Once more the Pension Office was used for the inaugural ball, where twelve thousand people gave the new presidential party a royal welcome. A notable feature in the decoration was a huge ship of state made entirely of flowers, suspended from the ceiling and so constructed as to shower the presidential party with blossoms as they entered. This floral piece was thirty feet long and was the largest design ever made of natural flowers. Mrs. Harrison’s beautiful pearl brocade gown with its elaborate gold embroidery and long train was much admired. It was of especial interest to the women of the land, as there had been such an effort put forth to induce her to wear décolleté. She emphatically refused, and her ball gown, open a little at the throat, filled in with old point lace, with its elbow sleeves, was sufficiently rich and elegant to please the most critical. So much had been said to her on the question of her dress for this event that, in making her decision against the low-cut and sleeveless gown, she said, in an interview on February 22, 1889: “If there is one thing above another I detest and have detested all my days it is being made a circus of, and that is what has come to me in my old age, as it were. I’ve been a show, the whole family’s been a show since Mr. Harrison was elected. All last fall I sat in my sewing room and watched the procession of feet pass across the parlour floor wearing their path into the nap, and disappear like the trail of a caravan into the General’s room beyond. Day by day, I watched the path grow wider and deeper, and at last the caravan spread out and engulfed us all. But I don’t propose to be made a circus of forever! If there’s any privacy to be found in the White House, I propose to find it and preserve it.” [Illustration: _Photo. by Brady_ MRS. BENJAMIN HARRISON Showing her pin of the Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she was the first President General] With the inauguration festivities over, President Harrison gave first attention to those who were to be his immediate advisers in his administration. He was fortunate in his running mate, Levi P. Morton, a Vermonter by birth, who had risen from a position as country store clerk to that of partner in a Boston firm. Later, he founded banks in New York and abroad in England, heading Morton Bros. and Company, later the Morton Trust Company. He served with credit in Congress during 1878 and 1880, and from 1885 to 1887 rendered valued service as Minister to France. His influence and prestige counted for much.