Finally, all preparations for the evening were completed, and at noon, November 25, 1882, the Garfield Memorial Fair was formally opened by President Arthur. The Marine Band played lively national airs and gay music. The enthusiasm and the joyousness of the crowd were in vivid contrast to the scene of fourteen months before when the place was shrouded in crêpe and the body of the slain President lay on the catafalque less than a dozen steps from where his successor now stood. Less than four years after this spontaneous effort to start the fund to memorialize Garfield’s life and administration in marble or bronze, the President who spoke so feelingly of his slain chief was also in his grave, as were a number of officials who cheerfully and earnestly participated in the opening of the bazaar--David Davis, and Secretaries Frelinghuysen, Folger, and Howe. Every inch of space was occupied--all Washington, his wife, children, and lap dogs were present--for this was the period when the lap-dog craze swept the city on the Potomac with the same force as the fad for crazy quilts and the Mother Hubbard gown, which was so much the other extreme of tie-back skirts, street-sweeping trains, and bustles. Papers of the day tell of diminutive lap dogs with costly rings on their paws and engraved visiting cards for calling. All of the city attended, black and white alike seeking to see and to buy. Most popular of all attractions was the selling of chances on the elegant diamond earrings, the finger-rings, the lovely India shawl valued at $1,500, the handsome saddles, and other much-desired articles. From November 25th to December 3d pandemonium continued with the usual disputes, losses, and thefts, and when all of the débris was cleared away and the basement disgorged the loads of boxes whose contents had never been exhibited, it was found that, instead of the huge sum expected from the $50,000 gross receipts, the amount had dwindled through expenses and other channels to $7,000, the sum General Swaim was able to turn over to the Army of the Cumberland. So many charges of misappropriation of beautiful articles designed to be raffled or sold, so much of plain stealing was apparent, that a group of army officers conducted a quiet investigation, after which it was concluded wisest, safest, and best to drop the entire subject. Frances Hodgson Burnett, it is said, gave the Mother Hubbard its best advertisement at the fair, appearing garbed in this style gown made of lovely violet silk and elaborately trimmed with bolt upon bolt of dainty narrow lace and fluttering ribbons. President Arthur was denied the satisfaction of national approbation which his election to the Presidency would have given him, and as the close of his term drew near, he welcomed the relief of the release from the heavy burden. He entered into every plan for the reception of his successor, and extended every possible courtesy to the incoming administration.