Show THE INITIAL BLL The Eighteenth Waftdew Open Their New and Handsome Structure Ward The people of Eighteenth to last evening turned out in force celebrate the first ball in their new Independent In-dependent Schoolhouse the subsan tial and handsome building which stands near the ward chapeland which completion By a is now ncarlng strong effort the building committee had succeeded finishing the upstairs hall designed as a lecture room study room ball room embryo theatre and concert hall in one and the ball occurred oc-curred there last evening about 250 people beint present Expressions of astonishment were heard on every hand at the progress which had been made The room is high lace and airY with a sloping ceiling the stage and proscenium arch are high and roomv and the arch has been gilded and decorated very handsomely by W C Morris The gas pipes had been laid throughout the building and the stage arranged with all the modern conveniences con-veniences as to footlights border lights etc the ceiling over the stage is built in the style of a sounding board so that the voice is thrown to the front In every other nspect the acoustics of the building are firstclass Under the stage are two convenientlyarranged dressingroom The seating capacity of the entire hall fs about 300 Instead of the regulation schoolhouse stove the hall is heated by two grates which also serve the purposes pur-poses of ventilators Down stairs are the recitation rooms but they have only progressed as far as being plastered as yet Apostle F D Richards and President Presi-dent A M Cannon were present last evening and made remarks contrasting the present building with all its modern conveniences to the early schools of the lerritory and congratulating the people peo-ple of the ward on breaking the new and important ground they had done in building their school ehtirely by donations don-ations so that they could themselves say what should be taught there Bishop O F Whitney paid a tribute to the generosity of the people which had made the erection of the building possible pos-sible and urged them to continue the good work until its completion After these remarks the dance went on until 1 oclock when all dispersed with a general gen-eral vote of satisfaction at tile elegance and completeness of the building Toronto Tor-onto Thomassens Eighteenth Ward Band furnished very creditable music for the occasion It is the intention soon to give a public pub-lic musical and dramatic entertainment in the new hall for the benefit of the building fund |