Pasadena, the home of Governor Markham. The President's reception was
notable for its marked enthusiasm. The committee of escort that met
the party at Riverside was: Hon. J. A. Buchanan, Mayor T. P. Lukens,
ex-Gov. L. A. Sheldon, Col. G. G. Green, Geo. F. Foster, and P. M.
Green. A great assemblage greeted the President's arrival, which was
celebrated by booming cannon, ringing bells, and bonfires. The Committee
of Reception, comprising the following leading citizens, welcomed the
President and escorted him to the hotel: Gov. H. H. Markham, Chairman;
J. H. Holmes, W. U. Masters, C. M. Simpson, Geo. F. Kernaghan, Col. J.
R. Bowler, Delos Arnold, M. M. Parker, W. H. Wiley, W. E. Arthur, J.
W. Wood, Dr. W. L. McAllister, C. D. Daggett, Judge H. W. Magee, James
Clarke, A. B. Manahan, J. W. Scoville, J. E. Farnum, M. D. Painter, T.
Banbury, W. W. Webster, Prof. T. S. C. Lowe, Rev. E. L. Conger, Rev. D.
D. Hill, Rev. J. W. Phelps, Hon. A. G. Throop, F. J. Woodbury, G. B.
Ocheltree, G. A. Greely, W. L. Wotkyns, C. S. Martin, A. R. Metcalfe,
F. C. Bolt, E. R. Hull, Dr. Mohr, John McDonald, Judge A. McCoy, B.
M. Wotkyns, A. K. McQuilling, S. Washburn, T. J. Rigg, T. Earley, C.
S. Cristy, A. C. Armstrong, A. McNally, J. Brockway, J. E. Howard, J.
S. Hodge, C. W. Buchanan, O. S. Picher, Dr. Thomas R. Hayes, M. Fish,
J. R. Greer, Jr., A. K. Nash, C. H. Richardson, J. G. Rossiter, W. T.
Vore, Rev. C. E. Harris, H. H. Rose, J. Banbury, A. Dodworth, Dr. Frary,
Judge M. C. Hester, James H. Campbell, C. C. Brown, A. H. Conger, W. S.
Wright, George Bremner, James McLachlan, J. S. Cox, C. T. Hopkins, O.
E. Weed, J. H. Baker, L. Blankenhorn, W. S. Monroe, George F. Granger,
W. S. Gilmore, Rev. L. P. Crawford, W. E. Channing, A. J. Painter, S.
H. Doolittle, Dr. George Rodgers, E. E. Jones, W. D. McGilvray, Webster
Wotkyns, Theodore Coleman, R. M. Furlong, J. W. Vandevoort, B. E. Ball,
E. T. Howe, H. R. Hertel, Charles Foster, G. R. Thomas, A. F. Mills, Dr.
W. B. Rowland, Dr. F. F. Rowland, Dr. Van Slyck, Rev. J. B. Stewart, D.
R. McLean, C. M. Phillips, C. E. Tebbetts, William Heiss, H. W. Hines,
H. E. Pratt, S. R. Lippincott, J. W. Hugus, W. P. Forsyth, O. Freeman,
S. E. Locke, C. F. Holder, Capt. A. C. Drake, Prof. J. D. Yocum, J. H.
Woodworth, General McBride, W. T. Clapp, E. H. Royce, Charles Legge,
Calvin Hartwell, J. O. Lowe, T. C. Foster, T. L. Hoag, Dr. Ezra F.
Carr, E. H. May, Dr. Mansfield, G. D. Patton, Prof. S. C. Clark, H.
H. Visscher, F. R. Harris, Capt. A. L. Hamilton, J. S. Mills, H. B.
Sherman, R. C. Slaughter, James Smith, S. C. Arnold, I. N. Sears, Chas.
A. Smith, Wm. Menner, S. H. Yocum, D. W. Permar, John Permar, I. N.
Wood, Emil Kayser, N. W. Bell, Rev. E. E. Scannell, Rev. H. T. Staats,
W. R. Staats, F. L. Bushnell, H. C. Allen, Rev. A. W. Bunker, Rev. James
Kelso, Judge J. P. Nelson, C. J. Morrison, M. Rosenbaum, E. S. Frost,
F. B. Wetherby, W. J. McCaldin, A. J. Brown, Dr. Philbrook, Captain
Rogers, Dr. S. P. Swearingen, Fred McNally, J. E. Doty, F. D. Stevens,
O. Stewart Taylor, A. F. M. Strong, C. M. Parker, C. E. Langford, G. E.
Meharry, Maj. C. M. Skillen, Judge B. F. Hoffman, Henry Washburn, Capt.
