Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1876-06-10
An Old Time Fete.

A writer tells us of fete, given by
Washington, on the Hudson river, in
honor of the birth of an heir to the
throne of the French monarch, who had
been the active ally of the Americans in
their struggle for independence. 1t
took place on the last day of May, 1882,
A beautiful arbor was made, more than
two hundred feet in length and eighty
in width, constructed of evergreen trees,
which formed colonnade Of more than
hundred pillars. 1t was rooted with
boughs and tent cloths. Branches curl
ously woven formed a sort of pediment,
on which were displayed emblematic de-
vices, the feor-de-liS being prominent.
Every column was encircled by muskets
with bayonets; and the interior was
decorated with festoons and garlands of
evergreens, with devices significant of
the alliance. Prominent among these
also was the feur de us. Appropriate
notices were scattered about the edi-
fee.
At five o'clock in the afternoon more
than five hundred ladies and gentlemen
partook of a grand banquet in the arbor.
These represented the elite of civil and
military society in America. Early in
the afternoon General Washington and
his wife and suite, Governor George
Clinton and his wife, Generals Knox and
Hand with their wives, Egbert Benson,
the Acknowledgement of New York, Mrs.
Margaret Livingston, of the Lower
Manor, and Janet, the widow of General
Montgomery, and large number of
ladies and gentlemen from the States of
New York and New Jersey, had arrived
in their barges. They We're conducted
through the grand arbor, sitnated on
the gently rising ground in the rear of
Fort Clinton, on which the West Point
Hotel now stands. It was on the upper
verge of the plain, with the magnificent
river and mountain scenery at the north
in full view.
The Continental army was paraded on
each side of the river. At the signal of
three cannon discharges the regimental
officers left their commandsand repaired
to the quarters of General M'Dougal.
When the banquet was on the table,
General Washington, with his wife and
suite, left those quarters, followed by
the invited guests, and went to the ar
Dor, where martial band played sweet
airs during the repast, suggestive of
peace and reconciliation. After the
banquet of meat came q banquet of
wine, when thirteen toasts were drank,
each followed by thirteen discharges of
cannon, accompanied by music. Then
the regimental officers returned to their
commands, and as night came on the ar
Dor displayed the splendors of grand
illumination by scores of candle-lights.
At that moment cannon and musketry
throughout the whole army gave .feu
de joie which, like peals of thunder,
awoke a thousand echoes among the
grand old hills. This was followed by a
| consentaneous shout of the whole army
"a wild huzza, with the benediction:
"Long live the Dauphin !"
A ball in the arbor followed these
noisy demonstrations without, in which
the commander-in chief heartily joined.
"He attended the ball in the evening""
wrote an eyewitness, "and with digDi-
fed and graceful air, having Mrs. Knox
for his partner, carried down a dance of
twenty couples in the arbor on the green
grass" That partner was the wife of
General Knox, the Boston bookseller
the "beautiful Lucy" as she was fa-
miliarly spoken of, the belle of the
camp, and then about thirty years of
age. The festivities ended toward mid
night with brilliant display of fire.
works,