The Democratic advocate., 1878-03-16

/ IeanLuS on crutcn, young Iauy IN taSh-
iOnable garments,
The display was extremely handsome
and clever. 1t was witnessed by the
thousands of spectators who thronged the
stands, windows, piazzas, doorsteps and
even the roofs on the route with enthusi-
astic signs of pleasure. The points we're
well appreciated and frequently the pro-
cession halted for few minutes in recog-
milton of the applause and cheers that
greeted it. The punctuality of its start
and the admirable order that prevailed on
the line Of march enabled the managers to
end the pageant early in the afternoon, and
thus to give the people breathing spell
and dining time before the event of the
evening, the annual parade of the Mystick
Krewe of Comus.
THE MYsTICK KREwE OF COMUs.
''The Grandeur which was in Greece and the
Glory which was in Rome Reproduced in
New Orleans.
NEW ORLEANS, March By some re-
markable and unprecedented coincidence,
the idea of representing the mythology of
Greece and Rome seems to have occurred
simultaneously to the mastery mind of
the regal Rex and the tickle fancy of the
comic Comus. The merry Comus, as we well
know, was son of Bacchus and the En-
chantress Circe. He was the type of SEN
suality, and presided over the revel and
the banquet. Since his naturalization in
New Orleans, however, his character has
improved and he shows himself only
through those charming and artistic crea-
tions which have long been the feature of
Mardi Gras night in the Crescent City.
This evening he made his twentieth ap-
pearance among US, as gay and joyous as
ever. He was accompanied as usual, by
his Mystick Krewe, those strange but
but welcomed yisitants who come, no one
knows whence, and vanish, no one knows
where
The day was drawing to a close. The
sun-call him Phebus out of Difference to
the occasion-had gone to light the East
ern hemisphere, and Latona had drawn her
starry veil across the sky. The city was
all aglow with life and noise and hustle
and expectancy, and gas jets were on all
sides. The great boulevard of the city,
Canal street, shone with the light of a
thousand illuminations, fairly rivalling in
brilliancy the midday rays of the sun
even in this favored latitude. The balco-
nies, windows, roofs, doors and other
coigns of vantage on the route of the cx-
pected procession were alive with fair wo-
men and gay men, and buzz was in the
air as of million angels whispering from
the clouds Suddenly the strains of music
were heard afar off, but growing louder by
degrees and drawing slowly near. The
procession was coming, and thousand
necks bent forward and thousand pairs
of bright eyes peered into the half-lit dark
ness and caught the first sight of the red
smoke which told of the coming torches.
A few minutes and, amid blaze of light
from the myriad torches, the head Of the
procession came fairly into view, and the
streets for several squares around we're
bathed in the light of a noon-day sun.
The procession had come.
1t was pageant to behold. The sub
ject was the
Grandeur which was in Greece,
The glory which was in Rome,
as set forth in the heathen mythology. 1t
was purely an artistic representation, the
humorous element, which had been fea-
ture of Rex's display, being entirely omit
ted.
At the head of the line rode the youth
full Comas, mounted on an Arabian steed,
the gift of Persia's mighty King. he
waves his wand aloft. His costume is of
white crimson, chaplets of asphOdel and
amaranth sandals with gold buckles, jewels
on breast.
Phebus follows, attended by the Sea-
sons and throned in the palace of the sun.
Above his head the radiant orb of day;
below, the battlements of cities, and the
all-eneompassing ocean, dominated by
Neptune and the Tritons; Hyperion in
purple and gold, holding Tyre; Old Time
on the right, leaning on his scythe; Young
Time on the left, with his sickle Before
the throne divinities of the seasons-Win-
ter with snowy hair and sombre garments;
Spring with parti-colored robes and
crowned with flowers; Summer in forid
vestments of purple and gold, bearing a
sickle and sheaf of wheat; Autumn with
! fallen leaves in her hair and fruit baskets
on her arms.
Phaeton comes in the chariot Of the sun.
i'PhaetOn, insulted by Epaphus, goes to
the palace of Apollo to beseech the god
for a token that he is his son. Apollo
having sworn by the River Styx to refuse
him nothing, Phaeton asks leave to guide
his chariot for one day. He is unsuccess-
ful; the horses run away and the world is
in danger of burning" The chariot, poles
and axle-tree of gold, spokes of silver,
golden harness, gems on the yokes. The
horses struggle in the harness, missing the
hand of Phebus
The tomb of Phaeton, of white marble
was finely represented. 4 funeral scene
on the bank of the Eridanus, into which
Phaeton was hurled by Jupiter. On the
pediment of the tomb sits Clymene, moth
er of Phaeton, and his sisters Heliade
transformed into poplars, distilling amber
from their branches. Around the bank,
roses, hyaciuths, lilies, sunfowers and he
liotropes-divinities in disguise.
Hercules and Nessus approach next.
Hercules stands on the brink of the Kto-
leon River. He is clothed in the skin Of
the Nemean lion. Dejamra trembles on
her seat on the Centaur's back; her tresses
stream in the wind; at Hercules's back,
triple headed Cerberus; on a jutting rock
the Lydian Queen Omphale, with her
distaff
The next tableau represented Minerva
and Arachne, Latona and the clowns.
"Arachne challenges Minerva to a trial of
skill in her art (wool-working) Minerva
accepts. Enraged at finding herself ex-
celed, she strikes her rival with her shut
tie, on which distressed Arachne hangs
herself Minerva, compassionate, trans
forms her into a spider"
''Latona, with her two children, 90 to a
pond to drink. Three clowns treat her
brutality by troubling the water, and she
/ transforms them into frogs.
Scene-Minerva in blue robes, plastron
on her bosom; Egis with Gorgon's head
by her side. She stands on a gaudy web
of embroideries representing Mars in
Athens, and Antigone at her feet. Ara
chine changed to a spider; among the rocks.
silver threads which she has spun.