A. Wakeley, W. S. Nosworthy, J. G. Shoup, Mrs. I. B. Winslow, Geo. W.
Sheaff, Mrs. T. H. Kuhns, P. G. Wooster, A. McLean, F. L. Jones, Dr.
A. H. Palmer, J. J. Allen, E. C. Webster, Arturo Bandini, Will Forbes,
W. W. Mills, Mrs. Dr. Elliott, L. C. Winston, S. S. Vaught, I. N.
Stevenson, John Habbick, Thomas Croft, Wm. J. Craig, M. A. De Forest, R.
K. Janes, C. W. Mann, John Sedwick, Homer Morris, Perry Bonham, Prof.
Kyle, R. W. Lacey, Dr. J. C. Michener, A. A. Choteau, A. O. Bristol, Dr.
J. M. Radebaugh, J. F. Mullen, T. M. Livingston, G. W. Stimson, W. E.
Cooley, W. S. Arnold, W. H. Housh, E. W. Longley, C. W. Hodson, J. D.
Graham, M. E. Wood, F. S. Wallace, Prof. W. P. Hammond, C. S. Howard,
Joseph Wallace, Robert Vandevoort, H. K. W. Bent, John Allen, George
Goings, Jeans James Coleman, Aug. Mayer, Geo. Taylor, J. D. Requa, Rev.
A. M. Merwin, W. B. Mosher, P. F. McGowan, G. A. Gibbs, F. K. Burnham,
and C. E. Brooks.
The women's Reception Committee to receive Mrs. Harrison and the other
ladies in the party consisted of: Mrs. L. A. Sheldon, Mrs. J. A.
Buchanan, Mrs. J. W. Wood, Mrs. C. D. Daggett, Mrs. J. R. Bowler, Mrs.
James Clarke, Miss Greenleaf, Mrs. W. E. Arthur, and Mrs. W. U. Masters.
It was 11 o'clock at night when the President and the gentlemen of his
party attended an elegant banquet at the Hotel Green, over which the
Hon. W. U. Masters presided. Mr. Buchanan proposed the President's
health in words of welcome.
President Harrison, responding, said:
_Gentlemen_--I beg you to accept my thanks for this banquet spread
in honor of this community of strangers who have dropped in upon you
to-night. We come to you after dark. I am not, therefore, prepared to
speak of Pasadena. When the sun shall have lightened your landscape
again and our expectant eyes shall have rested upon its glories,
I shall be able to give you my impressions of your city, which I
am already prepared to believe is one of the gems in the crown of
California. [Applause.]
Perhaps no other place in California has by name been more familiar
to me than Pasadena, if you except your great commercial city of San
Francisco. That comes from the fact that many of your early settlers
were Indiana friends. I am glad to meet some of these friends here
to-night. It is pleasant to renew these old acquaintances, to find
that they have been received with esteem in this new community. I
have found a line of Hoosiers all along these railroads we have been
traversing.
Everywhere our train has stopped some Hoosier has lifted his hand to
me, and often by dozens. As I said the other day, Ohio men identify
themselves to me by reason of that State being my birthplace, but it
is not a surprise to me to find an Ohio man anywhere. [Laughter.] Ohio
people are especially apt to be found in the vicinity of a public
office. [Laughter.] I suppose whatever good fortune has come to me in
the way of political preferment must be traced to the fact that I am
a Buckeye by birth. [Laughter.] And now I thank you most cordially
again for your attention and kindness. California has been full of the
most affectionate interest to us. I have never looked into the faces
of a more happy and intelligent people than those I have seen on the
Pacific coast. [Applause.]
You occupy the most important position in the sisterhood of States,
stretching for these several hundred miles along the Pacific shore.
You have fortunate birth, and your history has been a succession of
fortunate surprises. You have wrought out here great achievements in
converting these plains that seemed to be so unpromising to the eye
into such gardens as cannot be seen anywhere else upon the continent.
[Applause.]
And now, when I remind you that bedtime was 1 o'clock last night and
the reveille sounded at 6 o'clock this morning on our car, I am sure
you will permit me to say good-night. [Applause.]
SAN FERNANDO, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 24.
The first stop on Friday was at San Fernando, the home of Dr. J. K.
Hawks, who for twenty years was General Harrison's near neighbor. The
Committee of Reception was: R. P. Waite, S. Maclay, J. Burr, J. S.
