The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-09-11

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 a mag
netism in motion; it matters not if it is
| only the heller SHELTER, aimless scurry-
| ing of 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-live
| people. So they picked out wide
street a 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
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
mile of Sixth street was packed with a
crowd which overlooked 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
dams 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
reveal the character their language
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
| oain tran n
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
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 Smell
ing. which has taken such prominent
part in the musical events of the week,
led the disting uished-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 We're yellow kids, grotesque
specimens of humanity mounted on i'm
possibly lofty stills, and the long list
of heroes and heroines in children
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