, 1885-03-05

quarter OF the city. For an hour o
more they waited, commenting mean
while upon the singular appearance 0
the monument. When the preparation
were complete and the display had one
begun, the people in charge had the goot
taste to lenye no intermissions. Jack-o
lanterns danced from place to place abouI
the enclosure, and wherever one poused al
explosion followed. Rockets, balloons,
mines, fountains, bombs, batteries anc
shells were sent h~eavenward for half ar
hour, filling the air with showers Of fire.
Explosions sometimes a half mile above
the earth took place, and consultations
numbering thousands OF beautifully
tinted stars, fioated away over the Poto-
mac, waited by a gentle northern breeze.
Three set pieces Of mammoth proper
tons were among the last and the grand
est features Of the entertainment.
The first wa Jefferson The was a
fz audible a mile away as a J~ackolanieri
touched his torch to the piece, and then
the mammoth face in points Of white en-
circled by an oval frame in red, with ban
ners in colors festooncd gracefully about
it, burst out of the darkness. Il glowcd
for a minute in full %briliancy, hen an eye
went out with an explosion, followed by a
portion of the nose, and last of all the
blue stars Of the banners. The face was
probably not recognizable to the masses of
the spectators, but when the letters Of his
name beneath we're made out, his mem
DRY was honored in prolonged cheers. A
large piece represented the national capt.
tol, with excellent portraits Of the presi-
dent and vice-president, fanked by mot
toes and emblems. This piece was 100
feet long by rs feet in heighth, the largest
set piece ever fred in America.
A fight of 5000 rockets at once, form
ing a vast floral bouquet in the heavens,
terminated the display.
The voluntary dispersion of a multitude
when gathered in a park open upon all
sides would seem to be a simple affair and
easily enough of accomplishment, but
experience proves the contrary.
CARRIAGES BECAME ENrANdLED
With each other, and pedestrians wan
dered about in bowilderment trying to
find their way around, through orout Of the
brushes which occurred in a hundred
places. No one was hurt so far as is
known, but many ludicrous episodes oc-
CURED. Family parties became separated,
wives and husbands lost each other, and
parents found themselves leading children
not their own, and calls of one to
another in the dark sometimes indicated
distress or fear. But the people were
for the most exceedingly jolly and laughed
at themselves and each other, asif it were
part Of the programme.
About $50, Just as the immense crowd
was returning from the exhibition Of fire
works, the Flambeau club came marching
in regular open order down Fifteenth
street, between Corcoran building and
the treasury department in a perfect
tornado Of fire. accompanied by an inces
SAINT volley of explosives and a con.
tinuous kissing roar of ascending
rockets. Every member OF the club had
slung over his shoulder u capacious white
bag filed with rockets, Roman candles, red
and green fire, Catherine wheels, tprpe-
does, bombs and fireworks of every con
ceivable description, which were lighted
on portable frames or discharged from
sheet iron tubes with such never-slacken-
ing rapiditY as to literally fill the street
with a hurricane of frey projectiles and a
dense cloud Of smoke, through which
could be only dimly seen the white uniforms
Of the club. The marching was perfect
in time and regularity, the incessant dis
charge of fireworks not being allowed to
interfere in the least degree with the pre-
cision of the movement. People in We
hicles fed in terror before the advancing
columns Of smoke and fame; which
was headed by two or three huge blazing
wheels, and from every part of which
burst fires and explosions. The club was
constantly and skillfully supplied with
fresh ammunition from a large
wagon which followed it and
as it wheeled from Fifteenth street into
Pennsylvania avenue in the glare Of red
light and amid the shouts Of that vast
multitude Of spectators it suggested a
moving British square attacked on all
sides at night and defending itself with
musketry, bombs, rockets and hand gre
nades. 1t was one of the most striking
features of the whole pyrotechnical dis
play, and the club was followed down
Pennsylvania avenue by at least 10000
naonla