ministers, many of whom are dressed in their gorgeous state robes.
According to law, Congress must come to an end at noon; but if the
presidential party has not made its appearance when the Senate clock is
about to point to twelve, the hands are moved back a few minutes so as
to gain time. And before the hands are allowed to get around to twelve,
everybody has arrived, everything is in readiness, and the President of
the Senate has administered the oath of office to his successor, the new
Vice-President of the United States, who at once calls an extra session
of the Senate, so that not a moment elapses between the death of one
session and the birth of another. Then, after a short prayer by the
chaplain and a brief address by the Vice-President, the distinguished
people gathered in the Senate form in line, and, headed by a company of
newspaper reporters, they march in dignified procession to the rotunda,
and thence to the platform on the east front of the Capitol.

The nine justices of the Supreme Court, clothed in their black robes,
walk out on the platform first, followed by the President-elect. As soon
as the crowd catches sight of him, a deafening shout breaks forth from
fifty thousand throats, and, amid the enthusiastic uproar that lasts
several minutes, hats and canes, umbrellas and handkerchiefs, are waved
aloft or thrown wildly into the air by joyous and patriotic Americans.
Removing his hat, the President-elect comes forward, and, turning to the
Chief Justice of the United States, takes the oath of office as required
by the Constitution. Then comes the inaugural address, which, of course,
only those near the platform are able to hear. But the thirty or forty
thousand who can't hear the speech are willing to agree with everything
that is said, and every little while they shout and cheer and applaud.

[Illustration: THE INAUGURATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD]