adjourned to the Varied Industries
Building, where luncheon was served. After a brilliant display of
fireworks in the evening at the Stadium, the board of lady managers
entertained a distinguished company at dinner, which closed the
festivities of opening day.

The following is the final report of the committee on entertainment and
ceremonies:

The board of lady managers took possession of their new building
which had been completed and furnished and was ready for
occupancy at the time they arrived in St. Louis for the meeting,
April 28, which was the first to be held in their own house, and
afforded them the earliest opportunity to see the structure and
the result of the work that had been done in preparing and
furnishing it for their use.

The first entertainment given by them was in honor of the
president and members of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
Commission, on the evening of April 30, the official opening day
of the exposition. Invited to meet them was the representative
of the President of the United States, Secretary Taft, the
president of the Exposition Company and Mrs. Francis, the
directors of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company and their
wives, the governors of the States represented at the opening
exercises and their wives, the Senators, and Members of the
House, representing the two bodies of Congress, and other
distinguished visitors and citizens. It was a most brilliant and
interesting gathering, and not only rounded out the opening day
with satisfaction to all, but inaugurated the series of
entertainments that were to be afterwards given in the building
of the board of lady managers.

In the argument of President Francis before the appropriation
committee, in January, 1903, when asking Congress to make the
additional loan, he said:

"We are the nation's hosts, as we understand it. We propose to
entertain distinguished people from every section of the globe.
* * * Bear in mind we are entertaining the guests of the
Government, we think we are benefiting the commerce of the
country; we think we are doing a patriotic service in
commemorating a great event and bringing all classes into closer
relations, cementing the ties that bind the different sections
of the nation, affording our people opportunity to see something
of the people and customs and the reso