Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1880-10-07
SUNSHINE AND SHADOW
Alternate Moments of Happiness and
Misery Before Hub Shop Win
tow--Boston's Birthday and
the Grand Jamboree
It 0ccasioned.
TEE CUSTOMARY CULTURED CALM
speela! corre.rondenes of state journal.

| years at home, aud seems as il that time
must have elapsed since l wrote you my
farewell Boston letter, in May last.
just two weeks ago to day it WAS that
our merry ocean party said goodbye TO
the Anch0rid and each other, as we landed
on the pier at New York. Two weeks
have scattered ms hither and yon; have re-
established us in business or ideness;
given opportunity for visits of congrstula-
tion to and from the friends we left be-
bind MS, and for the distribution of those
little gifts of remembrance, which
everybody brings home from Europe;
have provided us with IA nights,
and some of us with as many days, in
which to dream of the countless wonder
ful days aud nights when we were Tour
| jeans. travelling about in far distant lands,
| sleeping in strange beds, seeing strange
sights, eating strange food doing strange
things, and trying 20 talk strange tongues,
or of those earlier and later days-the best
Of all-when we were sailing on the great
water, out of sight alike of land and
cares. But two weeks have scarcely suf-
feed TO ''settle down" in; your correspond
ent, pt least, has not yet gotten rid of the
impression that in few hours, or days at
the most she must tumble her clothes
into that much belabelled trunk,
put on the familiar gray dress, and start
for the depot to go off in some direction
or other. The streets of her native city
look-not just exactly natural; the instinct
of plucking stray weeds for her pressing
book IS still strong, and half impression
is upon her mind that she ought to "do"
Bunker Hill Monument aud the State
House. Meeting an old friend, or bowling
ts,a .sx,Nns Al,a st-,
quite as much of an event as if the same
| encounter had taken place on the boule-
wards of Paris, or in the muddy paths Of
Ooer-Ammergau, and is attended with
much the same sensation of pleased
surprise that would have attended
it in such case. The shop win
dows have an altogether unexpected
attraction, and it is quite impossible to
| pass the more gorgeous ones, without
psusiug aud pressing an absent minded
nose against the glass, while half-hours
are wasted in studying the bargains, and
in yielding to alternate sensations OF dis
| gust or delight, as the conviction comes
sadly home that more money was paid for
some kniok. .knack in Paris or Venice than
it could be bought for here, or the con-
trary makes itself apparent in an audible
chuckle when one sees the identically
same fan for which was paid but SLIGO in
Lucerne, marked SO ; or when it becomes
| quite certain that the,fat little silver pig
which bangles from ones bracelet is not
| yet to be found in Boston shops, Oh
there are moments of genuine happiness
attending the return from a tour abroad,
not the least of which are those when
your mothers own particular yeast-bread
dawns upon your palate, and when you
can sit down to a tiny dinner table with
| your own beloved few, and no horrid man
| behind your chair watching his chance to
snatch your unfinished plate, if you re-
move your attention therefrom for an
instant, and expecting q fee for his
promptness.
Seriously, cannot begin to tell you the
advantages of very many varieties which |
have derived from this summers outing
in the Old World. Physically, 1 am a
new being; mentally and morally,
greatly improved and enlarged edition,
certainly, of the old one. The summer
has so strong hold upon nay thoughts
still that it seems almost impossible to
perform any very evident duty, aud bring
myself and my pen back to the date with
which | opened this letter, that l may tell
you of our grand iamboree OF Friday last
You must know that Boston has had a
birthdays birthday of a sort which comes
to city but once in its existence, viz its
two hundred and fiftieth. Other birthdays
it has had and others it may have, but only
one of this particular kind, hence, We Gel
ebrated. We invited guests by the reg-
ment and by the individual, from far and
from wide. We decorated to the last de-
gree of elegance and the last yard of
bunting. The Hub looked like first-clsss
rainbow on the noon of the eventful day,
which proved to be one of the hottest of
the seasou-so they say Who have sum-
mered here. All the day before every
public conveyance tending Bostonwards
was packed and crammed with
humanity and on the day itself,
the streets and houses were likewise
lhTouged. Going out couple of hours
b. fore noon, when the procession was to
start, in b!issful thoughtlessness of this
fact, it was quite as much as we could do,
! physically speaking, TO make our way
through the uptown streets to the house
on Columbia avenue, where the press
repro sentatives we've located and from q
window of which we gazed for three
mortal aud very interesting hours, varying
the mopotony by returning the cordial
/
NJ wspaper men, whom we once so often,
but nov so seldom meet. A more gentle.
manly, refined, but withal Jolly and good
natured set of Bohemans it would
be hard to find, and the
memories of good old times in daily
journalism came back that day so forcbly
that sl.nost wished myself again in the
harness, But when comparisons were
drawn, by one and another, between the
procession OF the day and that of our
famous 18th of June five years ago, and
the memory came freshly forth of the
work had 10 do that day-my portion
being 20 write up the decorations all over
the city--t ia do which / had to start out
carly 10 the morning, and Keep well ahead
If The procession, Of which / only saw a
very small bit from q window in the typo
graphical room of the paper with which ]
was connected-and when l saw the men
Of tho dsilies blistering the backs of their
necks while taking notes on the stand
beneath our window, then it was that l
sank willingly back into the comparative,
but comfortable, iusigniicanoe of only o
correspondent ''apd ate my salad in
content
If should attempt giving you a full
description OF the procession and of the
various other methods in which our big
holiday was celebrated, you know very
well that you would skip it, so will only
say that there were long lines of peaceful
soldiers ID their best uniforms, the most
of whom marched indifferently WELL while
some did considerably better, and some
more than considerably worse, The
finest uniforms were those worn by the
Brooklyn regiments, with their gray,
scarlet-faoed coats aud white trousers.
One of these, by the way. is pdpularly
known as "Beecher's Regiment" and
there were cheers and handkerchiefs from
the opposite house when the celebrated
divine himself rode past looking so hand
some in his uniform and on horseback
that never should have known him-but
not note of appreciation from our side
Of the way, for the reverend gentleman
has never been exactly popular with the
press, It has seemed tome, since he defied
its verdict, few years ago.
With the military was q succession of
most excellent music. and next in order
came the municipal, State and National
officials in line bowing more or less pro.
, fusely, and cheered according to their
politics. &c., while following them were