Lower coast gazette., 1910-02-12
SATURDAY. FEBRUARY IL, 1917
Nardi GraS.

THE most beautiful hoNuay '''@. w
/ o,;siana is a Holy Day. that OF All oain.9' VA
.ho fret Of November, when our people lay
Ao,,ors mon the graves Of their departed mem
hors Mardi Gras coming as it does early IN 1he
vear, is identified with the spring, ra'her V,'"r
with the harvest season and is made a pefloo VI
general good nature and enjoyment. WINE II
10 rocoon;zed notably as a Catholic holiday ana
one Of Madame de Stael's most brilliant chapters
,s an account Of Mardi Gras in Rome. II IS loulo
that the traveller must come TO the "es'e!"
world to participate in the most oel'eh,lu, 40
nlavs and celebrations made upon thls nol'o"S'
Manv Of our northern and western 1rlenos'
.on;no down to New Orleans, are astonlshed 10
find the vast expenditure OF anu money
made in these celebrations and the apparent ao-
eonce Of commercialism in them. Rlght there
Eoc tho charm. Other cities in some OF the ao-
;ocert states have endeavcred to initiate ne"
orleans in it's Mardi Gras festivities and they
howe endeavored to commerciaize it to such an
evtent as to impair the final effect and nowhere
have the celebrations succeeded IS IN I'VE" W.
leans. The Mardi Gras organizations WIN 'ne'i
own money build up the various taDleaoA lid,
thev offer to the people and in turn invite a''
,rom;nont strangers and such Of their own peo'
h1a "a they have room for to come to the maj
entertainments.
Thew were inaugurated in New Orleans long
before the civil war by the SOCIAL leauefs u ono
of the clubs and have continued without pr&cti-
co] inter,nission up to the present Tune pelhs
onlorged from time to time and in this way ana
that as some new organization might come III
and ioin with the rest. The whole spirit OF the
affair lies in the willingness OF the gooo peop!e
If New Orleans to put up their money ana lhei
time to promote the common good OF the city with
m,t askinq a cent in return other than just such
things as good citizenship would indicate shou'
be due from everyone.
Another conspicuous feature III New Crleall
Is the very manifest good nature win Whlc' d
If the festivities are carried or. IN Cuoa, som
forty wears ago, it became necessary to olsaff
all sosnicious people, as several murders occur
red from the c~onceafment thus afforded Tn
maskers. Mardi Gras being recognized an
masking being recognized. we could harol
c)ain that the organizations had a right to appes
on masoue and disbar individuals, and yet, VIII
the individuals all the trouble lies, at least d
in Havana forty years ago. We presume tn;
Mardi Gras has still some celebration over ther
but it appears to flourish nowhere as well as
New Orleans, where we still have enough
that delightful French element to lend a char
and quality to our civilization which would ha
been impossible without it. Mardi Gras '
hope will flourish for decades to come and tn
both the elders and the youths will enjoy 1t tn
as now. In fact, one Of the notable features
our Mardi Gras celebrations has been that
recently acquired citizens from the North a
West quickly become the most enthusiastic 81
porters of the organization, going into 1t WIFI
hearty good will and finding themselves reco
pensed by that sense of having done all tt
they could to promote the common good With
that disposition to inquire how many dollars
cents they might get out OF 1t.