The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-24

| r1oiy In earnest, and Lonuon continually
| impresses one with the tremendous pos
sibilities of the English race. If you
| would study the individuality and solid
| power of these cousins of ours, take walk
| round about the Stock Exchange; then go and
see the East India docks; next take steamer up
| the Thames to the Westminster pier, and finally
go and stand at Hyde Park corner at about
o'clock In the afternoon and you will be as proud
that America has historic share in all this as
England is proud of her blood relationship with
America What a glorious destiny for the
English race that the future peace of the world
should rest in the hands of America and Eng
land! The nearest approach to the millennium,
to my mind, is this one idea that some day Eng
land and America may be leagued together in
the interest of arbitration for all international
troubles, and that they should impose peace
upon all the world by the VOW to take up arms
against any power that violated its sancti.y.
MAY DAY FESTIVITIES.
While am writing, three days after the LIST.
there passes my window strange OLD -wofid
group advancing to the sound of drum and
Pandean pipes. It is a London chimney sweeps
Jack in the Green" May day institution of
the Oldest The party, which consists entirely
of chimney sweeps, is only small one, but 1t is
| attended by crowd of girls and boys Four OF
the men are dressed in motley-one of them
looks like firstclass, Shakespeare clown. There
are two women in the gayest attire, sparkling
| with spangles. Jack in the Green is under
tall frame of herbs and flowers, which are sur
| mounted by flag They stop here and there,
and caper to the noise of the drum, and then
| look for remuneration from the spectators. The
show is not so attractive as it used to be, but it
| Is still interesting and quaint How 1T should
| have fallen to the lot of chimney-sweeps to sus-
| tain the old rites of May day does not appear.
There used to be a somewhat similar demonstra-
| ton on the part of the milkmaids Early In the
! morning they would bsing around mich cow
| garlanded with flowers, and led along by group
of dairywomen, who were also adorned with flow
| ers. They would stop now and then and dance
| round the animal to the sound of the violin and
| claronet, resulting in the utter bewilderment OF
| the said mich cow and the general amusement
of themselves and all lookers-on At an early
| time there an addition to the troop-a man
carried a frame, which covered the upper part
| of his person. From this dangled silver
! fagons and dishes, each set in a bed OF flowers.
| Nothing was seen of his body but his legs,
| which jumped about idiotically, we might say,
the strange pile above Haunting and dancing UP
| and down with air of heavy decorum. May
day festivals are being revived in all directions.
In London it is customary on May day for wag.
oners to decorate their horses with ribbons, and
nearly every cabnan and omnibus driver has
| bunch of flowers fastened upon his whip, and
many of the horses in the commonest convey
| ances are decorated with f1owers-the primrose,
dafodil and hyacinth being the most popular
| of their nosegays This present month OF 1885
has seen a new Mayday show. Several process
| sions of cart horses at various points of the
metropolis, and prizes are given for the best
animals and for the prettest decorations. Some
| magnificent horses were paraded on the LIST, and
magnificent show they made, reminding one
| of the old saying that ENGLAND is the paradise
of horses" to which modern experience
has added. land America the paradise of
women" These revivals of outdoor shows are
a good sign of the times, and the open air fetes
| that are coming back to London belong to it.
| The Inventions Exhibition, the Albert Palace
show. the Crystal Palace ealas and the Ameri-
| can exhibition of next year belong to it, and If
we could annex the American fall weather we
| should be gay anG lively people
PRIVATE VIEWS"
Then there are the fashionable shows which
! you only see by invitation, and when that is
obtained, if you are anybody in particular, you
| become part of the show yourself. The most re-
| cent of these social exhibitions were the three
| private view days of the Grosvenor Gallery. the
Institute of Painters in Water-colors, and the
Royal Academy. These are the three great
picture exhibitions of the year The press critics
/ have the first look at them; then society" has
its day; and next comes the public opening.
| Society does not appear to care button for the
| pictures Indeed, it rather resents them. They
| interfere with conversation. Society probably
has some taste in art 1t certainly buys lots OF
pictures. But on private view day it is its own
picture. 1t arrays itself IN gay attire, turns out
in its costliest equpages, and losses its head in
| the air. At the Academy private view, just held,
| the air was damp, and society's plumes and
feathers were somewhat limp. The courtyard of
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| in the bright-varnished and silver-decked shafts
of which some of the finest horses in the world
champed their bits and pranced, with neatly
! dressed grooms at their heads. 1t was wet
| day. The coachmen wore their white rubber
coats, and the footmen in plush and powder
| dashed about with umbrellas to protect their
ladies from the smallest plash of rain The
paatial rooms were crowded, and Miss Mary
Anderson, attended by Mrs Boughton THE
wife of the novelist), was a conspicuous
| figure in Tam O'Shanter hat and gray
cashmere and velvet costume She looked
exceedingly pretty and received much attention.
/ Mrs. Langtry was there, and it was subject of
much remark that her companion Miss
| Nellie Bromley. a pretty lady essentially belong
ing to artistic Bohemia Sir Frederic Leighton
and most of the Royal Academicians were
| present and both high society and the society
| that is not high were represented by their nota-
bilites All the pictures have written about
| in previous letters were hung: and one of the
gems of the exhibition is marble life-size
| statue of Henry Irving as Hamlet" by Onslow
| Ford TWAS suggestive of subject for An essay
| the cam earnest figure o. the Danish Prince
| (seen amid the surging throng of fashion,, like
sculptured rebuke to human vanity. And, by
! the way, everybody says that Irvings Hamlet"
| is greater performance since his American tour
than it was previously. Now that Irving no
longer runs the risk of being charged with Civ
| ing the Americans taffy, he is more enthusiastic
| when he speaks of the United States and his
American friends
vi.
GHOSTS OF OLD SHOWS
| When was boy there many strange
| and barbarous shows in London. the ghost of
| which visiting the glimpses of the moon remind
one that we are living in an age of progress.
"Cremorne Garden" better sort of Partisan
Mablle, in full swing open all night,
gaudy with colored lamps, garish with tinsel,
noisy with drunken swells and screeching
women. At night the THE inventories" is
! Cremorne without its vice. and drink, and vul-
| garity. The gardens are illuminated, bands are
| playing there lovely flowers, and anybody
/ can be admitted who is decently dressed and
well conducted. In those days our music halls
were akin to the worst form of the American
variety show, and even in the first year of the
| Alhambra there was wine room" under the
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