closely together that the glare seemed absolutely unbroken, the effect mellowed, however, by the orange and white streamers in the dome. Away at its extreme end were the boxes erected for the President and party— that of the President towering above the others, and was supposed to imitate the façade of the White House at Washington. On either side of this were double tiers of boxes, five below and six above. The front of the Presidential box was adorned with rich hangings of gold and crimson plush, the latter embroidered in gold. The side-walls and back of the box were covered with crimson plush, while the top was hidden by a superb silk national flag, festooned and held in place by a large portrait of Washington. On either side of the portrait were the dates 1789-1889 in gasjets. An immense supper-hall had been constructed for the occasion in the streets on two sides of the opera-house. The tables taken altogether were said to be a quarter of a mile in length, and the decorations were superb. The President and party arrived about half-past ten o'clock, coming directly from the dinner before mentioned, and at that hour the operahouse was filled to its utmost capacity. A detachment of soldiers in double lines kept a passage open on the floor, and the President passed between them, with the governor upon his right hand and the mayor of the city on his left. The Vice-President and Mrs. Harrison came next, then the lieutenant-governor of New York and Mrs. Morton, and Stuyvesant Fish with Mrs. Jones. The ladies selected for the historic quadrille followed, leaning on the arms of their respective partners. The costumes were of unparalleled beauty. Some of these were the veritable dresses, heir-looms worn at the entertainment given to our first President, as for instance that of Miss Schuyler, great-granddaughter of Alexander Hamilton, and greatgreat-granddaughter of General Philip Schuyler; others were fashioned in charming imitation of the pretty styles of a hundred years ago, even to the hand-embroidered brocade now so difficult to procure. Tuesday, April 30, the great national holiday, opened with artillery salutes and the fairest of weather. The city of New York was awake early, attired in brightest colors through her entire length and breadth. The decorating fever reached its climax during the progress of the naval parade of Monday, and prominent men who had hitherto been indifferent to the display suddenly became enthused, and declared "that millions of dollars would be well spent in embellishing the sombre architecture of the city for the festival." The spirit of patriotism was not confined to classes or localities-no tenement on the east side omitted its flag-in the streets running across town from the East river, where no procession was expected by any chance to pass, the houses were almost covered with bunting, and nearly every householder rejoiced in a portrait of our first President. Where families could not afford a twenty-five cent banner, they flaunted one that cost three cents, or painted a copy of the stars and stripes on paper. Wagons and trucks were decorated sumptuously, their horses seemingly harnessed with red, white and blue, and the lengthy ears of mules were often used as little flag-staffs. The portraits of Washington were seen everywhere, in the windows, suspended from triumphal arches, imprinted on flags and cards of invitation, and on sale where the crowds were thickest by the street gamin, who cried, "Here's yer picters of Jawrge Washington, ten cents, buy quick, else they all be gone!" Despite the fatigue of Monday, which ended at an hour when days usually begin, the churches, large and small and of every denomination, were open at nine o'clock for thanksgiving services, and people in great numbers thronged these sacred temples. It was remembered how general was the religious sense of the importance of the inauguration ceremonies one hundred years ago, when our ancestors asked God's blessing on the experiment; and now a Christian nation on bended knee-for throughout the length and breadth of the country at this same hour were the churches filled with devout worshipers-reverently acknowledged with unspeakable gratitude God's great gift to our land and its century of prosperous progress. As was fitting at such a time, the historic sanctuary where Washington worshiped on the morning of April 30, 1789—St. Paul's, in Broadway-was opened to the Presidential party. The same pew that Washington occupied was graced by his successor, and well might the letters be written above it, in gold, 1789-1889. The committees and ushers in charge were all descendants of the historic families of a former century. The services were brief. Rev. Dr. Dix read the opening prayer, and Right Reverend Henry C. Potter acted as celebrant, assisted by Bishop Perry, Bishop Quintard, Bishop Littlejohn, and others. Then, attired in his episcopal robes, Bishop Potter ascended the quaint and ancient pulpit to the right of the altar and delivered the sermon of the centennial morning. His opening words were: "One hundred years ago there knelt within these walls a man to whom, above all others in its history, this nation is indebted. An Englishman by race and lineage, he incarnated in his own person and character every best trait and attribute that have made the Anglo-Saxon name a glory to its children and a terror to its enemies throughout the world. But he was not so much an Englishman that, when the time came for him to be so, he was not even more an American; and in all that he was and did, a patriot so exalted, and a leader great and wise, that what men called him when he came here to be inaugurated as the first President of the United States the civilized world has not since then ceased to call him-the Father of his Country." The police kept the streets clear about the Vesey street entrance, although the mass of people in the vicinity reached to the roofs, and the historic camera has preserved a glimpse of President Harrison just as he had taken his seat in the carriage on his way to the sub-treasury building; also, of Governor Hill and his staff, and of our two ex-presidents, Rutherford B. Hayes and Grover Cleveland. The literary exercises, to which the President was conducted from St. Paul's chapel, formed the most noteworthy and thrilling feature of the whole celebration. On the sub-treasury steps in Wall street, on the very spot where the sublime ceremonial took place that momentous morning one hundred years ago, were assembled not only the descendants of the patriotic statesmen who stood about our first President at the supreme moment in 1789, when the untried machinery of a new government was set in motion, but the executive head and principal officers of the same government in 1889. The facts and philosophy of the situation need no interpreter. The locality is opulent in historic associations. But how different the scene to-day from what it was in the Washington period! Old Federal Hall long ago disappeared, and on its site is the marble structure which guards $200,000,000 of the country's treasure. The fashionable homes of the New York of 1789 are also gone, and great monetary blocks-many-storied mines of material riches-appear in their stead. Wall street was the heart of the nation at its birth, and now it is the great vital business-point, where the life-pulses of the nation in its maturity ebb and flow. The assembled greatness on the broad platform under the shadow of the statue of Washington, built out from the sub-treasury steps, overlooked an interesting field. Every window in the high Drexel building, in the Stock Exchange, and in other monster edifices, was filled with appreciative spectators-ladies in bright dresses, children who will remember the scene as long as they live, and hundreds of persons who were kept busy telling those about them what happened on the historic spot exactly one hundred years ago; while in Broad street nearly to Exchange place, and up and down in Wall street, the people stood packed so closely that their faces seemed actually joined together. A careful estimate placed the number in the immediate vicinity outside the platform, who listened to the brilliant and soul-stirring exercises, at twenty thousand. It was a few minutes after ten o'clock when the President reached the Pine street entrance of the sub-treasury, and was escorted from his carriage by Colonel James M. Varnum. He was met and welcomed to the building by Ellis H. Roberts, the assistant treasurer, and the party was then conducted through it to the Wall street front, Hon. Hamilton Fish and Mayor Grant |