The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-07-19
ONIDA,-0K WHAT Is ITS
BIZ PETER PALMETER.
For the Sunday Crescent

FOR the Sunday Crescentl
Yes, what is it, What is 0nida, Is It he, or
is he a she! Does he restrict himself to tight
trousers and burn Figaros; or does she indulge
in irowsy hair and inky fngersl Does his coat
shine instead Of his shoes, and his hat, is it ven
ersbly old; or does she array herself in purple
and fine linen, with lace bonnet, and Hortense
boots TO mstch-or do they not, That's what we
want to know.
This subject is one which intend to put at rest
finally and forever. have known Olida long !:
/ mean through 0nida's productions. l have read
Of Berries, and Cecils. and Floras, and Beatrces,
until ] have almost come to hate my sponsors in
baptism for allowing me the unromantic and IN
a.istorratic name by which | am known to the
world. Therefore, and by reason Of this afOre
mentioned familiarity, | think | am entitled to
pass an opinion upon the sex and condition of the
person under discussion.
Some have asserted, with airs of grave suthOr
ty, that Onida is a man. Others contend as vehe
menty that she is woman. These tell us she
lives in the Virginia mountains; those reply II is
certainly a mistake, and that he is an habitue Of
st. James street and the Row. Still another
party has different version for which they stand
up eoutly- and 30 they go. They are all wrong
As much so as the man who tried to swallow the
cToss.cut saw for dose of sediiz powders. Il
vert the wrong way and choked him.
That 0nida is original no one will deny-except
Onymous, which is next door to a noneatity so
we won't notice him. 0nida ia also cratic
Onida never speaks except through other people.
Onida is enveloped m obscurity, and very natur
ally IN curiosity. IAN obscure things may be said
10 be Jobs )curious, mayn't they y Onda has ex-
cited en- intense wonder interest and admiration
10 the minds of an enlightened public. and as for
Onids's individuality no one knows what il is, but
every one asks, what is it! Now, | think it q
safe rule in such Investigations to conclude our.
selves successful when we find one with all the
characteristics of the person we search for.
Promising thus much proceed.
Some years ago happened to visit the museum
of q certain notorious charlatan. at that place
Of multitudnous impostures I saw a creature in
form more closely resembling an emancipated ape
than anything else to which | can compare it,
and yet there wss a difference. This difference
was expressed by the intorrogative and cabalis
tic words: what IL il ~ which was the term
used TO designate the animal. II was repre-
sented TO have been captured in the interior of
Africa, and was said (Of course) to have puz-
zeled naturalists and Swans without number
For a long time | have heard nothing of this
creature, and ] am compelled to the belief that
II hasaeOught retirement in the shades Of it's
Gown dear native home" Furthermore, / be-
here a 10 Be OHidG. From those impenetrable
Businesses, ard inspired by all the luxuriant
warmth Of tropic sun he sends forth his pro-
auctions to entrance, allure and then dazzle aud
ds8ppoint a public which annoyed him by its
gaze and irritated him by its remarks during the
period Of his captivity.
IN proof of this will only point to its IN.
known character, its silence. except through the
lips Of others, the deep mystery surrounding il,
its originality, it's frequent incomprehensibiity,
is cratic disposition. and the amount of won
der. interest and admiration excited by it in the
minds of the public, and then ask if these, sep
sratsy and collectively, do not set beyond the
reach of doubt the identity of the two, and
show plainly that Onida is-nether more nor
less, but clearly and conclusively-What is it