The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-11
Fun of the Mard Gras Was Cyclonic in It's Gen.
tralization of Every One
in Town.
THERE WAS A MILE OF MERRY=MAKlNG
Sixth Street Never Saw Such Huge Concourse OF
ReveIers-Mirth Was Everywhere, for Care
Had Fled ON the Padded Paws of the Feline 1t
Once Slew.
in Town..

When an epigrammatic philosopher
tersely observed that the proper study
of mankind was man, he might have
added, also, that the most interesting
study of man is man in action. Inert
things may be picturesque, even beau
tiful They please the eye. 1t takes
action to fire the soul. There is mag
netism in motion; it matters not if it is
only the helter skelter, aimless scurry-
ing of a mob.
After the creators Of the Chicago
worlds fair had devoted acres to ag-
riculture, manufacture, commerce, art
and history, they found that they had
overlooked one class of exhibits-l1Ve
people. So they picked out a wide
street mile long, and called it for
want of any better classification, Sec
ton D, of the chronological department.
Some one, who had to write the ads,
probably, shortened this to the Mid
way Plaisance, and it was the hit of
the show. Millions of dollars were
spent to shelter the other exhibits; the
man who exhibited here had to bring
his own umbrella, shape it as he pleas
ed, like a wheel, a Moorish temple, or
! a tepee.
But the people who went there all
saw and all were interested, even if
| some were shocked.
Last night was the one of the six
| lively nights in st. Paul this week
set apart for this unwritten study of
| humanity The class attending was the
| largest ever seen in st. Paul. In the
early hours Of the evening nearly a
mile of Sixth street was packed with
crowd which overflowed at every street
intersection into the narrower ways.
Brilliantly Illuminated as were the
commercial palaces that lined it; beau
tiful as were the musical programmes
| given at various points along the line;
merry as were the jests Of the come
dians who dispensed jokes, so to speak,
! from theatoriums that were rather rick
ETY. than recherche; all these features
were but incidents in the nights do
ings.
The people who came to see the show
were the real show themselves.
Fully $4,000 people participated in
this greatest drama ever staged in ST.
Paul. Not all of them wore masks,
other than those nature gave them to
might be cultivated to conceal.
Some came to amuse; others to be
amused; each was permitted to amuse
himself or herself in his own peculiar
way, which. by the way, made all hap
py, the triumph of liberty Yet this
! liberty in no sense was made license.
The guardians of the peace were oc-
cupied only in preventing the little
folks in the crowd from being tramp
ed under larger folks feet. There was
plenty of noise, but it was merely dis
cord, and not disorder.
All in all, when the glories of the
night of fire and the heroic combats on
| Willow island are told, the recollection
| of them all will be no more happy than
| that of the glad revelry of last night,
the climax of the Capital City's 1897
carnival.
MARDI GRAS CLUBS HIT.
The opening of the evenings fun was
certainly the real thing, and vast
concourse of interested people took
possession of the sidewalks on Sixth
street, and all the buildings on it and
the windows thereof, in order to see
| the sport.
The evening was in the nature of a
fitting climax to the weeks jollity in the
way of after-dark entertainment, and
no effort was spared to make it appro-
pirate and complete.
At 7:30 Capt. Edward S. Bean, the
hero of the capture of Willow island,
left the Commercial club corner march
ing proudly at the head of over 100
members of the Mardi Gras club, who
have taken an active part in the
amusement during this week.
The Third Infantry band from Shell
ing, which has taken such prominent
part in the musical events Of the week,
led the nguished-looking brigade
and played inspiring marches.
The club made an excellent appear
ance, being uniformed in white duck
trousers, blue coats and natty white
| Yachting caps. Canes. which they
carried, We're beribboned in red,- white
and blue.
They proceeded down Fourth street
at each corner picking UP the various
characters in costume and all manner
of quaint garb.
There were yellow kids, grotesque
specimens of humanity mounted On i'm
possibly lofty stills, and the long list
of heroes and heroines in children's
story books, was well represented. In
many cases the funny clubs were head
ed by bands, the members of which
devoted their attention to instruments