated sword, which Jeanne holds high over her head as she stands erect in her saddle, her head thrown back in exaltation. The horse is all but prancing. There is something of certainty and joyousness about the whole which could be inspired by nothing purely material or temporal. The upward gesture of the sword is not without meaning—it is the natural movement of a person who has had a great revelation, a deep creative instinct. She is holding the sword up to God.
The idea of the statue for this city, to celebrate the five hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jeanne in 1412, and to be made by an American woman sculptor, is about six years old, and originated with J. Sanford Saltus and George Frederick Kunz. They are, respectively, the honorary president and president of the Joan of Arc Statue Committee, founded December 4, 1909, of which Gabriel Hanotaux and Pierre Loti, membres de l’Institut Français, are the honorary vice-presidents. The work has taken time and it has been well done. Besides the Committee of twenty-four members, and the sculptor herself, there was an architect, Prof. John V. Van Pelt, a landscape architect, Carl F. Pilat, a consultant on armor, Bashford Dean, Ph.D., curator of armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cass Gilbert, adviser of architectural competition, a jury on architectural competition, and a Committee of the Municipal Art Commission on Whole Design.
The whole idea has been a combination of the American with the French. Miss Hyatt herself is of French descent and has studied largely in France. The very foundation of the statue is made of stones from the Tower of Rouen, in which Jeanne was confined.
And the dedication at 2:30 on Monday afternoon, at Riverside Drive and 93d Street, to which twenty-one societies and institutes, both French and American, will send delegations, bears out the idea well. These delegations will come from the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, the Alliance Française de New York, the American Numismatic Society, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Revolution, Fédération de l’Alliance Française aux Etats-Unis, Fine Arts Federation, France-America Committee, Jeanne D’Arc Home, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of French Art, Institut Français aux Etats-Unis, National Academy of Design, National Sculpture Society, New York Historical Society, Société des Architects Diplomés par le Gouvernement, Société Nationale des Professeurs Français, Society of Beaux Arts Architects, Society of the United States Daughters of 1812, Society of the War of 1812, Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of the Revolution.
The service of dedication will open with the American National Anthem played by the French Band of the Lafayette Guards. The Very Rev. Théophile Wucher, pastor of the French Church of St. Vincent de Paul, will give the invocation, Dr. Kunz the address of welcome, and J. Sanford Saltus the address of presentation. The statue will be unveiled by Mrs. Thomas A. Edison, one of the Committee members, and the unveiling will be followed by the French National Anthem and salute. After the statue has been received in the name of the city by Park Commissioner Cabot Ward, a letter of congratulation from President Wilson will be read and addresses will be made by J. J. Jusserand, French Ambassador to the United States; Robert W. de Forest, LL.D., president of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; McDougall Hawkes, president of the Museum of French Art, l’Institut Français aux Etats-Unis; Professor Delamarre, secretary-general of the Federation de l’Alliance Française aux Etats-Unis, and J. Alden Weir, president of the National Academy of Design. If the weather is not fair on Monday, these exercises will be held in the American Museum of Natural History.
President Wilson’s letter which will be placed in the pedestal with letters from Governor Whitman and leading city officials, says:
“My dear Dr. Kunz:
“I hope that on Monday, December the sixth, you will convey to the Joan of Arc Statue Committee my warmest congratulations upon the successful completion of their work.
“Joan of Arc is one of those ideal historic figures to whom the thought of patriotic people turns back for inspiration. In her seems to have been embodied the pure enthusiasm which makes for all that is heroic and poetic.
“Cordially and sincerely yours,
“Woodrow Wilson.”This statue is the fifteenth equestrian statue of Jeanne d’Arc, but it is the first one made by a woman. Thirteen of these are in France, and one in Philadelphia. The figure of the Maid was modelled after Clara Hunter Hyatt, the sculptor’s niece, but the face is idealistic, giving Miss Hyatt’s own conception of the way Jeanne looked. The horse was modelled in Paris, but the final work for the statue was done in Miss Hyatt’s Studio in Annisquam, Massachusetts, where she worked almost entirely outdoors. A model of this statue has been placed in the Cathedral at Blois where Jeanne was confirmed and a bronze copy will be placed in front of the Cathedral as soon as the money can be raised.