Kerns, C. Smith, Colonel Hubbard, Mesdames Bodkin, Hubbard, Smith, and
Misses Platt, Gower, and Jennie Hawks.
Dr. Hawks made a brief address of welcome and introduced the President,
who said:
_Ladies and Gentlemen_--I am pleased to be introduced to you by my
old and honored friend, and I do sincerely hope that he has won your
respect to the same extent which I learned to respect him when he was
my neighbor. I hope you will excuse me from speaking further. I thank
you all for your friendly greeting.
SANTA PAULA, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 24.
The thriving town of Santa Paula, Ventura County, gave the President
and his party a hearty reception, distinguished above others by a truly
mammoth floral piece 24 feet long by 6 feet in width, covered with
calla-lilies, and bearing the word "Welcome" in red geranium letters
40 inches in height. The Committee of Reception was: W. L. Hardison,
Chairman; Casper Taylor, Rev. F. D. Mather, C. J. McDevitt, F. A.
Morgan, F. E. Davis, J. B. Titus, C. H. McKevett, N. W. Blanchard, Dr.
D. W. Mott, C. N. Baker, A. Wooleven, Harry Youngken, and S. C. Graham.
The Major Eddy Post, G. A. R., Henry Proctor, Commander, was present.
Maj. Joseph R. Haugh, an old Indianapolis acquaintance, welcomed the
President on behalf of the committee. President Harrison, replying, said:
_My Friends_--I cannot feel myself a stranger in this State, so
distant from home, when I am greeted by some familiar faces from my
Indiana home at almost every station. Your fellow-citizen who has
spoken in your behalf was an old-time Indianapolis friend. I hope he
is held in the same esteem in which he was held by the people among
whom he spent his early years as a boy and man. [Cries of "He is!"]
That you should have gone to the pains to make such magnificent
decorations and to come out in such large numbers for this momentary
greeting very deeply touches my heart.
I have never seen in any State of the Union what seems to me to
be a more happy and contented people than I have seen this morning.
Your soil and sun are genial, healthful, and productive, and I have
no doubt that these genial and kindly influences are manifested in
the homes that are represented here, and that there is sunshine in
the household as well as in the fields; that there is contentment
and love and sweetness in these homes as well as in these gardens
that are so adorned with flowers. Our pathway has been strewn with
flowers; we have literally driven for miles over flowers that in
the East would have been priceless, and these favors have all been
accompanied with manifestations of friendliness for which I am very
grateful, and everywhere there has been set up as having greater
glory than sunshine, greater glory than flowers, this flag of our
country. [Applause.] Everywhere I have been greeted by some of these
comrades, veterans of the late war, whose presence among you should
be the inspiration to increased patriotism and loyalty. I bid them
affectionate greeting, and am sorry that I cannot tarry with them
longer. [Cheers.]
SAN BUENAVENTURA, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 24.
Three thousand people welcomed the party at San Buenaventura, including
nearly 1,000 school-children, who bounteously provided the President
and Mrs. Harrison with flowers. The Reception Committee consisted of:
Mayor J. S. Collins, J. R. Willoughby, E. M. Jones, P. Bennett, C. D.
Bonestel, N. H. Shaw, and Cushing Post, G. A. R., D. M. Rodibaugh,
Commander.
Gen. William Vandever welcomed the party, and the President spoke as
follows:
_My Friends_--I am very glad to meet my old friend and your former
representative, General Vandever. I have had some surprise at almost
every station at which we have stopped. I did not know until he came
upon the platform that this was his home. I have not time to make a
speech, and I have not the voice to make one. I can only say of these
hearty and friendly Californians that my heart is deeply touched with
this evidence of friendly regard. You have strewn my way with flowers;
you have graced every occasion, even the briefest stop, with a most
friendly greeting, and I assure you that we are most grateful for it
all. You are fortunate in your location among the States; and I am
sure that in all this great republic nowhere is there a more loyal and
patriotic people than we have here on the Pacific coast. I thank you
again for this greeting. [Cheers.]
SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 24.
The reception at Santa Barbara was the most unique that the presidential
party experienced on their trip, and also one of the most enjoyable; it
was a veritable flower carnival.
