Visit of the Hon. Carl Schurz to Boston/Report of the Boston Morning Journal

22nd March, 1881.

Reported for the Boston Journal.

The Hon. Carl Schurz dined last evening with 250 citizens of Massachusetts whose invitation had brought him to Boston that he might receive from them an expression of their appreciation of his services as Secretary of the Interior and in other public places. The scores of honored names which appear in the report that follows give weight to the compliment paid Mr. Schurz, and the earnestness and enthusiasm of the gathering raised it far above the suspicion of mere formality. The demonstration was successful in everything that goes to make a success. And the kindly sentiments which were expressed with so much sincerity must have driven from the memory of the guest of the event many of the bitter words which have fallen to him in a long and conspicuous public service.

At 6 o'clock, after a short reception in the parlors of the Hotel Vendome, the company proceeded to the dining hall, where all were seated without confusion or delay. The Divine blessing was invoked by the Rev. James Freeman Clarke, and then dinner was served according to the following

MENU.

OYSTERS.

SOUP.

Green Turtle. Bullion.

FISH.

Chicken Halibut, Gratiné, à la Normand,

Broiled Shad, à la Maître d'Hôtel.

Cucumbers.

REMOVES.

Braised Capon, Sauce Perigord,

Filet of Beef, with Mushrooms,

Spring Lamb, Mint Sauce.

Potatoes Parisienne.         String Beans.

ENTREES.

Sweetbreads, with Peas, en Caisses,

Filet of Turkey, à la Richelieu.

COLD ORNAMENTAL DISHES.

Hure de Sanglier, à la St. Hubert,

Bass Harlequin, Garni, d'Hâtelets,

Volière de Gibier, à la Diplomate,

Galantine de Dindonneau, à la Americain.

GAME.

Canvas Back Duck,           Prairie Chicken.

Lettuce Salad.

Cheese,            Olives.

DESSERT.

Biscuit Glacé,      Meringue Baskets,

Champagne Jelly,      Horn of Plenty,       Assorted Cake,

Ice Cream,      Fruit.

COFFEE.

Some of the Gentlemen Present.

There were six handsomely set tables, five of which were at right angles to the guest table. At the centre of the latter sat the Chairman, the Hon. Charles R. Codman, with Mr. Schurz and President Eliot of Harvard College at his right and left, respectively. Among other prominent gentlement present were the following named: Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Hon. Henry L. Pierce, the Hon. Samuel C. Cobb, the Hon. Chas. R. Train, the Hon. R. M. Morse, Jr., the Rev. George E. Ellis, D. D., the Hon. F. W. Bird, the Hon. Leopold Morse, Dr. E. B. De Gerdsdorff, the Hon. John M. Forbes, the Hon. Edward L. Pierce, ex-Senator Wadleigh of New Hampshire, the Hon. John E. Sanford, the Hon. Harvey Jewell, the Hon. R. M. Pulsifer, the Hon. W. W. Greenough, the Hon. John P. Spaulding, the Hon. John Cummings, Col. T. W. Higginson, the Hon. James Sturgis, the Hon. Francis P. Thompson, the Hon. H. H. Coolidge, the Hon. Martin Brimmer, Prof. William B. Rogers, Prof. Charles Eliot Norton, the Hon. George G. Crocker, Dr. William Everett, Messrs. Mahlon D. Spaulding, Asa Potter, Samuel Johnson, Francis H. Peabody, William G. Weld, Henry Villard, Causten Browne, William Perkins, Weston Lewis, A. L. Coolidge, Hamilton A. Hill, J. Lewis Stackpole, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Clement Hugh Hill, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., D. L. Godkin, William G. Russell, William Perkins, George William Bond, Sebastian B. Schlesinger, Ezra Farnsworth, George M. Pullman, Samuel Bowles, Edward Atkinson, E. B. Haskell, Justin Winsor, R. Montgomery Sears, E. D. Barbor, A. S. Wheeler, John C. Ropes, R. H. Stearns, John F. Andrew, Oakes Ames and Henry Cabot Lodge.

The Banquet Hall.

The setting for the banquet was bright enough to satisfy the most exacting. The walls of the room in which it was served are tinted with a pale brown hue, against which mahogany casings for the doors and windows and mirrors show in high relief. The ceiling of the apartment is of pearly white, lined and cross-lined with heavy moldings. From it depend chandeliers of hammered brass, each of which bore last evening a cluster of golden lights, above and below which was wreathed a profusion of laurel, in which was embedded scarlet geranium blossoms that glowed like great rubies. Bracket lamps, similarly decorated, added their lustre to that of their greater auxiliaries, all combined shedding a broad glow of radiance over the tables around which the guests were gathered. The tables were draped with snowy linen, upon which glistened massive silver, sparkled fragile crystal, and shone masses of exotics, from which rose all the fragrance of the garden. Here and there at frequent intervals were masterpieces of the culinary art in sugar, in cake and in meats, some of them typical, like the eagle and the dove, others designed simply to please. In the alcoves of the apartment were palms, ferns, flowering altheas and designs of cut flowers that contrasted finely with their background, between which and the company they interposed as a gorgeous screen. Upon pedestals in the corners were these designs wrought in white and red pinks: At the right of the guest of the evening crossed swords; at his left a ship-rigged craft; opposite the first an anchor; contrasted with the other a crown. At first, black coats and white cravats had no rivals as occupants of this charming interior, but later on some ladies in demi-toilets joined the company, leaving nothing in the ensemble to be desired.

The Music.

The Germania Band, in an apartment adjoining the main hall, contributed to the pleasure of the company by the performance of the following programme during the evening:

At half-past eight o'clock the company was called to order by the Chairman, and then followed three hours of such speaking as one seldom has the opportunity of hearing in a single evening. Every style of oratory had its representative; the Chairman, vigorous and impassioned; the distinguished guest, calm and forcible, with a way of stating things so clearly that the listener could hardly believe that the ideas were not his own; Dr. Eliot, scholarly and incisive; the venerable Dr. Ellis, weighty with the wisdom of years, and with a calmness of statement born of long study and much thinking; Dr. Clarke, combining playfulness and earnestness, but with the true patriotic spirit pervading all; Mr. Pierce, eloquent and logical; Dr. De Gersdorff, full of remembrances of the old land and of love for the new; and Col. Lyman, brimming over with humor and good feeling. The beginning and the end of the Chairman's opening address were marked by enthusiastic cheering, and the frankness and vigor of his words aroused the greatest enthusiasm. When he introduced Mr. Schurz that gentleman was greeted with nine cheers, given standing.

Address by the Hon. Charles R. Codman.

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