Especially numerous are the statues and memorials of Jeanne in and around Domremy, now called Domremy-la-Pucelle in her honor. A statue of her by E. Paul, erected in 1885, stands in front of the village church and above the door is a mural painting by Balze representing her as she listened to the Voices. In the garden of the cottage where she was born, near to the church, is a group by Mercié showing her as she left her home led by the Genius of France, and over the door are the royal arms of France and those given to Jeanne and her family. In a niche above is a kneeling figure of a girl, made about 1456, and the cottage has become almost a museum, filled with small belongings of Jeanne herself. It is hard to come back from Domremy-la-Pucelle to the corner of Riverside Drive and 93d Street. But, even here, the Maid may feel not entirely homeless. She brings her joy and her certainty with her, and at twilight, if she glances out over the river to the hills, she may find, where the lights show coral through the mist, a glimpse of things unseen.
Note—The next two stories, which describe a pageant parade, should be compared with reference to style and tone.
AUTOMOBILE PAGEANT PARADE
(1)
New York Herald
More than three thousand automobiles, many of them handsomely decorated and illuminated, helped to impress upon throngs of spectators in the city streets last night the fact that great strides have been made in the development of both pleasure and service vehicles. The pageant, which was a feature of the Tercentenary celebration, also gave to thousands an hour of brightness and pleasure.
The parade started in Harlem, and, after covering the principal streets there, swept down town and passed the reviewing stand in front of the New York Public Library. Governor Glynn and Mayor Mitchel reached the stand at the head of the column. They were accompanied, the Governor by his staff, and Mayor Mitchel by prominent citizens.
As both officials had other engagements, they left before the second division arrived, but they enjoyed seeing the motorcycles dash past, many in grotesque decorations.
As one of the motorcycles sped down Fifth avenue below Forty-second street it encountered a big automobile. Policemen managed to draw them apart.
One of the amusing features of the division was the musicians riding on motorcycles. They had on war bonnets and were escorted by a band of Indians.
One young woman in white duck trousers, coat and cap, her costume being the counterpart of that of her male companion, attracted a good deal of attention, as the two sped past the official stand.
The celerity with which this division went down Fifth avenue led spectators who filled the three stands—the Governor’s at the south, the Mayor’s in the centre and a third at the north of the block—as well as the thousands forming a solid mass along the streets, to believe that the pageant would move quickly. But a wait of almost half an hour ensued after the passing of the “Indians.”
At last the intercepted line of decorated automobiles began to appear, and for more than an hour there was an unceasing flashing of brilliant lights, massed flowers, bunting, pennants and flags, all of which formed attractive decorations.
“Neutrality” was greeted with applause when an automobile filled with young women dressed in the national colors whizzed by the judges’ box. “He Comes Up Smiling,” showing an unusually tall man wearing bathroom attire, who frequently plunged into the depths of a huge bathtub, brought forth shouts.
The suffragists had four automobiles in one division. These were decorated with “votes for women” colors and pennants and big banners across the tonneau with “Victory in 1915” in black letters on yellow or blue.
Louis Annis Ames acted as grand marshal and William G. Poertner was marshal. The judges of decorated cars were George W. Breck, W. A. Boring, Alan R. Hawley, William W. Knowles, Harry H. Good, E. A. McCoy and William H. Page. The associate judges of the automobile division were Alfred Reeves and C. F. Clarkson; of the motorcycle division, F. V. Clark and J. L. Sauer, and of the advertising, O. J. Gude, William H. Jones, Russell Field, A. M. Van Buren and George B. Van Cleve.
A reception to Governor Glynn and Mayor Mitchel was held after the parade at the Automobile Club of America, No. 247 West Fifty-fourth street.
(2)
New York World
Have you ever been in a smoking car when the man in the seat ahead was trying to prove that forced draught does not improve the natural perfume of a rubber plant in a cigar make-up? If you have not it will be impossible to bring to you from last night the atmosphere of the automobile parade in celebration of New York’s three hundredth business birthday.
The fact that many of the automobiles were charmingly decorated proved nothing except that one can never tell by the band what sort of smoke it is wrapped around.
Take a pretty light blue scarf of oil smudge and weave it about festoons of parti-colored incandescent globes suspended along the sidewalks, and you have the scene at Fifth avenue and Forty-second street last night, as the parade snorted past the reviewing stand in front of the public library.
The plan was to have Gov. Glynn and Mayor Mitchel sit in the stand and watch the parade go by. But the Governor and the Mayor had so many other engagements last night that they started with the parade, arrived half an hour before it, and got away before the parade arrived at the reviewing stand.
Fortunately, however, most persons in the automobiles did not know that, and the men saluted just as correctly, and the women bowed just as sweetly, as if the rulers were on the job—so nobody could see that it made much difference that they were not.
Officials in charge said that the reason the motorcycle portion of the parade arrived about half an hour before the next section was that the motorcycles could not stop or they would tip over. The fact that there were several long gaps in the parade was due to no fault of theirs, the officials added.
