Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1877-05-31
Our New York Letter.


To the Editor Of the Observer
New YORK, May Is, 1877.
To say that Folly ruled th,
metropolis on Tuesday..last, woilc
be telling a sort of q double bar
relied truth, SO far as the Carni
val was concerned. The morn
ing dawned as bright and balm,
as ever upon the famed Marj
Gras of Naples, and everything
was propitious for the holiday ex
pertinent which it was the adyer
tlsed intention of the managers tc
firmly engraft upon the New
York calendar. Anticipation, to
ward the last, had spread like some
infectious epidemic, till it had
touched even the most increJu-
lous OF the scoffers and growlers
Probably small proportion only
OF the Inhabitants had more than
the vaguest idea of what a Car
nlval is or should be, but all
could understand the announce.
ment OF professions, and every.
body was on the streets to see
what fun the day would develop
Very large numbers came in from
the neighboring regions, and the
crowd, all told, was immense. II
has been since asserted that on
but two previous occasions in the
history of the city-namely, al
the time Of Lincoln's funeral, and
on the Centennial Fourth of JULY
have there been seen such
street assemblages.
Of this caravan have little to
say further than that it was al.
most entirely composed of adver
tlslng wagons of butchers, bakers,
and candlestick makers" sprinkled
with brewers and patent-right.
men. Decidedly the best display
in the train, and, in fact, its re
deemlng feature, was an enormous
wheeled platform, or "Aoat," in
the language of the carnival,
prepared by the Ponds Extract
Company. Towering upon this
was a colossal pas:eboard bottle.
which, could it have been filled,
would have held enough of the
well-knOwn remedy to cure the
acLes OF a nation. In trout of
the bottle sat a young girl in
white, restingin a fancy little boat
drawn by swans, while at the
corners reclined four of the most
perfectly "made up" frogs that
ever masqueraded. These ''green
backs" could op n and shut their
big mouths and roll their great
google eyes in most s artling and
troggish manner; and as the float
sailed slowly up the sea of faces,
tumultuOus applause kept even
space with it. This the frogs ar
rogated entirely to themselves.
bowling and kissing their webbed
paws to the multitude with MIN
lc gravity that was quite irresisti.
bic. One or two other concerns
made feeble attempts to embody
something of the proper spirit of
the day, but they didn't succeed.
The evening display, thanks to
the incompetency CT the managers,
was notmuch better. The allegori
cal floats were mostly either passa.
BILE or poor-largely the latter.
There odisciplineorordere eth
er among the dramatis person@ or
the miscellaneous crowd of vehic-
les and pedestrians which jostled
and mingled with ibe regular pro.
cession. To add to the richness
of the farce, no adequate provision
Of torches or other illumination
had been made, and the sorry
train dragged itself through its
prescribed route amid melancholy
darkness aud the shouts of would.
be spectators, who called for
candles to see the show by. The
day and evening were bad enough
in all conscience, but the ball
which wound up this melancholy
celebration, was by far the broad
est exhibition of imbeciity of
those who had in it charge. Gil
mOre's Garden had been covered
with 10000 square feet of dancing
floor, two bands of music had been
engaged, and vast quantities of
champagne and other refreshment
ordered. The fsilure that Was
made may be imagined from the
fact, that probably not over a
thousand people were in the build
ing at any one time, and these al
most exclusively passive specta-
tors. The half-d0zen or so coup.
les who ventured out into the
desolate waste of floor, looked
very much, to use homely COM
parisOn, like flies in a pan Of milk.
This was continued till some time
! after midnight, whtn the unequal