The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-16
THE FRENCH CARNIVAL.

As few people carried prayer books to the
Academy Of Music last night thee is little need to
dilate upon the decline OF religion. In other
words as the occasion was st apart for the
special purpose of enjoyment, AMI tnat OF charac
ter which abOunds in attractiveless, there Is moth
ino lett but to chronicle the evnt as 1t occurred
and in truth q merrier part never thrOnged
the great building than that which at
tended the ninth annual fancy dress ball
of the ..Cercle Francois do i Harmonic"
Favored by all the racy elenrnts that go to make
masquerade agreeable-ioI wanting q certain
amount of refined spice, itbecomes bore-the
entertainment last night, point OF numbers,
humor completeness OF deta and general hilarity.
BY far surpassed any precious effort Of the
society. Everybody who goes to q masked
ball has his own expectations, and in
speaking OF the success { such amusements 1t
must be borne in mind tn, q great deal depends
upon the pleasure which sch individual derives
from the surroundings. onsiderinR, then, that
no feature was wanting tcontribute to the de-
lights OF those who attend either from motives
OF curiosity or to participe In the fun 1t may be
inferred that the affair forded general satsfac-
ton. Excellent rules, kdly. though firmly, en-.
forced, had the much desed eject Of preserving
that decOrum without With the ball would have
been worse than lure. And 1t would
seem that the Commits OF Arrangements had
determined to do their most to please the pa
Tor the occasion. The Africans are hard worked
peopIe, and one OF thelrlique pleasures on visit
sIna ' a1d be- Wildly sntnstic, simply giving ree
dom to the sweet and rong feelings which the
human soul possesses, which must somehow
reproduce much that fascinating in Europe
during carnival times any OF our social usages
bear an unmistakable ench tinge, and u we,
ND ~ inn thA fyfn
yas which business PEG can spare, almost rival
the Efforts not OF artisalone but OF populations
| trained from childhood tastes which carry with
| them the OdOr of inspu0n, there Is much to be
| thankful for The "CerdFrancats de rHarmonte'
| dld wonders last night was generally under
stood that no effort wd pc spared to render the
| made. The programmimDraced quite variety
| OF events among theming an excellent chorus,
tne nroceedinrs with lotions from well known
Opern bOst0es, the masraders joining In the pro-
| ccssion, which was exdingly picturesque. Then
ia file de Madame Dt.n A noticeable feature
| was the Huntsmen Auadrille, with hunting
horns and trumpets pH Icing an admirable effect.
| eucn q variety OF cones been displayed. and
those, too, OF kind astly as they were hand
some and appropriate would be superhuman
D r,sSS '' sunlce that from Darwin's
monkey to the 81 OF Persia representa-
were H1a es nosn ana q aCc
And now in spprong the delicate topic
of the ladies, itaay be said In lair
ness that they appel in strong force; that
they were fascinatlfo an alarming degree
and entered into the 4 OF the occasion with all
the xest ana actvitHt the most ardent ad-
mrer OF the Mabile d desire. suitable pro-
gramme Of dancing vrranged and well carried
out. Among some OF tttists who took part In the
entertainment were Majtlton family, the Zig
Gags and the Raynorlly, whose performances
were heartily enj0yt Altogether the society
did its work well Aldnight the ball was in
full swing, and there then every prospect that
the merry multitude Id continue in festive
mood till "jocund daood tiptoe on the misty
mountain top"