20 
EVERGREEN LOI)GE T 
Tuesday there was ail excursion from Nash- 
ville, Wednesday there were parties from 
Elkton, Bowling Green and Russellville, and 
Thursday from Princeton and Hopkinsville, 
li-ach day the ladies of the association met the 
guests with carriages and took them to the 
greenhouse. 
Clarksville Daily Progress. 
Yesterday the great chrysanthemum show, 
of which so much has been said and written 
in the last month, was opened with all the 
eclat that so important an occasion demand- 
ed- J he weather was perfect, as if nature it- 
self smiled on the noble object of the Ladies’ 
Monumental Association, and lavished on 
their fete all l er riches of blue and gold au- 
tumnal days. 
Up at Evergreen Lodge, where the flower 
show is to be held, everything was in gala 
attire. The air was heavy with the spicy 
sweetness of chrysanthemums, with here and 
there a breath of belated roses, the crisp wind 
flaunted the stars and stripes in the breeze 
from a dozen flagstaff's, a pretty little plat- 
form for the orator had been erected fronting 
a gentle declivity and tastefully decorated 
with masses of potted plants, there were ani- 
mated groups of pretty women strolling 
about the lovely grounds, and altogether it 
looked more like a biggarden party than any- 
thing else. 
Rut the chrysanthemums themselves were 
naturally the first object of interest, for it is 
a well-known fact that Capt. Crusman’s col- 
lection is the finest in the South, if not in- 
deed this side of New York. One whole green- 
house has been set apart and no money or 
pains is spared to get and propagate the finest 
specimens of this royal flower of Japan. In 
front of this long conservatory, just by the 
door through which one catches tantalizing 
glimpses of billowy masses of bloom, is the 
headquarters of the Ladies’ Monumental As- 
sociation, and where they have encamped 
under a banner bearing thesignlflcent legend: 
L here are no tears more holy than those 
shed by weeping beauty at the grave of van- 
quished valor.” Within among the flowers 
is a green bank of cacti on which is picked 
out in purple immortelles the sentence that 
strikes the key note of all the association has 
done and hopes to do : “In memory of U. S. A 
they bravely foughtand bravely fell.” 
It Is like a minor chord, that phrase in all' 
tins brightness and gladness, for the air is full 
of gay laughter, there are hundreds of flags 
above one’s head, the star and crescent of the 
orient, sacred dragons, and theeensigns of far 
Japan, and about all the delicious, penetrat- 
ing odor of the flower whose feast of beauty 
is being celebrated y 
One who remembers the little bunch of 
chrysanthemums in some quiet country <rar- 
deu ks a little bewildered by all this prodi- 
gality of bloom and beauty. There they are 
in rank and file of loveliness, white, red, yel- 
iow, pink, mauve, they run the whole gamut 
or color. Here is one like a snow-drift out of 
as master of ceremonies, introduced Itev. Dr, 
A. D. Senrs, the chaplain of Forbes Bivouac, 
who deli vered a sho rt prayer, 1 » vok lug divine 
guidance and assistance in the matter about 
to be inaugurated. At the close of the prayer 
Capt. ( rusniiln introduced the handsome and 
eloqueut orator of the day, Hon. Joe Wash- 
ington, member of congress from this dis- 
trict, who spoke with a directness and earn- 
est eloquence that charmed his audience. 
Clarksville Daily Chronicle. 
The opening exercises of the chrysanthe - 
mum show were highly ini cresting and were 
largely attended. The crowd was variously 
estimated at 200 to 500 people. 
The grounds were decorated with rare flow- 
ers and with United .States flags. A banner 
at the entrance to the hot-honse containing 
the chrysanthemums, bears the following in- 
scription: “There are no tears more holy than 
those of weeping beauty at the grave of van- 
quished valor. 
The Hon. Jas. A. McKenzie was asked for a 
suitable inscription for the banner, and the 
above beautiful and touching one was sug- 
gested by him. 
A stage was erected on the lawn in the in- 
closure and was beautifully trimmed off with 
flowers and tropical plants. 
Forbes Bivouac formed a line of march at 
the court-house about 2 o’clock, headed by the 
C. C. G. drum corps and Hayden’s brass band 
marched out to the Lodge, where the crowd 
was addressed by the Hon. Jos. E. Washing- 
ton. The gentleman spoke briefly but elo- 
quently. He paid the members of Forbes 
Bivouac a tribute in his flowery style, and 
turning to the ladies he poured out a stream 
of eloquent praise that thrilled every bosom 
with rapture, and every heart with' patriot- 
ism. 
After the speaking the crowd was invited 
to visit the display of beauty characteristic of 
Evergreen Lodge— the chrysanthemums. Sev- 
eral hundred people marched up and de- 
posited their dimes and took a look at the 
flowers. The general verdict was that it was 
the finest display ever seen in the South. 
♦ X 2 ■ wuwiac a ouww-urui OUl oi 
time eight inches it measures across its 
deep fringed fronds, here is another red as if 
dipped in blood, here another you could 
swear is a wild aster from a Northern brook 
and here is still another that with its deep 
mysterious blending of a hundred colors 
looks as some priceless orchid might in its 
far off tropical home. 
You might spend a day among them, still 
unssitisfled. until you forget this is not Tokio 
and the fair maid who is your patient guide 
not some \ um-Yum standing at home among 
her own flowers in Japan. 
But already the band was beginning to play 
on the lawn and coming up in a column that 
was rather more ragged than it used to be 
when it. faced the enemy’s smoking batteries 
was frorbes Bivouac. There was a cheer for 
the veteraus and then Capt. Crusman, acting 
Clarksville Democrat. 
There is not we presume, in the entirecoun- 
try, any city that is more interested in chrys- 
anthemums than Clarksville is to day. 
Special trains and a large concourse of peo- 
ple is the order of the day. Soldiers in uni- 
form, a brass band, drum corns, and about 250 
of Tennessee and Kentuck’s fairest daughters 
from the Clarksville Female Academy, help- 
ed to make things gay out there yesterday. 
Superintendent Morton says, pretty girls 
pretty flowers and sweet music, is all on earth 
that’s worth living for— these blessings he 
now enjoys to his heart’s content. 
Nashville Daily American. 
A party of ladies and their friends left 
Nashville yesterday by special train to visit 
the chrysanthemum exhibition at Clarks- 
ville. This display is the finest in the coun- 
try, the entire place being one vast bed of 
flowers and the largest floral gardens any- 
where in the South. The ladies were charm- 
ed with all they saw— of the beauty of the 
c h ry san t. h em u ms, th ey say t h e h a I f can never 
be told. Capt. Crusman not only threw his 
charming residence open to them, hut tore 
the latch strings completely away. A sumptu- 
ous dinner was served, and the remainder of 
the evening was spent strolling through the 
lawns and green- houses— it was a most en- 
joyable occasion, that all those who were for- 
tunate enough to be present will never forget 
Another excursion is fixed for Friday. ' 
