New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-08-04
Thew Gather from Forty Play
orounds, Take Forty-nine
WinkS, and Are There.
PAGEANT GREAT SUCCESS
Flowers, Butterflies and the
Nations Dance Before Roy
atty, and Feast and
Auto Rides Follow.

They took him for q donkey, Yes whom
william j. T..o. the man whose business
4, is 20 see that th" thousands and thu
.,rds Of children who frequent tho park
and Fairgrounds have q good time-aul
Incidentally 'oarn few tnings-whcn he
t,rnd NJ couldn't get donkey big
enough 10 haul the green cart that carried
,bs green coated little Irishmen in the
rageant In central Park last night. he
lust reQusitoned Pete.
And Pete. who has aesthetic feelings.
dine to his spending his days amid the
beautiful trees and shrubs Of the Park.
sypressed in The droop Of every hair of
MS tail that he perceived the anomaly of
having a st-id old horse between the
shafts Of q rdE.sh donkey cart.
There were donkeys in the pageant.
,boueh-dear little donkeys for the clowns
10 ride There were the shagsiest cf
Shetland PONIES. And there were also
three thousand children-yes. three thou
ssnd-vho came from forty different play
grounds in New York Dressed in a hun
Sred different costumes they came-Unclo
sans Rough Riders gay Italian girls.
spanish girls Russians, Greeks-o. q con
ress OF the nations, AL converting on
the sheepfold AT 10Th street and the Wcst
Drive; ard maybe the innocent mind ID
sheen that Craze in that spot weren'.
surprised
For about one minute they gaZed, i'm
movable, az the lines and lines and lines
Of wondrously attired children that kept
pouring In. and then they just turned
their rid culous little tails and departed.
Needed Bo-Peep's Care.
It Is to be hoped the official Bo-Peep
found them. for il ever sheep needed TO
be Gained down in their minds they did.
If the sheep had known what the chill
dren came 10 find perhaps they would
have stald and helped them find 1t, for
the children came looking for Fairyland.
and il is uncomfortable that even sheep
could be indifferent to Fairyland. Yes,
the children looked for Fairyland and
they found it, Tor after the big motor
trucks loaned by six big department
stores through the Central Mercantile AS
ISOLATION. had whizzed up, all be-fagged
and be-ribboned. and deposited the loads
Of little ones from The Bronx and the
Batter and all the places In between
and after the little ones had marched and
counte marched all around the green and
hunted everywhere for Fairyland they
Just dropped down and went to sleep, and
sheu thev walked up, after reposing in
The most natural way at least twenty-nine
For thousand and thousands Of red and
white and blue lights. which the Edison
company had wired in the trees about
the sheepfold. and all over a great May
pole in the centre OF the green and on a
sign saying "Fairyland at the entrance
all these lights blazed out md as the
sun had gone down the lights had II their
Own way with the green grass and the
trees and certainly nothing could be more
fairylike.
Then. down the glowing lane formed
when the small Greeks and Russians
and Japs and Chinese and Uncle Sans
and all the rest OF them drew back. in
compliance with tho directions Of some
painfully unfa!ryrke policemen, came a
little carriage drawn by some charming
children in himy costumes, and in the
carriage rode the Fairy King and the
Fairy Queen. whose names In everyday
life are Johnny Heine and Ella Lee-Su-
pervisor Lee = little daughter.
The King and Queen.
Johnny is nine years old. and weighs
we'll. Just one hundred and thirty-three
rounds. But you wouldn't want king,
even a fairy king to Be sylphlike, would
you? The wee queen vas sylphlike
enough for both, and II johnny faco
under his gold paper crown did cause
some trreverent youngsters 10 shout
Hey. King Cole," johnny didn't care
3ir. Lee Lad chosen him king, ana what
did the populace matter?
In the space OF one hour the king and
Queen had everything done for them that
4 king and queen could ask. Butterflies
danced for them-well. not truly butter
flies but the little girls from St. Nicholas
Park who did the dance certainly looked
Ike butterflies. Tho Golden Rods, In yell
low tissue paper frocks, danced for them
children of the different nations danced
for thern-charming little English girls
In pale blue dresses and carrying hoops
of paper roses: Scotch lads and lassles'
little Irish colleens In green. The rus
slams. in picturesque belted blouses, won
great praise by the spirited way Ia Which
they did a difficult national dance.
Before the dancing began there was
tumbhng by a group of boy clowns leo
by Master Thomas Campbell, as Marco
line. And after the dancing there "~S
eatng-six thousand boxes OF cahuS'
thousands and thousands of 0ricks Oh leo
cream, milk without end, and plies anu
Piles OF cookies Like dew they meileo
before the children's appetites. ana theh
why, everybody departed-the children
hiding in the motor trucks TO Washing
ton Arch, where they disbanded ana went
home under the care Of the PLAYGROUND
teachers who accompanied them.
And the lights went out and the sheep
fold wasn't Fairy land any more but just
stretch of grass badly Uttered WIN
papers and confetti. AS Mr.. Lee ana
Miss Mary T. McKennon, his assistant
and the thousands OF mothers ana fath-
ers who witnessed the pageant went
home, they said:
DIDN'T the children have good nme'
AID wasn't IL good OF the teachers VINO
worked to train them and help them
make their costumes. and OF the business
men who sent the thousands and thou
sands OF boxes of candy and things, and
the motor trucks7"
For the pageant didn't cost the city
cent Everything was contributed free.