St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-10-30
From Mountain to Sea-shOre.
To the Editor of The Caledouian =:

FROM mountain to Sea-ShOfe.
To the Editor of The Caledouian:
am sure that Sept. 5, 1884, will
never he forgotten by any poor human
being who "toOk his walks abroad" or
worse yet, took II long car-ride on
that "Seven- -times-hotter- -than-its-
wont" day. New York was like a fiery
furnace, even at eleven that night, and
the following day we betook ourselves
to COney island, to see if any
stray cool breeze might be lurking
there. The hotel keepers looked low
ingly at their thermometers and then
spirits kept pace with the rapidly -ris-
ing mercury. Thousands of people
came by every train, one road alone
reporting $1,000 passengers for the
day.
At Hotel Brighton, almost entirely
given up to Jews this summer, an i'm
mense crowd listened to the popular
airs of Dodworth's band.
The long loo<edfor fancy dress roll
er skating carnival took place that
evening ut the Olympian Skating rink.
The arrangements for the carnival had
been made on grand scale, and the
affair was an entire success. 1t was
expected that over a thousand persons
would appear upon the floor in fancy
dress, but only two hundred put in an
appearance. They, however, were
gorgeously arrayed, some of their cos
tunes being particularly elegant. An
elaborate program had been prepared !,
which was carefully carried ont. Sew
eral prizes were given, the most i'm
pOrtant being an annual pass on the
Sea Beach railroad for the best imper-
sonation of any of the presidential can
didates. The decorations of the club
were upon the most elegant scale,
large Chinese lanterns and additional
electric lights combining to make the
scene, ut 10 o'clock, when the march
took place, one not soon to be forgot
ten. AT each end of the hall red fire
was kept going the entire evening,
much to the discomfort of those in the
vicinity of the blaze. Shortly after 10
o'clock a hush of expectancy ran
through the large number of spectators
present, and a moment later the word
was passed from mouth to mouth that
the procession was coming; and sure
enough come it did. The procession
was as follows: First an elephant,
upon whose back was little golden
haired girl, of three years of age, at
tired as a fairy. Next came the presi
dental candidates.; of these the person
who represented Butler was the most
effective, he being attired in the uni
form of general, the coat of which
was entirely mounted with pewter
spoons. The queen of the carnival
then appeared, seated upon n golden
chariot to which was attached four
white horses. In the thrOng which
followed were hariequins, monkeys,
jockeys, flower girls, and in fact ladies
and gentlemen attired in almost every
variety of costume imaginable.
Could one of the true blue old puri
tans have taken a ten-fold Rip Van
Winkle nap and opened his eyes at
COney island Sunday morning, he
would have passed very speedily to
his rest with nervous prostratiOn, a dis
ease of which puritans lived and died
i'll blissful ignorance The transition
from Sunday in st. Johnsbury to one
at that Vanity Fair was by no means
an easy one, and the exchange of IL
church bell for the ceaseless clangor of
the ''merry go roundn music was not
altogether pleasant to an orthodox ear.
Our house may not be quite all glass,
but we may well hesitate to throw
many stones even at the long groaned-
over Partisan Sunday. There was not
the most remote suggestion of Sunday.
All the places of amusement We're open.
Gambling went Oh glibly within an
easy stones throw of the police head
quarters. The "merry go rounds"
where crowds of people went flying
round on the backs of artificial ele-
phants, Ostriches, bears and the like,
were filled with eager, noisy crowds.
The cOasting place, where one may
slide with hundred times the rapid
" to which we were accustomed on
the lovely snow-clad hills of Vermont,
and thousand times the danger, re-
sounded all day with screams and
laughing. The veranda of the Man
haitian Beach hotel literally teemed
with men and women, who listened all
the afternoon to the music. At Bright
on, if possible, a larger crowd was
found, while at West Brighton-the
region which the local police are be
! ginning to term the Coney island bow