Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1901 — CAPITAL IS TO SHINE. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

CAPITAL IS TO SHINE.

WASHINGTON PREPARES FOR IN- - AUGURATIOPL ’ -■ Pennsylvania Avenne to Have a Court of Honor Which Will Be a Mass of Waving Color by Day and Blaze of Electricity by Night. Washington correspondence:

WASHINGTON is beginning to look like the inauguration. From the eap- „ itol to the War Department PennsylgaS, vania avenue is be|fgi ing lined on both ggk sides with large iJfS| stands, more uumerous, substantial and extensive than PflSw ever before, and in front of the White S? House, between - Fifteenth and Sevtftfjl enteenth streets, a llt l\ “court of honor” is U being erected which

promises to be.the most elaborate piece of street decoration ever seen in this country. It was designed by a committee of architects of which Glenn Brown of this city was chairman. By day it will l>e a mass of waving color, while by night it will blaze with electricity. The White House grounds are included in the scheme and the semi-circular drive from the-portieo to Pennsylvania avenue is trt be treated in an artistic manner with thirty-two slender white pillars on either side. The avenue in front of the executive mansion is to be tilled with eight structures consisting of four large pillars with ornamental caps called pylons, and thirty-two smaller pillars erected at equal distance. Each of the pillars supports npon its crest a great bowl of iron, resembling the flaming basins that lighted the games of ancient Rome. They will serve a similar purpose on the night of March 4, and will provide a unique and magnificent addition to the street decorations for the evening hours. Under the cap which surmounts the four jpillars of each pylon will’be four incandescent lights, each of 100-candle .power. The caps will be pierced and glass of different colors set in the aperture, and through these a blaze of multi-color splendor will radiate. The most interesting feature, however, will be the effect from searchlights of 10,000-candle power, concealed in the caps of the eight pylons, whose brilliant Bump will shoot into the sky through openings above the place where the lights and the men who operate them will be placed. From these eight classic, columns streams of starry brilliancy will sweep the heavens, striking on the passing clouds and lending unparalleled grandeur and beauty to the scene.

The artistic effect will be augmented by curling clouds of white smoke which Will rise from the metal basins on the summits of the pylons, breaking the black circle of shadow, around which play the White beams from the big reflector below. This smoke will be made by the use of chemienls .upon excelsior, there will be no flame,_ These great waving, trembling, ever-changing pillars of smoke will add indescribable picturesqueness by clever manipulation of science’s most modern aids to decorations and illumination. The stands erected for spectators are much more sightly and comfortable than any ever seen here before, because they are -erected by the committee of citizens in charge of the inauguration ceremonies, and any profits arising from the sale of seats will be turned into the fund. The cost of the inauguration ceremonies is usually met by the sale of tickets to the ball. The money needed is subscribed iu advance by patriotic citizens, to whom it is repaid afterward, und any surplus remaining is distributed among the charitable institutions of the city. The most important question now pending is whether the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic shall act as the escort of honor to President McKinley in the procession, or whether the swell troop of cavalry from Cleveland which performed that service four years ago should be allowed the same honor again. The Grand Army people claim that McKinley belongs to their organization, nnd that the veterans of the war- ought to have the most conspicuous position in the line. The congressional committee of arrangements is inclined to encourage them, hut Gin. Frank V. Green-of New York, the grand marshal, who controls the matter, says that it is already settled, and that the Cleveland grays have been invited and accepted, and are coming, The next important question is the selection of the persons who shall ride in the carriage with the President. It has been customary for tjie retiring President nnd his successor to ride together. As they go toward the chpitol the retiring President sits at the right—the place of honor. As they return from the capitol after the inauguration he sits on the left. But as President McKinley succeeds himself it will not do to let him ride alone. There are four persons eligible to occupy seats in his carriage: Mr. Roosevelt, John Joy Edson, chairman of the local committee of arrangements; Mark Hanna, chairman ot the Senate committee, and Mr. Cannon, chairman of the House committee. The Vice-Presi-dent does not ride in the procession. He has to be in the Senate chamber nnd take the oath of ofllce there before the Presi-dent-elect nrrives and preside at the ceremonies of the inauguration. Mr. Edson is a modest man, of retiring disposition, and willingly yields the honor to Mark Hanniv and Undo Joe Cannon. Everybody will admit that there is a singular appropriateness in having Mr. Hanna accompany the Presidentjn his triumphal journey, nnd it would be just as well If they took some solemn man like Uncle Joe along to hold them down Miss Margaret Thorpy, Tucknhoe, N. Y., believing that her brother Thomas was murdered for a smnll sum, has vowed to devote her life to the punishment of the murderers. She says she knows the two men who killed him. Mrs. E. D. Kelly is working at the Clifton Hotel, Chicago, to pny a honeymoon board bill. She was married at Central City, Neb. Her. husband skipped. Prof. F. W. Smedley, Chicago, aaya left-handed children are not as bright aa the right-handed. - ~