The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-10-20


ously near the Dolphin she re-
turned the salute of Castle William.
Not many harbors in the world have
the natural beauty of New York; fewer
still have such number of tall and state
ly buildings surrounding it; and still
fewer can muster such fleet of yachts,
tugs and excursion steamers as took part
in the procession on that beautiful Oeto-
Der day. The excursion steamers were
black with people; two of them seemed
to be loaded to a dangerous extent, and
careened with guards in the water on one
side and paddle wheel out on the other.
There were crowds of people on the.
shores of Long Island and Staten Island,
and as we passed up North river, every
spot from which view of the river
could be obtained, from the battery to
Riverside Park, a distance of ten miles,
appeared to be occupied. At the windows
and on tops of buildings at the ends of
piers, on the decks and in the rigging of
vessels, on the tops of freight cars, on
garbage scows, telegraph poles and the
slopes of Riverside park, everywhere, the
crowd appeared. Off the tomb of Gen.
Grant the flagship set the signal Prepare
to anchor" Promptly the striped an
swering pennant appeared at the yard
arms or mast heads of the different ships,
showing that the signal, was understood
in four different languages. The chains
ratified in the hawsepipes and the differ
emit ships set an ensign at each mast
head,
They were waiting for the signal for
the flagship, when, by some error, gun
was fired on the Atlanta, a part of the
other ships followed, every steamer blew
her whistle and pandemonium reigned
for few minutes. TO add to the con-
fusion, the men-of-war, which were an
chored close to each other began to
swing with the tide, and the different di-
visions of yachts and merchant steamers
passed up by them, turned, and came
down river. How collisions were avoided
/ could not understand, and it certainly
spoke we'll for the skill of the steamboat
captains that none occurred. After see
ing many of the steamers pass we pro-
ceeded down the river, and stopping for
a moment at pier near SD street. l
landed and went to a point on Riverside
drive. from whence could see on one
side the remainder of the vessels return
ing down the river, and on the other
watch the carriages of the wealthy resi-
dents who had looked at the pageant
from points of view farther up the drive,
and were then returning home. [ looked
at
the Procession of Carriages
for some time. and when they became
less in number, went to the nearest ele-
waited station and returned to the hotel,
where dined, and at eight O'Clock was
at pier one, North River, where took one
of the iron steamboats, of Fire Island
fame for the fireworks on Brooklyn
bridge. The steamer took a position be
~ l, Il n Tcla
from which we had a fine view of the dis
play. There were no set pieces, but the
rockets were exceedingly fine, and the
representation of the Falls of Niagara
strikingly realistic. By the glare of the
fireworks could see that the roofs and
pierf on either shore were black with
people, and that the river was crowded
so full of steamers that it was difficult to
to see where the shore began. By the
time the fireworks were over we had
drifted with the tide nearly to the bridge
and among the fleet of vessels. Again
| was astonished at the skill displayed
by the masters of the steamers, in hand
ling their vessels in the strong tide and
in the darkness, confusion and noise. We
picked our way out of the crowd, made
our landing in fine style, and were on
shore by ten o'clock.
Ii some OIL UnOSo New 1OrK captains
would come to Portland and handle some
of our island steamers, and if they would
bring with them some of the wide gang
planks used in New York, what an i'm
provement it would be!
Taking the elevated road, I got off at
Blocker street, hurried through Wash
ington square, and reached the Washing
ton arch just as the head of the Catholic
procession got there
The procession was enormous in num-
bers and consisted of organizations of
different kinds, mostly of a fraternal or
religious nature. The members of !some
of these organizations carried torches and
most of them wore feathers in their hats
and were adorned with sashes and car
ried banners of different kinds. The
stands were scantily occupied and al
though there many people in the streets
1 had no difficulty in walking along the
sidewalk up the avenue. On the tower
of the Madison Square Garden were
brilliant colored lights and a powerful
search light which made fine appearance
from the square and must have been
seen plainly from the Jersey and Long
Island shores. | watched the procession
for while but there seemed no end to it
and although many of the organizations
marched well there was nevertheless q
sameness about it. and being quite tired
| sought my hotel to rest for the grand
parade of the morrow. j.