New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-03-05
yae arrsTrcR zxRRwR.
BY MARY ASHLEY.

.s5szs ------ss---
By MARY AsHLEY.
had been reading at my desk late III the eve,
ing. The subject had accidentally chosen f.
perusal was a lengthy article, descriptive Of ce
tain company, organized in a Southern city. STYLE
the Mistick Krewe of Comus. imagined il mo.
fantastic e Krewe,n with mirth provoking mask,
satifes written in a sleeve, sermons trailing in
gown, laughter hanging in the locks, ana Comu
everywhere. rose and went to my window.
had been raining hard, but the storm had passe
away. The moistencd lips Of the silent nigh
smiled with the sweetness of a thousand flowers
1t was warm, and through the starry windows q
heaven shone the lamps of the angels.
Whence comes this Mistick Krewe, I thought
and whittier does it gos Even more mystariou
than the Masonic brotherhood, no magic pdss-wor
gives the entr6e to its unknown lodge, no silen
finger laid upon the wrist wins the grasp of fellow
ship. Who knows the names Of this strange com
panic not even the wives and daughters Of thos
who constitute it! Who has ever dared to rails,
1 the yisors Of these mysterious knights and claim
acquaintanceship? Not one. Upon one day il
4 every year the mystic brotherhood gather to
/ gethsr, smile their smiles, make their merr,
4 speeches, sing their gay songs, and dance thei
light dances no lady refusing her hand to e Mis-
tick, lest she thus unwttingy may tell friend
lover nay Merry go the hours till the last stroke
i Of some reproachful clock tells them the carniya
/ is over. They disperse-they vanish. For yeal
4 the world whirls them around and claims them
| They are individuals of business -polti
! clans fathers Of families lovers-but the last
| day of their year again resolves them into one
body. Again they come out from their secret
| hiding places again the crowd stares - stands
back and gazes on We Mistick Krewe of comus.
! Musing in the still starlight, my brow dropped
| upon my hand--then sank upon the window-sill.
| think dreamed dream.
| I found myself aTong ascrowdy swaying, watch.
ing, standing or.iie tip-toe Of expectation knew
not what I5oked for, yet stood and watched.
Sudden; in the dim distance there appeared pro-
cessgn Of bluelights, they nearer and nearer,
aid at last revealed group after group Of marble
statuary borne on wagons, and drawn by horses
covered with white mantles. The crowd shouted,
swelled and swayed, and applauded. The pale
warriors and haggard chieftains kept on their mo-
tionless course. They looked down, but smiled
not; their uplifted swords inflicted no wounds,
their outstretched hands offered no greetings. ]
laid my hand upon my heart and held my breath.
It seemed sudden coming of the dead among the
quick. Men who first sat foot upon our soil and
hailed it as new discovery, men who had died
fighting our battles, men whose glorious lives
adorned the historic page, aud whose noble deaths
in honored memory were urned in every patriotic
heart; all were there in my vision, looking down
at me, never smiling, never speaking. Gazing on
the palhd groups, bowed my head in reverence to
that Great Sculptor, who fashioned those noble
forms, these rounded limbs. which, in manly grace
and beauty, deed the chisel of the earthly artist
When | lifted my head, they were gone! The
night seemed to have folded her raven wings
around and hidden them all. The crowd was bear
ing me away. Istruggled to extricate myself In
vain. could neither move to the right hand or
the left, and, at last, found myself among still
denser multitude, standing near the deorsteps of
tall white temple, which men called the Temple of
Art.
Hooked around me in amazement The damp
walks were thronged with fair women, whose frail
ind delicate beauty seemed little fitted for such
ruthless exposure to night air, and whose tender
orms were scarcely suited to mingle with mob,
wen though quiet one, besieging the great en-
rance of the cave of Comus, which he had merci-
essly barricaded. Little slippers, soaked through,
npatently patted the wet pavement; and bare
honlders shuddered as the slowly dripping caves
FLASHED great drops upon their unprotected
eauty. Fair brows, girdled with garlands,
rowned under their flowers; and red lips pouted |
t We ungallant Mistiek Krewe, which resisted SO |
toutly the siege Of beauty.
At last, bolt was shot-another and another. |
he door opened little way. Then came rush,
crush, forgetfulness of woman, of her weak
sss and her sex; forgetfulness of man. of his
rbearance and protective gentlepess. Everybody
lshed-everybody pushed. Ladies fought their
ay with their white elbows and shoulders Gen
smen crushed past them, demanding right Of way.
le door-keeper, who tried to pass them in by
uples, gave up in despair and they passed in by
owds. Up the winding stair, groaning under the
sly feet, the crushing crowd went on; and ladies'
IRE jostled and pushed and bore it with a sub
ssion never before realized except in dreams
Oh as this dreamt / was swept by a friendly
,e, which in days of yore had known we'll Tt
d been friend in F. L. I. only had time to
lie, to hear a word of greeting, to note that if
$ face was type of all who belonged to Comus
was well with them, for it grew not old, but
ined brighter eye as it winked at the course of
le, and lighter lip as it longer lived The next
,ment was in o. seat and looked round. Behold!
: recent barren wilderness of dress circle was
,oming like rose. Like fairies raising their
lght heads out Of sunny mists, young girls and
ltely danes looked out of feecy drapery Of rose
lor, Of white, of blue, Of yellow. Surely, /
ought IN my dream, women were made to adorn.
range, that among them are spirits constantly
juggling to climb over the white paiing which
vides the sexes-the vegetable garden from the
lrterre. Discontinued, they long to grow with
e potatoes, the corn, the onions, the bearded
ain. They jealousy contend that these have
ghts and privileges denied to tulips and roses l.
AT the corn and potatoes go to market and com.
and high prices, and feed Presidents and sena.
rs They see no use in being more delicate
ore beautiful, if they, too, cannot be commended
epieures, applauded at Senatorial tables. They
'rget how roughly these poor things are plowed
nong, hoed and pulled about before thew reach
ERECTION, and how recklessly they are diooed
Ut Of their quiet resting places to 90 forth unon
1e world, to be tossed about, to rise and fall,
1th the fluctuations of market awhile. then nerisb
ut Of sight forever. They forget with what lander
are and attention the lilies and roses are reared
ow carefully every noxious weed is plucked from
mong them, how they are shielded from blazing
ms and bitter blasts. They forget how thew cheer
ne soul aud delight the eye, beautiful even in d.
ay--how they minister to the sick and char ~