Leading the procession was a Spanish cavalcade commanded by Carlos de la
Guerra. The President's escort was a cavalcade of children marshalled
by Mrs. Schermerhorn, with flower-decked saddles and bridles; then
followed over 100 flower-trimmed equipages, each displaying a different
design and flower and bespeaking the marvellous flora of Santa Barbara
in the month of April. The stand from whence the President reviewed
the procession and witnessed the Battle of Flowers was a floral
triumph; 20,000 calla-lilies were used in its decoration and as many
bright-colored flowers. The battle scene occurred on the grand stand,
immediately opposite the reviewing stand, between several hundred
ladies and gentlemen. The whole was a spectacle to be witnessed but
once in a lifetime. The parade was under the direction of Grand Marshal
D. W. Thompson, assisted by special aids George Culbertson, Dr. H.
L. Stambach, T. R. Moore, Samuel Stanwood, Paschal Hocker, and C. A.
Fernald. The Committee of Reception comprised Mayor P. J. Barber, C. F.
Eaton, W. W. Burton, W. C. Clerk, I. G. Waterman, D. Baxter, E. P. Roe,
Jr., C. E. Bigelow, Alston Hayne, Frank Stoddard, L. P. Lincoln, W. N.
Hawley, J. W. Calkins, Geo. A. Edwards, C. C. Hunt, Edward M. Hoit, Hon.
E. H. Heacock, Dr. J. M. McNulta, W. B. Cope, C. F. Swan, W. M. Eddy, J.
C. Wilson, R. B. Canfield; also, Joseph Sexton, of Goleta; E. J. Knapp,
of Carpinteria; T. R. Bard, of Hueneme; R. E. Jack and E. W. Steele,
of San Luis Obispo; H. H. Poland, of Lompoc, and Dr. W. T. Lucas and
Thomas Boyd, of Santa Maria. Starr King Post, G. A. R., C. A. Storke,
Commander, participated in the reception.
After witnessing the parade the entire party, including the ladies,
visited the ancient Mission of Santa Barbara and were taken within its
sacred precincts, it being the second occasion on which any woman was
admitted. At night they witnessed a Spanish dance, conducted by many
ladies and gentlemen, under the direction of F. M. Whitney, Mrs. Bell,
and Mrs. Dibblee. The eventful day closed with a public reception,
participated in by 15,000 people.
Gen. Wm. Vandever delivered an address of welcome, to which the
President, responding, said:
_General Vandever, Gentlemen of the Committee and Friends_--If I
have been in any doubt as to the fact of the perfect identity of
your people with the American Nation, that doubt has been displaced
by one incident which has been prominent in all this trip, and that
is that the great and predominant and all-pervading American habit
of demanding a speech on every occasion has been characteristically
prominent in California. [Laughter.] I am more than delighted by this
visit to your city. It has been made brilliant with the display of
banners and flowers--one the emblem of our national greatness and
prowess, the other the adornment which God has given to beautify
nature. With all this I am sure I have read in the faces of the men,
women and children who have greeted me that these things--these
flowers of the field and this flag, representing organized
government--typify what is to be found in the homes of California.
The expression of your welcome to-day has been unique and tasteful
beyond description. I have not the words to express the high sense
of appreciation and the amazement that filled the minds of all our
party as we looked upon this display which you have improvised for our
reception. No element of beauty, no element of taste, no element of
gracious kindness has been lacking in it, and for that we tender you
all our most hearty thanks. We shall keep this visit a bright spot in
our memories. [Applause.]
BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 25.
The first stop of the presidential train on Friday, April 25, was at
Bakersfield, the gateway of the famous San Joaquin Valley, which was
reached at 8:30 in the morning. Fifteen hundred residents greeted the
President, who was met by W. E. Houghton, W. H. Scribner, W. Canfield,
and C. E. Sherman, constituting a special Committee of Reception. The
general committee for the occasion comprised the following prominent
citizens: N. R. Packard, E. M. Roberts, John J. Morrison, Emil
Dinkelspiel, H. L. Borgwardt, Jr., J. Neideraur, P. Galtes, O. D. Fish,
H. A. Jastro, Geo. K. Ober, Dr. Helm, J. J. Mack, E. A. Pueschel, S.
N. Reed, H. A. Blodget, C. A. Maul, Chas. E. Jewett, A. Harrell, G. W.
Wear, Wm. Montgomery, John Barker, H. P. Olds, E. Willow, B. Brundage,
B. A. Hayden, F. H. Colton, W. H. Cook, B. Ardizzi, C. C. Cowgill, L.
S. Rogers, John O. Miller, Geo. G. Carr, N. R. Wilkinson, A. Weill, H.
C. Lechner, S. W. Wible, Dr. John Snook, L. McKelvy, A. Morgan, E. C.
Palmes, John S. Drury, W. A. Howell, A. C. Maude, Chas. Vandever, Alonzo
Coons, T. A. Metcalf, R. M. Walker, Richard Hudnut, Sol. Jewett, J. C.
