The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1898-02-20
THE MARDI GRAs CARNIVAL.

The American Carnival, yearly celebrate
J al Mardi Gras, owes its origin TO an acct.
! dent; and that accident happened in tbs
quaint and quiet old Creole city Of Mobile
sixty-oight years agol
II was a rather prosaic--not TO say Inn
proper-Aeycnt, from witch was TO sprine
the longest and most brilliant line OF pa-
geantfy over known n our countrJ's bis'
tory. indeed In the history OF any ,our
( TRY. Old Michael Krsft--if he ever look
i down Tor up) on Mac u iiras, must shake
bis head in wonderment over results which
i his widest dreams would have considered
d glimpses Of fairyland. Yet that stlriy old
4 citizen OF Mobile was tile very Adam o.
the mystic world. aud lis alter supper
frolic was TO cause after generations TO
write his loved city ".hc Mother OF Mys-
i tics 4s
4 ON the eve Of Naw Year. 1870, KRAFT
and few friends had a merry supper a.
j ~ then famous Creole restaurant, In Mo-
bile. Breaking up about midnight, they
] started homewnrd; but all In jolly mold
! and ready for a lark. Suddenly, over a
hardware storefront, they saw rakes, cow
4 bells. seythes and other metal goods, hang
/ ing as signs. In a moment the owner
being OF the purty) the store signs were
/ disfnantled; bloHtrS ai.i goags were add a.
aud thus armed, The reyeie.s pfoceede 10
seicnade some prominent citizen. He soiued
| them to victimize n sacoli; tho roscl waa
| kept UP and On lea With the mayor intit-
| ing In the augmented party, Who stld
| until New Year morn. Tue next year saw
| n roughly organized repetition OF the spree !,
| the third an mprovised procession, the
cowbells, rakes scythes, etc, being fe-
| tanned as sclf-erectsd insignia. To them
ntnri hnn nf hal nj uh
the owl was added and became the device
bird Year by year the "Cowbeliars"
grew; their pageants became regular. and
more formnlatod; early taking shape In
some sort OF rough design.
Such was the strange origin of the Mys.
ties Of the Creole cities; and the Mysties
made the Mard Gras carnival. Implanted
in the fertile Southern brain, this quaint
seed sprouted. Then 1t grew rs JonahS
gourd.
In 1912 the younger men of Mobile de-
tormined to Guido the original strange club.
They organized and formed a club which
had the Initials, S. l. s. AS they were sup
posed to be clerks and office men OF the
cotton merchants who were called
strikers" and as the three initials were
the ends ana middle of that word-the CLUB
became and has ever since been known,
popularity, as "1he Strikers club" An
nually 1t paraded; it's rivalry with the pa
rent organization improving the parades of
Lob. Then. about 1857, Joseph Ellison
r1ovei to New Orleans. Other Strikers
had, perhaIs, preceded him. but In that
year the famous Mystic Krewe OF CO.
mus" was organized, and Ellison was re-
nited TO be It's founder. Civic rivalry nov
became the spur, and for ycars--in fact,
until the war--Mobie and New Orleans
gi ptrsr gtpl Fnt qttt. oh ~
showing greater outlay. and more than pro-
pcrtionete strides in the pretty art of pa
geant making. And q third old-tme club
arose L. Mobile called the T. ID, $. In
New Orleans the maskers took Mardi Gras
as their day, all three of the Mobile clubs
cinging to their old New Year eve specta-
cies.
Then came the war. Men thought of
nothing but drills and charges and--for-
aging, Stern realities had carried every
male TO the front, and the laguered and |
donuded cities almost forgot thee word |
pleasure. But early after peace. Southern |
nature reasserted itself; and on Shrove
Tuesday. 1876 Little phil' Sheridan |
then military commandant of New orleans |
Was surprised by request from the
"krewe of Comus" Tor permission to pa
rade, II was granted and q magnificent |
and beautifully conceived pageant of Past |
Present and Future" not only revived the |
carnival spirit, but struck with wonder and |
delight the Northern officers and men In
the army of occupation" In my novel.
Creole and Puritan" this pageant and it, |
sent military surroundings are describ q
AND perhaps those passages have been more
quoted than any others In it, They show /
the effect-cven in it's cruier form OF three
decades gone--of carnival paseantry upon
the unaccustomed Northern mind; and they
explain thereby the wonderful talisman the
NatIk ,g
Of the curious and cultivated alike from
remote sections.
The "Mo,her' city was not slow 10
awaken from her Mystic eiesta and her
'eview paradcs-Still held on the old New
Year eve anniversary with those OF
he Mystic Krewe on Mardi Gras. Money
began to be spent In great sums, and every
accessory of scenic art. study and taste.
Sss layished upon these affairs in both
:!lies. But up 10 this time they were made
'oiely ms social affairs. and were paid for
Wholly by tho secret membership OF the
averal orders" Their tableaux and balls
Glowing each ragoant We're most exclusive
md rigidiy confiucd TO the boders of the
ich and unique Invitations sert only to
srsonal friends of members~-apd always
But the glttering and state
y procession of "iloats"--in which the sub
eot theme OF each pageant was made easy
o grasp by The hehoijer- were LAVISH
ratuits from the Myetics TO thcis felloy
itizcus.
Memphis was. perhaps, the first imita-
OF of New Orleans. Her two clubs. ''Tho :
Iernphi" aud The ulks." arose into splen- q
Id prominence, and their plrades and balls :
ION fame sufficiently widespread to at.
ract great throngs 10 the river city on each | I
;ardi Gras. They were alike the pride OF .
loniphis and her best advertisement I
broad for years, hut tho terrible fever '
rotrsc laid their glittering tlnsel In the !
shes OF DISSOLUTION that covered every
usiness interest when yellow Death
oased plying his grim avocation there.
ntil the present year attempted revivals i
ave not even aped tho Memphan glories b
the past, n
just thirty years ago the first great Mar a
Gras club proper mado It's first pageant
Mobile On Shrove Tuesday. 1867. the II
Order OF Myth made night glorious with {
: ''lsalla Rhook." carnival that eclipsad 8
! previous shows. Swiftly followed the @
Infant MNEtins ~ ftft s,,,n | I.