The gaps gave spectators—when they weren’t thinking how chilly it had got all of a sudden—a chance to observe how neat and roomy the Fifth avenue roadway looks when there is no traffic on it. Many persons thought this the most remarkable sight of the evening.
More than 2,000 automobiles and trucks and 1,000 motorcycles were in line. Prizes worth more than $6,000 had been offered—$5,000 worth by the Tercentenary Commission.
By way of proving that some persons will try anything once to win a prize, women in some of the most beautifully gotten up cars failed to put on the same amount of clothes they would fail to put on if they were going to the opera. Nobody denied that this was a fetching idea in automobile decorations—but it was cold enough last night to wear at least a necklace, which, indeed, some of those women did.
Among the floats was one advertising a make of auto tire. Two gigantic human shaped figures, made of tiring—or whatever they call the stuff they make tires of—wobbled about on a big float. Then there was a man who kept coming up smiling from the depths of a big bathtub. When one saw him at a distance one was thrilled, but on nearer view one perceived that he was really wearing tights.
The Peace Float, the Santa Claus Ship (which The World is going to send to Europe laden with presents for the fatherless), The World’s own float, showing the way New York got its news three hundred years ago and the way it gets it to-day (in The World, of course), the Woman Suffrage automobiles, and private machines covered with flowers, were among the entries which drew applause from a quarter million persons who banked the line of march from One Hundred and Twenty-fifth street and Madison avenue through numerous other streets, including Broadway and Fifth avenue to the point of dispersal at Columbus Circle.
It might be mentioned that Ralph De Palma, automobile racer, carrying officials in his car, and under instructions to hustle from the tail to the head of the parade, bumped into a touring car at Fifty-seventh street and Fifth avenue. The touring car lost a mudguard.
A reception for Gov. Glynn and Mayor Mitchel, who are Honorary Presidents of the Commission, was held in the Automobile Club of America after the parade.
MEMORIAL DAY PARADE
New York Times
Eight hundred white-haired veterans of the civil war paraded yesterday under faded and bullet-riddled flags in the Memorial Day procession along Riverside Drive from Seventy-fourth Street to Ninety-second Street. Because it was the fiftieth anniversary of the end of their days on the battlefield, because the Grand Army men had felt the vibration of patriotic feeling in the atmosphere, and because it was a perfect day, the soldiers of the civil war, in spite of the waste in their ranks which old age had made in recent years, turned out yesterday in greater number than they have at any Memorial Day procession in the preceding three years.
The weather brought out great crowds along the Drive and in other parts of the city where Memorial Day exercises of one kind or another were held. With the sky cloudless and the sun shining brilliantly, breezes from the Hudson River kept the marchers and the spectators cool and put life even into flags which shells and time had almost reduced to ribbons.
Probably more than 50,000 people had gathered along the line of march. As the crowd was larger it was also more enthusiastic than usual. The big demonstrations were, of course, for the game old men and the pathetic ruins of their colors. In spite of the fact that the majority of them had passed three score and ten and that many crippled by old wounds and age had to carry canes, they responded quickly to tactical orders from their commanders and as a body moved with the precision of a smooth-running war machine.
Receiving cheers and shouts of encouragement at every block, they were kept busy smiling and saluting. They passed thousands and thousands of American flags, as a large proportion of those in the crowd carried small ones. Flags were hung out of windows all along the Drive.
The flag display throughout the city yesterday, as well as along the line of march of the procession, was the greatest the city has seen since Spanish war days at least. Along many of the residence streets flags hung in clusters. Along Broadway, wherever there was a flagpole, there was a large flag out, while small ones by thousands flapped from windows and thousands of tiny ones stuck out of buttonholes.
Special cheers along the line of march were given for the twelve doughty old Zouaves who appeared in faded red baggy trousers with the characteristic jacket and tasseled fez. Also the crowds approved noisily of occasional ranks of veterans who appeared with swords drawn and the blades flashing brightly.
One of the marchers who was cheered all the way along the route was George Sebech of Reno Post, No. 44, who carried medals for service both in the Mexican and in the civil war. He marched sturdily, and continually saluted and waved his hat at the ovation he received. He said:
“I am 98 years old, but I’ll be marching here ten years from now, when these Spanish war boys are getting gray.”