Smith, S. A. Burnap, H. H. Fish, S. W. Fergusson, J. W. Mahon, A. Fay,
Chas. Bickirdike, H. F. Condict, H. C. Park, and I. L. Miller.
A large number of beautiful bouquets were showered upon the party here.
Judge A. R. Conklin made the welcoming address. President Harrison spoke
as follows:
_My Friends_--I am very much obliged to you for your friendly
greeting and for these bouquets. You must excuse me if I seem a little
shy of the bouquets. I received one in my eye the other day which gave
me a good deal of trouble. You are very kind to meet us here so early
in the morning with this cordial demonstration. It has been a very
long journey, and has been accompanied with some fatigue of travel,
but we feel this morning, in this exhilarating air and this sweet
sunshine, and refreshed with your kind greeting, as bright and more
happy than when we left the national capital.
I am glad to feel that here, on the western edge of the continent,
in this Pacific State, there is that same enthusiastic love for the
flag, that same veneration and respect for American institutions, for
the one Union and the one Constitution, that is found in the heart
of the country. We are one people absolutely. We follow not men, but
institutions. We are happy in the fact that though men may live or
die, come or go, we still have that toward which the American citizen
turns with confidence and veneration--this great Union of the States
devised so happily by our fathers. General Garfield, when Mr. Lincoln
was stricken down by the foul hand of an assassin, and when that great
wave of dismay and grief swept over the land, standing in a busy
thoroughfare of New York, could say: "The Government at Washington
still lives." It is dependent upon no man. It is lodged safely in the
affections of the people, and having its impregnable defence and its
assured perpetuity in their love and veneration for law. [Cheers.]
TULARE, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 25.
Tulare was reached at 10 o'clock. Nearly 6,000 people awaited the
President's arrival. Capt. Thomas H. Thompson, E. W. Holland, and Hon.
O. B. Taylor met the distinguished travellers. The other members of the
committee were: Hon. John. G. Eckles, Hon. J. O. Lovejoy, I. N. Wright,
J. Wolfrom, E. T. Cosper, Hon. J. W. Davis, Sam Richardson, Dr. C. F.
Taggart, M. W. Cooley, H. H. Francisco, C. C. Brock, James Scoon, D. O.
Hamman, J. L. Bachelder, R. B. Bohannan, James Morton, A. O. Erwin, J.
B. Zumwalt, Hon. E. De Witt, Alfred Fay, J. H. Whited, J. A. Goble, W.
L. Blythe, M. M. Burnett, Scott Bowles, R. L. Reid, F. M. Shultz, B. F.
Moore, F. Rosenthal, Henry Peard, Sam Blythe, J. A. Allen, E. Lathrop,
E. J. Cox, J. F. Boller, Hon. G. S. Berry, R. Linder, Miles Ellsworth,
R. N. Hough, C. F. Hall, Dr. E. W. Dutcher, M. Premo, Hon. John Roth,
A. Borders, T. W. Maples, E. D. Lake, S. S. Ingham, D. W. Madden, Sam
Newell, M. C. Hamlin, W. C. Ambrose, H. C. Faber, C. Talbot, L. E.
Schoenemann, M. C. Hunt, G. W. Zartman, A. P. Hall, J. H. Woody, Isaac
Roberts, Capt. E. Oakford, J. C. Gist, H. F. Tandy, C. F. Stone, and Dr.
B. M. Alford.
The committee escorted the presidential party to a unique platform
constructed inside the stump of a gigantic redwood tree, and there was
ample seating capacity upon the platform for the entire party; about the
base of the great stump were arranged boxes of elegant flowers. Mrs.
Harrison and the other ladies in the party were escorted to the stand by
Mrs. E. B. Oakford, Mrs. T. H. Thompson, Mrs. G. J. Reading, and Mrs.
Patrick, of Visalia. Gettysburg Post, G. A. R., and Company E, from
Visalia, were a guard of honor to the Chief Magistrate.
Governor Markham introduced the President, who spoke as follows:
_My Friends_--This seems to be a very happy and smiling audience,
and I am sure that the gladness which is in your hearts and in
your faces does not depend at all upon the presence of this little
company of strangers who tarry with you for a moment. It is born of
influences and conditions that are permanent. It comes of the happy
sunshine and sweet air that are over your fields, and still more
from the contentment, prosperity, and love and peace that are in
your households. California has been spoken of as a wonderland, and
everywhere we have gone something new, interesting, and surprising has
been presented to our observation. There has been but one monotone in
our journey, and that is the monotone of universal welcome from all
your people. [Cheers.] Everything else has been new and exceptional at
every stop.
