Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1883-01-31
MOntreal's Gala Week.

Long THllWhy btl0S, ny cAih hhh uu-
usual throngs of travellers, were vending their
way by every avenue OF ingress toward the Cana
dian metropolis last week. The novel athletic
sports with which those jewellers In the region OF
snow and ice and unreentng cold make their
long winters season Of merry revels was the at
traction which in the midst OF Arctic weather had
lured thousands of Americans from less rigorous
lalitudes OF from their comfortable iiresdes; for
young Montreal had given out that he would
hold high carnival in his icy domain and through
the week exhibit to his neighbors and to his cous-
ms across the border feats OF snow-shoeing skill
In skating experiences in curling, daring descents
on frail toboggans down abrupt and icy declivites
grand Jarades of wintry vehicles, torchlight pro-
cessions snowshoes around their royal mountain
ard close the frosty festivities with the softer
charms Of grand ball at the magnificent Wind
sor. An ice palace cleaning with electric lights
was to be the grand central feature in the highly
spectacular drama to which snow and ice should
contribute their frigid glories. 1t is believed that
very few, II any, of the thousands OF visitors
| came away disappointed and that all were filed
with admiration OF the stawart athletic games TO
| which Canada's young men and women devote
| themselves Not a few American spectators were
stirred with emulation and 1t will not be surpfis-
| ing II the disclosure the young dominion has
| made OF the end to which for healthfu manly and
womanly pleasure snow and ice can be made sub.
servient should breed generous rivalry and inter-
national tests of skill.
| The ice palace in Dominion Square was the
| the first object of lively popular interest Sym
| into q structure of quadrangular form, pierced
with sashless windows and unbarred doorways.
| A turret guarded each angle and u tower rose
| from the center, its windows shaded with crim-
son curtains and the submits of turrets and
| towers capped with evergreens. Numerous cleo
| trio lights shedding silvery sheen through the
| translucent mass invested the fairy creation by
night with powerful charm. The evening OF
its dedication thousands of people thronged the
square. Following the dedicatory ceremonies,
| the snow shoe clubs, numbering many hundred
members bearing torches and clad in their ban
ket uniforms of white flannel with its fancy Dor
| ders, set off with colored sashes, leggings and
| tasseed tuques singing their club songs, be-
| gan their march for the mountain amid dis
plays of fire works ard colored lights: As
] they tramped up the mountain side and filed
| along its illuminated crest amid the forest trees,
| their spectral forms starding out against the
clear night skies, they seemed like supernatural
beings and the weird illusion was not dispeled
when descending gistening with the frost they
| had accumulated in their march they fitted
| through the corridors OF the ice palace. The
cold, shining edifice seemed fit dwelling for such
| egions Of frost spirits
Electricity glared in every direction. On the
great river by its light the skaters were busy,
| and from the hills by its rays the tobogganers
were shooting down with the speed OF arrows in
| their flight Young America is familiar with
| the double runner but he il r stranger to the
| exhi'aration Of the breakneck dash down an icy
hill sleeper than angle Of forty five degrees
| on vehicle " made of planks OF the thickness
Of two sheets of bottng paper" turned up in front
| and dashed with raw hide to transverse strips OF
| wood. On this unsubstantial thing the toboegan
| riders sit with nothing between them and their
| icy course but a cushion and thin veneering of
| wood. The ladies in becoming costumes OF white
blankets vie with brothers or cavaliers in skating,
| snow shoeing, or sit with them on their tobog'
| gans in their perilnus flights down the mountain
| sides The New York Sun correspondent very
| clevery describes these Canadian bellies: " To a
| New Yorker who has heard the beauties OF Bal
al NIL sVtV1 atnl
beyond comparison, the Montreal girls and those
| from the other Canadian cities proved "a inter
estng where each object he looked at WIS novel.
No woman would dare go into the street painted
abundant health and spirits has dyed every pair
OF girlish cheeks. 1t il not likely that any drug
could produce the flash and sparkle one sees in
| every pair of girlish eyes; for the young women
here get the charms they boast OF by skating side
| by side with their brothers, racing on snowshoes
| with the men, tobogganing wherever tobogganine
| can be practiced walking like Indians and run
ming like deer. group Of them Is of as many
bright colors as bunch of garden flowers, and
| one gets the impression that they dress loudly
but this comes OF the habit they have of tying a
bright colored woTsted comforter over their head
and around their necks whenever they go out Of
| doors in cold weather. To day, at the snow shot
| race, the tOboeganiug hills, and in the seighs
the women from the United States shivered undei
their seal skin sacques, while the Montreal girl'
stood knee deep in snow, sat on the snow banks
| or stood on the hill tops hall hours ut stretcn
| In the ball room or the drawing room these Anna
IONS of the ice and snow in all graceful and
womanly accomplishments are the peers of " th'
| beauties of Baltimore, Brooklyn OF Murray hill
Many columns might be written Of the out
turnouts with robes sweeping the snow dust o
the streets, the ice railway across the great un
seen river over which heavily loaded trains pass
OF the gay skating masquerade of the curliul
matches and races on the ice and OF the varied
and peculiar festivities and amusements all hav
ing the charm of novelty and freshness to un
familiar American eyes. With its limeston
palaces on SherbIooke street. its great bushes
thoroughfares, its extensive manufacturing, it
wonderful Victoria bridge and it, general foreg
ARA great city existing and thriving and accu
mulating immense wealth in the northland burle
half the year in srow and its water ways froze
up, Montreal itself is the greatest curiosity. tn
great success Of the carnival will undoubted
lead to more extended and more elaborate prepa
rations next year, and people, Drawing the rigor
Of the climate, will flock to behold the wonder
Of the snowbound ce-fettered metropolis.