The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04
TALES OF THE MARDI GRAs.
The Beautiful Pageants of This
Year Were All Successes.


Year Were All Successes.
Savannahians who have drifted out of
New Orleans on the retiring wave who's
sweep carried them to the glories ana
the beauties of Mardi Gras, have much to
tell eff the wonders of the Crescent City
and it's far-famed celebration. While Mar
di Gras is in progress the place is GER
tainly one of the most interesting, if not
The most interesting, in the country.
There were incidents that marred the
perfect pleasure of the visitors stay-the
prices at the hotels and restaurants, for
ms ance, and he currently reported state
ments that there were 200 cases of small
pox in ,he city. and that the bubonic
plague had Jus arrived aboard a snip
f ON Brazil, thus complet ng list OF ep
demic dlseas that had needed but this
addition to make it perfect, but these
were but incidents To all of those who
went from Savannah, as from other
Places, to New Orleans, the week or more
they spent there was one round of con-
tinual delight and enchantment,
This, at least to all. To those who
had never before seen the beauties of the
night pageants, who had never drawn in
with every breath the carnival spirit that
was positively rampant everywhere, had
never dismissed care with the abandon
that comes to native and visitor alike dur
ing this Characteristic week, the whole
thing was a reVela tion one, by the way,
that they would like to have made them
every year
And then the city itself is full of in
terest and of things interesting. Differ
ing essentially perhaps from every other
American city, with the French and Eng
lish quarters marked out and rendered
distinct from each other, geographlcal-
4 - l.
ment of old Paris dropped down beside
modern American metropolis. If a sewer
age system for the modern American me-
tropolis might only be constructed and
the perfectly free and open sewers that
decorate the sides of its streets might only
be dispensed with, the illusion would be
complete.
On one side of Canal street the place is
not essentially different from any other
city in the country; on the other side the
difference is so great as to be positively
startling. The Old French houses, with
their wide galleries surrounding open court
yards, built in a style of architecture
rarely seen elsewhere, still ene every
street. Some of them, alas, are fallen
from their high estate, and instead of be-
ing the abode of the aristocrats of the
city, are used as small stores or bars, the
former retailing very old curios, the latter
very new drinks.
1t is said that the various parades, Pro-
teus and Momus, Nereus, Comus and Rex,
far excel anything that is to be seen at
the caruivals of the Old Word.N Certain
dy, they are very beautiful, and he who
watches them is quite ready to believe the
stories of the enormous expense said to
be necessary TO make them a success
The number of visitors at Mardi Gras
this year exceeded that for many years.
Last year Mardi Gras was ushered in ac-
companied by the coolest spell of wea her
New Orleans had ever known, one that
the memory of even the Oldest inhabitant
could not parallel. and the floats in the
various parades were drawn along the
snow The thinly clad mythologi al fig
ures who ornameuted the floats and rep
resented the characters in the scenes
they portrayed, almost expired from tie
effects of the cold. Some of them fell off
the floats into the snow, whether from
cold or from the effects of something TAX
en- 20 counterfeit the effects of the coil,
stories differ. High functonares of the
| carnival, even, suffered this fate.
This year the weather was all that the
| most ardent enthusiast could have de-
sired. Occasionally it was trif1e cold
| and occasionally a drop or two or ram
| fen. but neither cold nor rain was ever
| severe enough to be markedly imp ed SAINT
For most of the time there was real car
nivaI sunshine, that matched wen the
| spirit of the occasion.
The Chinese minister, WI Ting Fan;
| his secretary and his son were objects II
| general interest wherever they went Their
/ oriental costumes matched those of the
maskers better than they did those OF the
| ordinary citizen and the visitor, while the
! fame of the present representative IN TINS
| country of the Celestial Empire made the
! interest with which he was regarded all
the more complete. The week, as whole,
was full of interest and even when Easter
was ushered, the carnival spirit still lin
| gered.