New-York tribune., 1908-08-23

toms of their Time prescribed-Myriads OF
OH, WHAT A GLORY WE'LL MAKE THE
MASQUE FETE! Oh the magic of the trans
Houses and Avenues, Boardwalk, CASINO ana
Arcade bedecked with Bunting, beset win
Gaiety-Laughter and Merriment' Marching
with Maskers. The Queen and her Court IN
her Pageant a-visiting-Ba Bathrooms busy-Jol-
lty end joy the spirit of the hour
SO UP with You. And out With You. PUCK
vels Don your Mosques. be good and be joy
full, or the Goblins will get YOU . =.
Proclaimed this nth day of August, In
the Secrecy Of the COWslips Bell for if the
Queen hears of this my smile will come off.
PUCK.
Since then the Masque has become one of the
great nights of the week. Fearful lest the
queen tire of her visits and fail to return the
succeeding year, the people planned to weave
another spell around her heart and night car
nfvaI on Deal Lake was created BY ilurnila-
tions and fireworks, music and merrment, that
beautiful lake is transformed into another fairy
land. The queen is in a royal barge sur
rounded by the beautiful girls of her court
At the beginning there had been all kinds of
parades at Asbury Park, which has always been
a Paradise for children, and amid the motley of
paraGes the babies played on the beach and
romped on the boardwalk, oblivious to the anbi-
playing with bicycle, firemen's, business mems
and other kinds of parades. couple of men on
the beach one day were discussing the various
parades and, observing the shore alive with little
ones, humorously declared the next should be a
baby parade. 1t was only 4 seed dropped into
the sand, but il grew,
July u, 1890, 1SS babies, some twins and trip
lets. formed the first baby parade, consisting
mostly Of prettily decorated carriages That day
all other parades sank into insgnfcance- The
next year fGG children wheeled down the
boardwalk. Nearly every section of the coun-
try had Il representative. The decorations gave
evidence Of more thought and care Crowds
overwhelmed the line of march and shouted
their approval. BY 1890 the parade had be-
come a fixture Richly decorated carriages and
a regiment of boys and girls carrying flowers
from meadow and garden passed in review. In
1897 it is recorded that CSC children were en-
tered including representatives of Cuba, Scot
land and Russia.
SO The parade grew in character and pOpular-
ity year by year Until the eleventh year 1900,
when no parade was held. There had always
been difficulty about the management. The
funds nect ssiry had to be collected from the
people. The parade itself had never been thor
oughly organized nor was any one in particular
responsible for it's direction, popular sentiment
each year forcing some one INTO leadership Inc
difficulties of the situation finally became such
that no one could be found to lead. cry Of
disappointment was heard when it became ap
parent the season to pass without this at
traction.
The demand of public sentiment that the
baby parade must not be allowed to die
was so insistent that in 1901 the City Council
took up the question. H. B. Ayres was ap-
pointed head of q commission of fifteen, and a
new era began. The parade rapidly expanded
into chdrens carnival, embracing week Of
ceremony and costing thousands of dollars. The
first years of Mr Ayress management the queen
was introduced, with courtiers and ladies, royal
pageantry and fairy scenes. Shakespeare's
Midsummer Nights Dream" gave the idea of
Titania, Queen of the Fairies, and the carnival
since then has been woven about this most de-