Jester Inaugural  Program
Page 5

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prosperity, their happiness our happiness, their quarrels will
be our quarrels, and in their wars we will freely participate."

Forty-five years later Austin and Texas witnessed and took
part in the most festive and lavish inauguration ever held up to
that time.

Hogg became governor January 20, 1891.  His was the
first inauguration to be held in the new capitol building, and
all Texas came to the event.

The Inaugural celebration was lavish.  Fireworks displays
were set off from the roof of the Capitol.  There was the tra-
ditional torchlight parade up Congress Avenue, in those days
the mark of any important celebration.  Participants in the
parade wore oilcloth coats to protect themselves from falling
sparks and oil drippings.

Music from a number of orchestras resounded through the
hallways and the stairways of the capitol.  Dancers whirled and
waltzed around the rotunda and in the House of Representatives.

"Dignified matrons, gay young girls, befrizzled old men and
rising young men pressed their way through embankments of
silks, satins, decollate gowns and broad white shirt fronts for
hours, and tried to talk above the blasts of the bands that were
filling every nook and corner of the building ..."  That was the
report carried next day in the state press.

In those days liqueurs had their place at such functions.

"The pleasurable excitement of the waltz had put roses in
the cheeks of the ladies and a flash in the eyes of their cavaliers.
The flow of wine did not detract one iota from this condition."

The hugh hall, long since filled with bookshelves and books,
was decorated with potted plants and ferns from homes all over
Austin.

This was the only banquet ever served in the capitol in
celebration of an inauguration.

Among the more recent inaugurations Moody's is remembered
most frequently, although the ceremonies for James V. Allred
were as festive.  A dance and the official reception were held
in the Senate chamber the night of Moody's inauguration.  This
is the last dance ever held in the Senate chamber until the
square dance on the night of Gov. Jester's inauguration and the dances and
parties that followed not only because of Governor's popu-
larity, but because of the tremendous appeal of his youthfulness.

At 33, he was the youngest governor Texas ever had.

Dances were held at the Driskill and Austin Hotels, as well
as the Senate Chamber.

But wheter marked by gaiety and much celebration or
observed with calmness and simplicity, the inauguration of a
Texas Governor is always a highlight in the eyes of Texas.

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