My own heart kindles with gladness, my own confidence in American
interests is firmer and more settled as I mingle with the great masses
of our people. You are here in a great agricultural region, reclaimed
from desert waste by the skill and energy of man--a region populated
by a substantial, industrious, thrifty, God-fearing people, a people
devoted to the institutions under which they live, proud to be
Americans, feeling that the American birthright is the best heritage
they can hand down to their children; proud of the great story of
our country from the time of independence to this day; devoted to
institutions that give the largest liberty to the individual and at
the same time secure social order. Here is the firm foundation upon
which our hopes for future security rest. What but our own neglect,
what but our own unfaithfulness, can put in peril either our national
institutions or our local organizations of government? True to
ourselves, true to those principles which we have embodied in our
Government, there is to the human eye no danger that can threaten the
firm base of our institutions.
I am glad to see and meet these happy children. I feel like kneeling
to them as the future sovereigns of this country, and feel as if
it were a profanation to tread upon these sweet flowers that they
have spread in my pathway. God bless them, every one; keep them in
the lives they are to live from all that is evil, fill their little
hearts with sunshine and their mature lives with grace and usefulness.
[Cheers.]
FRESNO, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 25.
A crowd of 10,000 greeted the party at Fresno; upward of 1,000 school
children were present, led by Professors Heaton, Sturges, and Sheldon.
The Committee of Reception consisted of Mayor S. H. Cole, Dr. Chester
A. Rowell, F. G. Berry, Dr. A. J. Pedlar, Dr. St. George Hopkins, W. W.
Phillips, I. N. Pattison, Louis Einstein, Nathan W. Moodey, C. W. De
Long, and J. C. Herrington. Altanta Post, G. A. R., Capt. Fred Banta,
Commander, also Company C, National Guard, Capt. M. W. Muller, and
Company F, Capt. C. Chisholm, participated in the reception. A number
of handsome floral designs and other mementoes were presented to the
several members of the party.
Dr. Rowell delivered the welcoming address. President Harrison,
responding, said:
_My Fellow-citizens_--It is altogether impossible for me to reach
with my voice this vast concourse of friends. I can only say I am
profoundly grateful for this enthusiastic greeting. I receive with
great satisfaction the memento you have given me of the varied
products of this most fertile and happy valley. I shall carry it with
me to Washington as a reminder of a scene that will never fade from
my memory. It is very pleasant to know that all these pursuits that
so much engage your thoughts and so industriously employ your time
have not turned your minds away from the love of the flag and of those
institutions which spread their secure power over all your homes. What
is it that makes the scattered homes of our people secure? There is no
policeman at the door; there is no guard to accompany us as we move
across this great continent. You and I are in the safe keeping of the
law and of the affection and regard of all our people. Each respects
the rights of the other. I am glad to receive this manifestation of
your respect. I am glad to drink in this morning with this sunshine
and this sweet balmy air a new impulse to public duty, a new love
for the Union and flag. It is a matter of great regret that I can
return in such a small measure your affectionate greeting. I wish it
were possible I could greet each one of you personally, that it were
possible in some way other than in words to testify to you my grateful
sense of your good-will. [Cheers.]
MERCED, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 25.
The presidential party arrived at Merced shortly after noon and was
welcomed by several thousand enthusiastic residents. The Committee of
Reception was composed of the following representative citizens: E. T.
Dixon, Maj. G. B. Cook, L. R. Fancher, C. H. Marks, E. M. Stoddard, S.
A. D. Jones, Frank Howell, W. J. Quigley, M. Goldman, C. E. Fleming, J.
H. Rogers, J. A. Norvell, Thomas Harris, Maj. C. Ralston, F. H. Farrar,
R. N. Hughes, Judge J. K. Law, Thomas H. Leggett, and H. J. Ostrander.
Hancock Post, G. A. R., J. Q. Blackburn, Commander, participated in the
reception. Three little girls, Dottie Norvell, Mattie Hall, and Baby
Ingalsbe, representing the citizens of Merced, presented Mrs. Harrison
with a beautiful souvenir in the shape of a large American flag woven
from roses and violets.
Chairman Dixon made the welcoming address, and President Harrison
replied in the following words: