The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1909-02-19

New Orleans. Feb H. with the
arrival last night of the motley
knights Of Momus. the god Of mock.
cry. the annual Mardi Gas carnival
in New Orleans is on in full blast.
! This year a great automobile racing
meet, beginning tomorrow. will be a
feature of the festivities. and the ad.
herents of King Motor are pouring
There are the thousands too. from
all over the country. who are at
tractei simply by the fun and rcvclry
that always attends the annual ccle-
bration IN the Cers,out city and
! from early morning until this after
noon every train into New Orleans
cupticd itself Of great crowds of
revclers Durinl the next sour DAYS.
culminati1C Tuesday night this city
will d. the playground Of the ma
tion. Sober commorCialism anl com.
monplacc trade aye forgotten. save
by the fakirs and showmcn who are
here by hundreds 10 take the money
Of the care.froo crowds and during
the final days leading up 10 Mardi
Gras the city will disport itself with
all the gayoty and nerve OF IT,
Gallic progcntors
Although many other cities have
attempted TO rival the Mardi Gras
celebration annually enacted upon
the stage of New O-lc1us. none have
succeeded and the Crescent City
maintains it's supremacy as "thc
home of folly" It is the old Frcnc"
bloc that has from "a, c,rlics, day
/ flown through the veins Of the city.
but is now suppressed in IT'S fun
loving manifestations by the demands
Of trade and barter save during
those magic days preceding Mardi
| Gras
The first Mardi Gras celebration
in this city was that Of 1857. when
a ragcant of decorated and illumi-
mated cars was given by the Mystic
Krcwe of Comus. secret organiza-
tion formed in that year. The sub.
iect was not Milton's Comus. but his
I Paradise Lost. ami after the process.
sion had passed through the streets,
\ the maskers repaired to the old Cal
ETY. Thoater and there produced Sc
ries of appropriate tahleaux. Comus
gave annual parades after that until
1861, when the civil war turned for
4 time the thoughts of the people
from these gay mumerles to more
tragic interests. In 1866 Comus re-.
sumCd its representations. which
have continued to appear regularly
every year since then with the ex
coption Of a suspension from 1854 ia
1880 II appears ON the night Of
Shroye Tuesday.
The second mystic organization 10
come into existence was the Twelfth
Night Rcycllors in 1870. py that time
the heterogeneous population of New
Orleans had become largely English
and this society, which celebrated
the twelfth night after Christmas
was reminisconce Of the old Eng
.ish customs, such as the cuttinl
OF the Twelfth Night Cake and the
distribution of the ring and beans
by which means the queen of the
Rcyellers' ball is always chosen. Tn,
Rcveller's like most of the other as
sociations, lapsed for while, bu
,. for the last fourteen years hav,
continued regularly 10 entertain theil
friends on the sixth night of every
January at the French opera house
They now no longer give stree
pageant, but their ball is the roa
opening of the brilliant round of so
cial gayety which lasts from the
beginning of the new year until tn,
dawn of the first Lenten morning
Rex owed its origin TO the visi
of the Grand Duke Alexis, who wal
the guest of the Crescent City il
1872 For his entertainment it wat
proposed to form an organization
which should combine all the scat
tered maskers OF the day, throughou
the city, into one ordered and pr,
cessional body. This organization
grew in power and numbers until n
king was recognized as the King O
the Carnival the Sovereign Lord O
Misrule. BY his edlct Mardi Gra
J was made a legal holiday in his car
: ital city. Royal pomp and obseryanc
I has so increased that an claborat
foolery of courtly etiquette has bee
| originated and now for a week or tw
before the arrival of the king the l.
cal papers contain short bulletin