Idaho semi-weekly world. (Idaho City, Boise County, Idaho Territory) 1867-1868, 1868-04-11

PURIM FESTIVAL CELEBRATION.
The New York 1sijx'se gives the

The New York 1ssJxSe Igsvss tn,
:fcllowing description of what it pro
.nounces the most brilliant and gor
geous entertainment ever YER Witnessed Of
this side Of the Atlantic-the Purin
Ball atPikes Opera House, March 9th
promising it with q brief account of the
origin of the festival :.
The. feast Of P.irish ii q .national Jew.
sish anniversaryiwhichr the Hebrews, no
longer q nation, commemorate, never,
theless. with zeal and pleasure, as mark.
ing glorious epoch in their ancestral
history. The event is tastefully illus
trated on the Purim Ball ticket, by a
steel engraving. portraying the Corona
tion of Queen Esther by Ahasuerus,
King Of Persia. It is recorded in his
tory that the King put away Queen
Vashti for disobeying his commands.
He afterwards saw Esther, loved her,
and crownedher as Queen The King,
and Haman, his vindictive Minister, at
tended a banquet given by Esther,
where she informed Ahasnefns of Ha-
mans intention to slay and destroy her
people. His wicked plans were frus-
trated by Esther, who, inspired by Nor
decai, saved her nation at the risk of
her own life. Toacommemorate the al
most miraculous salvation of their peo-
pie, and the destruction of their enc
mics, Mordecai and Esther introduced
the fast of the 18th Of Adar (the day of
danger) and the festival of Purim or
lots. Hannah and sons were hanged on
the gallows constructed for Mordecai,
and it was ordained that these days of
giadness and feasting should be remem-
bered, and kept throughout every gen.
Grafton, every family, every province,
and every city; and that the days of
Purim should not fail among the Jews,
nor the memorial of them perish. At
an early hour, immense calcium lights
threw their silyeryrays on the Twenty
third street entrance, rejecting the
shadows Of long line Of carriages
creeping toward the Opera House. The
merry maskers in their turn dashed over
the pavement and disappeared within
the baizc doors amid the tinkling of
bells, the, jingling .sof, spurs, and the
clanking Of sabres. The capacious
marble-foored lobby was lined with
well-dressed bungers, who regarded
the various masks with an evident de-
gree of curiosity, and flung many a wit
ty jest at the mock dukes and demons,
queens and fower.girls filing past the
door-keepers. The Reception Commit.
tee distributed the order of dances as
theparties drew up their rich robes
with a light laugh, and, daintily trip
ping up stairs, tiny satin CATERS peep
ed from .silken dominoes, and golden
bracelets, laughing in a wealth of sun
ny diamonds, nestled near cream-tinted
gloves. The floor was well filed with
maskers before 10 o'clock and the dane
ing commenced in earnest. The COS
tunes were, gorgeous and brilliant.
There might be seen the brilliant and
imperial Queen Elizabeth leaning on the
arm Of the gallant Mercutio. ) The vo-
luptuous Cieopatra telling her love to
the impetuous Antony. The beautiful,
bewitching, but ungratefu Jessicay
glided among the throng, her dark eyes
swept by lashes shade darker still;
her lips like half opened roses, and hair
as black as the ravens wing. The
dusky visaged Moor, Othello, scowled
on the maskers and dancers gliding by,
until Beatrice, selling him BY the Shout
der. almost twirled him among the md
sicians seated inthe dress-circle beneath
the floor. The connoisseur of female
charms might have seen every type of |;
beauty, from that Of the Greek grape
girl to that Of Tuilleries Princess.
The rich glow of the gashghtsshone, onI'
slittering diamonds, sapphires, rubies,
md delicate pink corals, producing a
scene Of great magnificence. There
we're; several novelties introduced dur-
ne the dancing. windmill ground
,ut couples like paired birds, "a kind.
# Leap Year arrangement. An lee
'erg from Walrussia was accompanied
" q huge crow, labeled 80 Street Con-
ractor,n with the corporation money in
is bill I Mufti KENNEDY " parade[l the X
oor Emf xuax orrocfod ..Ix, h.. r.s,o ~, 4 !,