The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-01
*. O. WI.
THE POETRY or THE PAST Illus
TRATED ON OUR STREETS.
The Knights of Momus Give Shape 10
the Dreams Of the Illustrious
Poets Of The Past.


the Dreams Of the Illustrious
Poets Of the Past.
Early last evening anxious and eager crowds
of sight-seers came streaming down from the
upper part Of the city, and up from It's lower
limits, to witness the pageant announced by
the Knights Of MonuB. Many were the fair
heads displayed ,lnder the gaslight, many tho
graceful forms, and tho balconies were mads
brilliant with beauty and light all along tho
route Of the procession.
This year NJ Momus was in d joyous mood,
and, In place Of the bitter satire and railsry
IN which he usually delights, he gave the
public series Of rare and beautiful pictures
from the realms OF fancy. From the dream
land Of fairy and gnome he summoned full
many bright and aerial shape with some Of
grotesgue and hideotts mien; and with these
came, too. from the dim, legendary past NOR
tails Of heroic mould and many prince and
princess, whose vaior and beauty, as immor-
talized by the nursery historians, have been
the wonder and admiration OF generations of
children.
How many little hearts were beside them
selves with delight last night, rs they reecg-
nized in this gorgeous pageant forms and
features long familiar 10 them, but which
they had never hoped 10 see exeeptin dreams.
There was the Sleeping Beauty, just as she
was found by the Prince, a rosy and bloon-
ing reality; and there was Valentine and
Orson, and queens and princes and fairies
without number. sindbad aud Aladdin. ALI
Bahia and Morgiana were there too. "alive
and doing well,' as
In tho COLDER primo
OF good Hhroun Blras9hiI.'
But besides these, tllere were many scenes
and personages Of which the mythological lore
of childhood makes no mention, andin which
grown-up people as well could find interest
and delight. There we're Undine, the dead
Arthur "the flower OF kings" surrounded by
weeping queens" Oberon and Titania and
Godiva, clothed on In chastity"
At the head OF the procession rode
MoMUs,
clad In his royal robes OF silver and blue,
standing in his chariot, drawn by four dap
pied steeds. Following him came
QUEEN NAB,
in o chariot drawn by four butterflies, and
driven by o gnat. This was tho self-sarne
Nab that Merentio describes to- Romeo:
20 then. see. Queen Nab hai b been with you
Tn shape no bigger than an agats-stone
On the ior,finker 1 Of g an ,,i s1dermen a e man..
Athwart mems noses as they lie hsleep:
Her wagon-sp2kes made Of long spinnsrs legs.
The cover Of the wings Of gr .ssh ppers
The traces, OF the smalle.t spiders WEBB
The collars, OF the Ino0ns1ine's .wat'ry beams.
Her whip, Of crickepg bone; the lash. Of film
Her wngoner, q small grey coated gnas
Not half 20 big 10 d round ltls worm
Prieked from he lazy finger Of maid:
Her chariot IL nm empty naziennt.
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out Of mind the fairies foneh makers.
4 nd In This state she gaJiops night BY nigh
Through lovers brains. and thvn they dream
OF loye"
In the third car came
SLEEPING BEAUTY.
| Momus having selected for representation
the moment OF her discovery by the Prince. u
! What child is not familiar with Che history OF
Sleeping Beauty, and does not remember flow
| Ing feast, and how one old fairy, WHO hnd been
| forgotten, also came, and brought her evil
| fortune? But one Of the seven good fairies,
| recognizing the bad one, bid herself that ahe
| the six good fairies had conferred their favors,
| the old one prophesied that when tho
child was grown she. would prick her finger
with o spindle and die Tben the seventh
| while she could not entirely til wat this pro-
phecy, she changed the death Of the girl Into
o sleep of q hundred years, when she should
be awakened by the prince she was to marry.
| tune was fulfilled, tho good fairy put the girl
| into trance and she became the Sleeping
| Beauty" then the fairy threw the spell Of en-
that Sleeping Beauty might find them as they
were when she fell asleep after the hundred
| years.
In the tableau che is represented as lying
| asleep on her royal couch, Just rs her father
and mother had placed her d hundred years
before. About her are lying the sleeping
grooms and servants Of the. palace, by whom
the Prince has passed to wake her from her
sumber.
On the fourth car was represented the com
bat between
VALENTINE AND oRsoN,
the bear coming to the relief of the latter In
the foreground is Valentine, clad In mail. de-
Tending himself against Orson, who ID attack
ing him with @ club The Bear is emerging
from cavern in the background and coming
to he assistance Of her foster-chld.
Following this came scene from the story
Of the
YELLOW DWARF,
which is included in Miss Muloch's "Colec-
ton Of Fairy Tales" The scene represented
Mines and the Yellow Dwarf for possession
Of the Princess Affair. According to the
story. Affair was the only child, and, OF
course, the very beautiful one Of d queen
She had numbers Of royal suitors, all Of whom
she rejected. But once, while seeking the
Desert Fairy to learn the cause OF her
mothel g melancholy, she was beseb by lionss
and in q moment OF terror and TO save herself
she promised to marry the Yellow Dwarf,
q hidenus and nalevolent creature.
This adventure put the young lady
In more amlable mood towards her other
lovers, and to escape loathsome bridegroom
she had pledged herself to marry, she selec-
ted for her husband the powerful King of the
Golden Mines, thinking that the Dwarf would
not dare to enter into arivalry with 80 valiant
and powerful q monarch. In this she was
mistaken though for on the wedding day a.
the Court were proceeding to the ceremony,
they saw flying towards them a bog, on which
sat the Desert Fairy, who Iondly forbade the
babe the old hag hegone, but no sooner had he
done so than the Yellow Dwarf flew out Of the
bog, mounted on q gigantic cat, and ehaI-