252 RECEPTION TO CAPTAIN C. D. S1GSBEE, U. S. N. 



reception on Saturday to meet my associates of the Society as well as 

 other residents of Washington, I beg to thank you sincerely for the kind 

 sentiments which you express. The honor which the Society proposes 

 for me I accept most gratefully, not alone for the good will towards my- 

 self, but also because the occasion will reflect honor on those who served 

 with me on board the Maine at Havana. 



To come out of so great a disaster with honor and to have the fact con- 

 firmed in so positive a manner is a satisfaction that lies nearest the heart 

 of every survivor of the Maine. 



With full appreciation of your offer, which . please express to the 

 Society, I am, 



Yours most sincerely and most respectfully, 



C. D. Sigsbee, 

 Captain, U. S. Navy. 



Three days later — namely, on the evening of Saturday, April 

 2 — the parlors of the Arlington Hotel were crowded with one of 

 the most brilliant and distinguished assemblages ever brought 

 together in the National Capital, the President of the United 

 States, the Vice-President and Mrs Hobart, and an exception- 

 ally large gathering of statesmen, diplomatists, scientists, mili- 

 tary and naval officers of high rank, and other distinguished 

 persons to the number of 1,690 uniting to do honor to the So- 

 ciety's guest, to whom each of them was presented by President 

 Bell. 



Rarely has a purely scientific society performed a function so 

 entirely en rapport with public sentiment and been so truly 

 " national " in any of its doings. Everything conspired to give 

 a national character to the occasion. In addition to the attend- 

 ance of the Chief Magistrate of the Nation and of a gathering in 

 which few states of the Union and few departments of the na- 

 tional life were not specially represented, a guard of honor was 

 furnished by the U. S. Marine Corps, whose band, stationed in 

 the ball-room, performed a selection of patriotic music, under 

 special orders from the Secretary of the Navy, while the brilliant 

 salons set apart for the occasion were decorated with the hand- 

 somest national flags and emblems the resources of the govern- 

 ment could furnish. 



J. H. 