A platoon of mounted police formed the head of the column and was followed by a battalion of regular troops of the Coast Artillery. Next came the First Division of the National Guard, commanded by Major Gen. John F. O’Ryan. Following were the survivors of the Grand Army, headed by the Grand Marshal, Commander Sherburne C. Van Tassel, who rode a bay charger. The members of his staff were Adjt. Gen. Joseph B. Lord, Past Grand Marshals William E. Van Wyck, George M. Barry, Samuel Mildenburg, Isidore Isaacs, George H. Stevens, George S. Drew, Simpson Hamburger, and William Kirchner, Assistant Adjutants M. B. Wood, John H. Wood, Charles W. Brown, H. J. Kearney, Frank J. Schleder, Harry B. Dennison, E. K. Fassett, William H. Elliott, Captain Howard M. Graff, Chief Aid and Aids David Loria, Hugh Fitzpatrick, Henry Holmes, Charles Farmer, Daniel D. Lawlor, Theodore Joffe, and George Blair.
The guard of honor to the Grand Marshal included Farragut Naval Post, No. 516; Farragut Fleet, Port of New York; the Monitor Association, Port of Brooklyn; the Ella Bixby Tent, No. 18, Daughters of Veterans, and Adams Goss Post, No. 330.
There were four divisions of Grand Army Posts, and in the other divisions marched several columns of Spanish War veterans in khaki and blue flannel, numerous fife and drum corps, bands and semi-military organizations.
In the reviewing stand at Eighty-ninth Street were Rear Admirals C. D. Sigsbee, General N. W. Day, General Anson G. McCook, Colonel George E. Dewey, Colonel James E. March, General Horace Porter, Colonel C. Blakewell, and Captain J. B. Greenhut, besides many city officials and prominent men.
CHRISTMAS
Washington Times
Santa Claus, Inc., President of the Christmas Cheer Corporation. Organized in the District of Columbia under charter of December 24, 1915.
It had to come. The job was getting too big for one jovial, rotund man, and he was afraid he would miss some chimneys. So Santa, this year, is a captain of industry, operating in every home in the District of Columbia, and in institutions as well, and so far the Sherman anti-trust law hasn’t got him.
Sleighs were too slow. Anyway there isn’t any snow. Bells were too noisy.
The motor truck has taken the place of the sleigh. And instead of depending upon his own efforts, Santa has enlisted practically every organization, every lodge, every society, every church, every settlement house and every mission, and thousands of individuals in his gigantic Christmas cheer enterprise.
Like all great magnates, Santa is not seen by his workers. But his spirit presides over the entire project, and societies, clubs, groups and individuals are working busily in his name.
Every church, for example, is planning its annual Christmas celebration. An effort is being made this year to have every church provide for the poor in its territory, and, instead of the erstwhile custom of giving gifts to its own members, many Sunday schools have applied to the Associated Charities for names of families to whom they might carry Christmas dinners and other gifts.
For the homeless of the District the Salvation Army, the Gospel Mission, and the Central Union Mission are giving turkey dinners, to be followed by Christmas trees for those children where the home Christmas might not be as happy as it should be.
At the Associated Charities volunteers are busily working today arranging baskets to be taken to the homes of families on that organization’s list, and in every case the Christmas dinner will be accompanied by some gift more lasting, such as a quantity of coal or clothing. These gifts are paid for from special contributions to the Christmas fund, and they are in addition to the fourteen “opportunities” by which the Associated Charities, co-operating with the newspapers of the city, hopes to make fourteen homes happy throughout the year.
At both the Central Union and the Gospel Missions turkey dinners will be served, and at the Salvation Army there will be a Christmas breakfast in addition to the dinner.
In enlarging the scope of his work and his force of helpers, Santa Claus has not forgotten that he is primarily the patron saint of children. One of his principal helpers is the Santa Claus girl, whose home at 70 Seaton place is piled high with gifts for those children whose names have been furnished through charity organizations, or by friends, and by letters written to Santa Claus.
Dolls, drums, engines, skates, sweaters, and everything in which the child heart delights are piled high at the headquarters of the Christ Child Society, 929 G street, awaiting distribution among poor children. This year there are 2,000 names on the list to receive presents.
Miss Mary V. Merrick is in charge of this work, and she has been assisted by Miss Charlotte Campbell, Mrs. James Gowel, Miss Florence Roach and Miss A. Ives. Scores of dolls were contributed by the doll guild, of which Miss Leta Montgomery is director. Sewing circles have given large quantities of clothing and the American Security and Trust Company has provided vans for the distribution of the bundles.
Entire Government departments will celebrate Christmas; other Government bureaus, business houses, and military posts will have community celebrations.
An unusual celebration will take place this evening in the office of the chief clerk of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. All week the clerks have been buying small gifts suitable for children. Names of all the clerks who are “playing the game” will be placed in a hat this evening, and then drawings will be made for the presents. After the gifts have been drawn, and the joke at the expense of the recipients appreciated, all the toys will be turned over to some institution, and any left over will be sent to the home of the Santa Claus girl. This plan was conceived by and carried out under the direction of Miss Mary A. Carpenter.
Over at Fort Myer Uncle Sam’s soldiers will decorate a Christmas tree in the gymnasium under the direction of wives of officers at the post, to be exhibited on Tuesday for the benefit of the children of the retired soldiers and those of men now on duty at the Philippines.
Not only the poor, but those who are away from home, will have plenty of provision made for their Christmas cheer. At the Y. M. C. A. the usual visitation will be made to the rooms of all young men, and during the day there will be Christmas activities of various sorts by the clubs and departments of the association.
The Young Women’s Christian Association has planned a day which, it hopes, will drive homesickness from the heart of any girl who is away from her home at this season. The building at 619 Fourteenth street will be open from 3 until 9 o’clock. A Christmas party will be in progress during that time. Games will be played, Christmas carols will be sung by the Y. W. C. A. Choral Club, and a tree will yield gifts for everyone. Refreshments will be served.
In addition to the distribution of baskets to be made by the Salvation Army and the missions, Almas Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, is to give away 500 Christmas baskets, Central Union Mission will distribute between 400 and 500 baskets and Gospel Mission will send about 500. Boy Scouts have been enlisted in the work of distributing these gifts.
The observance will spread to inmates of District institutions. At the workhouse at Occoquan men will be given a holiday and a special dinner, and they will attend a special Christmas service tomorrow afternoon. At the District jail a special dinner, which includes turkey, will be served.
At the Petworth School playgrounds there will be a community Christmas tree celebration tonight at 7 o’clock. A large tree will be decorated with lights, and school children will form a chorus to sing Christmas carols. This celebration will be under the auspices of the Petworth Citizens’ Association.
This afternoon there will be a Christmas entertainment at Washington Barracks, when Kris Kringle will appear with a bag laden with toys and good things for the children. The tree will be on the platform of the post exchange building. A musical program will be given by the post band.
At the Central Presbyterian Church, where the President attends services, gift-bringing as well as gift-giving was a feature of the Christmas exercises. For that reason the services were held on Monday, and gifts brought at that time are being sent to the Lynchburg Orphanage, the Mountain School, at Grundy, Va., and the Red Cross war fund, to the city missions, and several charities of the city.
At the Neighborhood House, Friendship House, and Noel House, there will be Christmas trees, and celebrations extending until New Year, with daily features, such as entertainments, plays, musicales, and other provisions for the children of those neighborhoods.
Students from Washington who are attending colleges and schools away from Washington began to pour into the city to-day, and enlivened the crowds on F street. Washington schools and colleges have closed for the holidays. Many activities have been planned for the holidays by students at George Washington University. Teas, dances, suppers, banquets, and theater parties are among the functions planned by fraternities, student societies, and groups of students.
CHRISTMAS IN CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Providence Journal
“Hey, you, I got more Christmas presents ’n you did. An’ I gotta pitcher taken thing with a snake in it. Wot’dju git?”
“I gotta chu-chu, an’ a lotta other stuff and things. An’, an’, I gotta dawg.”
This was the conversation, no, only a part of the dialogue, which passed between Little Jimmie Trupper and Mildred Conner at the Rhode Island Hospital yesterday afternoon, after Santa Claus had entered through the window and dispensed his good cheer from a tree which stood in the centre of the children’s ward.
Jimmie has been in a form for months, being treated for spinal trouble. He could only move his hands, roll his head and laugh. But, oh, how he did laugh, and sing, too. And little Mildred, she was strapped to a board. Mildred has not advanced far enough to be taken off the board and put into a form; but she, too, could move her hands and roll her head and laugh and cuddle her “dawg” to her bosom.
The ward contains 39 children at present, suffering from injuries and being treated for various ailments. Perhaps some of them will never have another Christmas. But if you had closed your eyes and heard them laughing and singing, you would never have thought you were in a hospital. Many of them were able to sit up, and so that they could all be in one room, two were put in some beds. Those who could sit up had little red wrappers over their nighties, and propped up around the sides of the room, they looked for all the world like little animated red holly berries.
Santa was delayed. He told them he had gotten as far as the grounds, and then, having forgotten one present, had to drive 5000 miles back to his ice-covered palace. And then, when he returned, Jerry, one of his reindeers, had fallen into the pond in front of the hospital, and it had taken two hours to fish him out; honest, it did.
But, oh, what a reception he received. Thirty-nine little bed-ridden tots singing “Jingle Bells” when he bounded in the window. Singing, did we say? Could they sing? You should have heard them. Angels never sang sweeter. They warbled and caroled, just as if they were as free as the birds, instead of being inmates of a hospital ward.
And, my, what a tree! It touched the ceiling, and its boughs hung down with its heavy burdens. Only a Christmas tree can bear such products—and such trees as that one don’t grow everywhere and don’t bring such cheer. There were dolls and games, houses and boats, dogs and cats, stoves and balls, and bags and bags of candy. The tree was decorated with chains and strings of pop corn and Santas which had been made by the children themselves.
The presents were given out first, and then came the candy and oranges. The bags of candy were torn open, almost greedily, and there was a general sticky munching.
“Aren’t you afraid you will make yourself sick eating so much candy?” Richard Lynch was asked.
“No, I ain’t,” he replied. “I never gits sick.”
Richard has been in a form a long time now, and so, of course, he’s not sick. Alfred Morrisetti was in the next bed, and between crammings of sweet stuffs, they compared their much-valued presents.
“Didja see my ball?” asked Richard, as he held up a rubber ball which he will hardly be able to get the full benefit of for a long, long time yet.
“Yes, but it ain’t half as nice as my bug,” Alfred replied, holding up a wriggley creature which shivered and shook as it was waved about. “I’m goinna call it Hinny ’cause its all on hinges.”
There was little Mary Hayes, another spinal case, who received a set of dishes and a broom and a dust pan and insisted she was going to play “keeping house.” Each present was better than the other, and there were many for each patient.
Flitting from bed to bed, winding up toys and adjusting pillows was Miss Laura B. Anderson, the nurse in charge of the ward. Along with Miss Anderson was Miss Margaret Smith, the children’s teacher, who taught them the songs they sang, and makes herself much beloved by the young charges entrusted to her care.
Many convalescent adult patients were present, having been helped in from other wards. They were all remembered, too, as well as the children, when the candy and fruits were passed out by Dr. H. D. Clough, who played the part of Santa Claus. Several trustees, a number of the house staff and visiting doctors, with their wives, were also present.
Music was furnished by Miss Virginia Boyd Anderson’s Orchestra. Piano solos were rendered by Dr. N. B. Cole and instrumental duets by Drs. Cole and W. O. Rice. A vocal quartet was also made up of Drs. Cole, Rice, H. G. Calder and B. H. Buxton. In every part of the programme the children joined and clapped until one would have thought their little hands would be sore.
Early this morning the nurses visited various parts of the hospital singing carols. The choir from Grace Church will sing at the hospital this afternoon and St. Stephen’s choir will be there Sunday afternoon. To-day the children will have another presentation, when they will be visited by their parents and friends.
CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME
New York Times
Just as the strolling players of old England put up their booths in the public square, so the players of Stuart Walker’s Portmanteau Theatre arranged a stage for a pantomime last night in Madison Square. The play, it had been announced, would begin at 9 o’clock, but many of the players were unable to get away from engagements at uptown theatres on time. Meanwhile the crowd grew.
It was a long wait. The arc lights in the park had been turned off. The clouds, which were hanging so low that their soft masses could be seen flying past the light on the top of the Metropolitan tower, threatened to pour down a shower at any minute. All of the lights on the giant Christmas tree near by had been turned off, except the star, and the wind whistled and moaned in the tree as it tossed the waving green branches. Only a band which was concealed behind the stage kept any liveliness stirring.
Finally, at 9:30, concealed lights on the stage lit up the blue scenery and the pantomime began. The name of the play was “The Seven Gifts, a Fantasy of Christmas Giving.” The principal characters were the Wanderer, the Majordomo, the Emerald Queen, Jack-in-the-Box, the Lowly Man, his Son, the Rich Man, the Haughty Lady, the Humble Woman, the Brave Man, the Strolling Player, Pierrot, the Moon Lady, and the Dear Child. Placards at the side of the theatre announced the action of the play so that all might understand.
The trumpeters signaled for silence. The crowd of about 2,500, which stretched on all the paths as far as Fifth Avenue, became still. Chimes sounded as the Wanderer, an old man with a pack on his back, clad in garb of brown, blue and yellow, came from among the spectators. He saw the stage with its closely drawn curtains. What was it all for, he mutely questioned, and started to pull the curtains of the theatre within a theatre to investigate, but at that moment out stepped the prologuist and answered his question by telling mutely, “The theatre is for you, Wanderer, and for you and you and you,” to the audience, “and for all who come to share this fantasy.”
Then the inner curtain slowly rose and disclosed the court of the Emerald Queen with her attendants. In the course of the play seven gifts were brought to her. The first was Jack-in-the-Box, which part was taken by Tom Powers, who danced for the Queen. Then the Lowly Man and his son brought in a scraggly little Christmas tree, which, however, being the best they had, was acceptable to the Queen. The Haughty Lady brought flowers, but would take no notice of the Lowly Man and his son.
The Richest Man in the World brought to the Queen many treasures, but when a bubble blew across the stage and the Queen wished for it, neither he nor his attendants could capture it. Finally, when he managed to touch it, it burst.
Then the Humble Woman came with her bird, but when a cage was brought for it she set it free, refusing to give it into captivity. The Haughty Lady was very much touched and became repentant of her proud action. The Bravest Man in the World then entered and had an amusing fight with Jack-in-the-Box, who simulated a tiger. Then came the strolling players with their play.
Scenery was set up and a pretty story of Pierrot and the Moon Lady enacted.
The Moon Lady first appeared as an old hag to whom Pierrot offered food. But she wanted kisses, for only by the kiss of one who had never kissed a fair lady could she regain her maidenly form. Pierrot was evidently the one to do the job, for as soon as he kissed her she became the beautiful Moon Lady once again and Pierrot fell madly in love with her. He chased her, but she eluded him, wafting her veil tantalizingly in his face. At last, when the sun rose, she was forced to leave him altogether, and Pierrot was quite broken up about it.
The seventh gift was from the Dear Child, who presented her own doll, somewhat the worst for wear, to the Queen. But this gift came from the heart and was worth all the others. The Queen told her that she might take what she would of the many presents that had been brought. Looking at all the gifts her eye finally lighted on the bright star at the top of the great tree in the square. She said she wanted that, and as the Queen and courtiers followed her gesture the huge tree burst into light. The Queen dismissed the others and departed herself.
Turning, the child saw that the room was empty, and there was her gift on the throne. She took the doll to look at each present, but the doll, too, refused them all. Then the child placed the doll on the Queen’s throne, to play at being Queen, while the lights on the stage grew dimmer and dimmer, as the fantasy ended.
Many left because the narrow paths of the park were crowded, but had there been one wide-open space, ten times the number could have seen the play.
LAST DAY FOR STRAW HATS
Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin
Died, on August 31, 1909, at 60 minutes past 11, S. Traw Hatt, aged 92 days and some minutes, at his late place of abode at 41144 Cranium place. Deceased was a prominent figure in the downtown district, being usually accompanied by a band. His démise was not unexpected but was nevertheless a shock to many who were accustomed to take chances with the lake breezes until far into autumn. Hatt and Dame Fashion were closely allied during the summer silly season, but his departure from this existence apparently is not mourned by the fickle despot, who herself had foretold that September 1 would see the last of Hatt. Hatt, despite his unmistakable masculinity, was frequently mistaken for the mysterious Miss Dolly Dimples of The Evening Wisconsin, and it was a common sight to see him madly pursued by a score of irate but prominent citizens in the vicinity of Grand avenue bridge on a windy day. It probably was because of Hatt’s close proximity to many classic brows that he was so popular in various Greek boot-black establishments, where the swarthy sons of Hellas spent ten minutes at a time in putting him through oxalic baths with the hope of insuring longevity and pristine luster. Hatt’s only near relatives are Miss Peach B. Asket and Mrs. Sue P. Bowle. Appropriate requiem services will be held at the board of trade today. Interment will be in the family attic or a handy ash barrel. Inscribed on the tomb will be the legend:
“We loved our Straws but oh you Felts.”
BANQUET
New York World
In response to the toast, “The Land o’ Cakes,” Andrew Carnegie, speaking last night at the St. Andrew’s Society banquet, practically rolled all the cakes there are into one big doughnut, bit off the entire rim for Scotland, and left England, Ireland, America, Asia and Africa to divide the hole among themselves.
Entirely surrounded by Scotch flags, Scotch music, Scotch whiskey and gentlemen in kilts, Mr. Carnegie looked the most pleased man in the world as he got up to speak. He had just led the singing of the “Star Spangled Banner,” and “God Save the King,” and remarked in his first paragraph that he hadn’t much voice left for his speech.
But, with Scotland for a text, he managed to talk brawly for about twenty minutes, and by the time he was back in his seat Scotland had claimed everything in sight.
“Scotland is a land of small population, but her sons, though few, are deep,” said the Ironmaster. Everybody laughed at that, but Mr. Carnegie held up a deprecating hand and said that he wasn’t trying to be funny, that he was seizing the occasion to make known just a little of what Scotchmen had done for the world.
Whereupon he harked back to the fifth century, at which time he declared mankind began to look to the land o’ cakes for pattern and example.
Running then somewhat rapidly down the centuries, he maintained that for all those years Scotland had been supreme in three branches above all others: religion, politics and education.
Nobody on earth, for instance, ever had more religious liberty than Scotchmen have always had. The humblest cotter over there was as free to worship His Maker in his own way as was His Majesty the King. Mr. Carnegie had observed that much in Scotland in his boyhood and had been forcibly struck with it every time he had been back since.
In America, to sum up on the count of religious liberty, there is as much liberty as in Scotland, but no more, and, anyway, America borrowed the idea from the free kirk.
When he came down to political greatness, Mr. Carnegie gave his hearers a shock. The United States owed its Constitution to a Scotchman, Judge Wilson, and Mr. Carnegie proved it by quoting a letter which he said George Washington had written Wilson, saying “we owe the American Constitution to you.”
Quickly slipping in Alexander Hamilton, making him as Scotch as possible and crediting him with everything that hadn’t been already cornered by Judge Wilson, Mr. Carnegie then got along to the matter of education, and showed that Scotland, as copied by America, led the world.
Witness John Witherspoon, of the early days of Princeton, America’s model educator ever since. On account of him and for all the aforesaid reasons, said Mr. Carnegie, a Scotchman always feels at home in the United States; Scotland is his mother, America is his wife, and there is nothing inconsistent in his loving both.
Besides Mr. Carnegie, the speakers of the evening were Hamilton Mabie, Gen. Leonard Wood, E. Theodore Martin, Irving Bacheller, Julius M. Mayer, Dr. Alexander McGregor and Harry Lauder. Lauder responded to the toast “Honest Men an’ Bonnie Lassies”; Gen. Wood, to the “Army and Navy.”
A bagpipe band played alternately with a string orchestra, and a lot of the Scotsmen present came in kilts and bare legs. It was noticeable, though, that most of the latter wore long fur overcoats and went home in closed automobiles.
In addition to Lauder, Messrs. John Reid, E. Theodore Mayer and George A. Fleming, all well known Scottish singers, enlivened the evening with ballads. A few of those present were:
Robert Foulis, Frank W. McLaughlin, Rev. David G. Wylie, Alexander McGregor, of Boston; Lieut.-Col. Allan C. Bakewell, Dr. Neil MacPhatter, Rev. Anthony H. Evans, D. D., Evert Jansen Wendell, Gen. John T. Lockman, Edgar L. Marston, Rev. George Alexander, Robert C. Ogen, Courtenay Walter Bennett, British Consul-General at New York; J. Edward Simmons, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and Rear-Admiral Caspar F. Goodrich, U. S. N.
SCHOOL ENTERTAINMENT
New York Times
The crippled children of Public School 2, Primary, almost believed that they were the butterflies and bees and flowers that they impersonated in the playlet of “Cinderella in Flowerland” in the auditorium of Public School 62, at Hester and Essex Streets, yesterday afternoon, for the entertainment of the primary children of other schools in the neighborhood. And a happy woman was Mrs. Elizabeth Waldo Schuarz, Principal of Public School 2, Primary, who has taken the crippled children’s annex under her special supervision. As the children sang and haltingly danced on their unstable little legs she smiled and almost wept by turns.
Other grown-ups in the audience, too, had recourse to handkerchiefs as children dressed as butterflies fluttered in, some with creaking braces on their legs, singing:
Feb. 17, 1908. My Dear Mr. McAdoo:—Now that a beginning is to be made in opening for operation the Hudson tunnel system, I write to express my regret that I cannot be present in person, and my high appreciation of what you have accomplished. The tunneling of the Hudson River is indeed a notable achievement—one of those achievements of which all Americans are, as they should be, justly proud. The tunnel itself and the great buildings constructed in connection therewith represent a work of extraordinary magnitude, represent extraordinary difficulties successfully overcome, while difficulty and magnitude are even surpassed by the usefulness of the achievement. The whole system is practically below tidal water, and this makes it much the greatest subaqueous tunnel in the world. It is a bigger undertaking than any Alpine tunnel which has yet been constructed, and the successful completion represents the moving of New Jersey bodily three miles nearer to New York in point of time and immensely increases the ease of access from one state to the other. You who have brought this great achievement to a successful conclusion ought to be most heartily congratulated. It is the kind of business achievement which is in the highest degree creditable to the American people, and for which American people should feel and publicly acknowledge their hearty gratitude. Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT.
The first official train of the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Company, under the Hudson River, awaits your signal and pleasure.
“My dear Dr. Kunz:
“I hope that on Monday, December the sixth, you will convey to the Joan of Arc Statue Committee my warmest congratulations upon the successful completion of their work.
“Joan of Arc is one of those ideal historic figures to whom the thought of patriotic people turns back for inspiration. In her seems to have been embodied the pure enthusiasm which makes for all that is heroic and poetic.
“Cordially and sincerely yours,
“Woodrow Wilson.”