St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-02-14
Montreal in its Glory.
HOW THE DOMINION CITY APPEARED
CARNIVAL WEEK.
MoNrREAL. February 9. Iss4.

The managers started in this year
with a seasons experience and "did
the thing up brown" The frosty city
was decorated finely. Royal ensigns,
French colors aud occasional stars and
stripes floated from thousand of house
tops and many hung over the streets.
They gave the town picturesqueness
which was very pleasing.
The crystal castle, appropriately
called the ice palace, was not, as last
year, a disappointment, but far ex-
ceeded the expectations of the 10000
sightseers from the states. 1t is 100
by GA feet, with IA tower of so feet, the
whole being nearly twice as large as
the one built last year. The blocks of
ice, about two feet long and foot
thick, were taken from the canals and
are clear as crystals. The great
beauty OF the castle cannot be appre-
ciated in the daytime, but at night,
when the square is illuminated by hun
dreds of electric lights and the house
itself CLEANS with great brilliancy,
looking like a huge crystal lantern, it
is a spectacle well worth seeing.
But the most interesting part of the
whole show is the people themselves.
They enjoy their week of pleasure so
much and show their delight 50 plain
ly, that ones spirits cannot but rise,
even when the thermometer is below
zero. The men look much like others
ness and depth of voice, but the wo-
men and girls of Montreal are totally
different in appearance from those
seen in the average American city.
| Their beauty is healthful, vivaciOus
and vigorous. No Boston woman
would dare 90 into the street with
such pronounced red as superabun-
dant health and spirits have dyed
every pair of girlish cheeks. No 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 tObOgganing can be practls-
ed, walking like Indians and running
like deer. Ones first impression is
that they dress loudly, but this comes
from their habit of tying bright col
ored wOrsted comforter over their
heads and around their necks when
they 90 outdoors. Most of these girls
during carnival week wore the cos
tunes of the different skating or curl
ing clubs, to which their brothers,
lovers, or they themselves belonged
These costumes are made of thick
white flannel, trimmed with blue OF
red or both, as the wearer's taste oil
the clubs choice DEGREES. They are
made loose to give plenty of room fol
Undertaking, with sashes to mattel
: ankle. That such dress is warm anC
: convenient for outdoor exercise goe,
| without saying. A Montreal girl viii
watch a curling or lacross match al
| the afternoon, standing in the snow tc
her knees, perfectly comfortable the
while, and young lady from the
| states, in her sealskin sacque, wrapped
in thick robes, shivers from head tC
r foot and wonders if it was ever so colo
| before.
These young women appear to the
best advantage in the skating Kinks
} skimming the smooth frozen surface as
; birds cleage the air. They are as fond
of tobogganing, pronounced "tooging,
: as society girl of waltzing and they
do it with far mole ease. One of these
: girls will step on to a tOboggan's
! cushion, wrap her skirts around hel
ankles and then throw her feet under
the curve of the thin board with the
unconscious grace of a duchess at a
f ball. 1t is great fun to see one give
her Yankee cousin ride. The visitor
has seen the tobOggans go whizzing
down the smooth track and shows
rather a doubtful interest. Bnt it is OF
no use to object. Everybody must
have slide or be laughed at as etfem-
mate. SO he sits down awkwardly
for novice finds it no easy matter to
|, get down on board with any appear
ance of comfort when his trousers are
half frozen and his feet persist in slip
ping from under him. But when his
position is fairly established, the girl
seizes the rod on each side, gives a
little run and jumps on in way
American boys call "sideset." Her
weight rests mainly on her strong
arms and she steers with her right
I foot, extended behind the toboggan.
One can never appreciate the delight
of tobogganing till he has tried it.
! The track for a third of mile or more
is purpOsely made smooth as ice. The
bottom of the tobOggan is equally
smooth and it seems to the Yankee
cousin as he whizzes down the course
that there cannot be any great amount
of friction. The torches on either side
run together till they look like a single
stream of fire. But hardly has the
American taken second breath when
he has reached the foot of the hill,
been tumbled into the snow and asked
how he likes it. A tOboggan would
seem to be hard thing to steer, but
as matter of fact the fiat sled has no