Newark post., 1913-02-26
New Orleans, La,
February 20, 1913.

3Oth for New Orleans over the Norfolk
Western and Queen and Crescent route,
arriving here on Saturday about noon
The ride through Virginia was of little
interest, travelling mostly through the
poorer part of the State. In parts of
Louisiana | was very favoraby impress
ed with the immense tracts of land yet
unreclaimed, and remarked that if l
were farmer | would come to Louisiana
and take up some of this land which is
free from swamp and bush and possesses
fertile SOIL There are ten million acres
Of land unreclaimed in this state, only 25
per cent of the area being under cultiva-
ton. On arriving at New Orleans we
found it difficult matter to get hotel
accommodations as the Mardi Gras was
IN full force and everything taken and
people being turned away by the hun
dreds. Prices of rooms had been raised
to $500 per day. 1t was hold-up by
the hotel men, and has been the subject
or criticism by some of the papers, who
think that it may hurt the carnival in
the future. Through the kindness of the
proprietor of the Monteleone Hotel,
where | am now stopping, I succeeded
in getting room where thirteen doctors
and medical students lived, and l never
met nicer set of gentelmen. They were
all doctors and called me doctor too,
cognomen which would have proved the
wrong one had | been called into prac-
tice. After the carnival was over I was
able to get nice room in Hotel Monte
leone where ! am now very comfortably
located.
New Orleans has several very fine ho-
tells, Grunewald being the largest. 1t cost
two and half million dollars and is said
to be the finest in the South. The Monte
leone is the next best. Both are abso-
lutely fireproof fact which is great
protection to the traveller.
The next thing was to take in the
Mardi Gras. There were parades on
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday even
ings. | witnessed the last of these,
which was novel and pretty but did not
equal the carnival on Monday and Tues
day when Rex, the King of the Carnival,
led gorgeous pageant to the delight OF
thousands, and later received society's
homage at his annual ball in the French
Opera House. The "Kingn arrived on
Monday, February 3rd, at 2 p. M, aboard
his royal yacht escorted by an imposing
fleet. All the merchant vessels in the har-
bor were decked in many colors; flags of
every nation were hoisted and salutes
we're fred from the ships as Rex pursued
his journey. The spectacle was an i'm
posing one. The most beautiful parade,
think, was on Tuesday afternoon, when
for gorgeous richness and beauty of
color and design, His Majesty surpassed
his efforts in the Carnival of 1913 The
King turned to mythology for the sub
ject of the pageant, Entertainments and
Transformations. These he pictured on
massive floats and bedecked the scenes
with great profusion of coors in the
twenty magnificent floats which composed
the carnival.
Mounted in chariot profusely bedeck-
ed with jewels, and garbed in royal at
tire-brilliant jewels and crown-Rex
rode at the head Of the Merry Krewe. -
Great dragons drew the royal car and
dragon flies in numbers lowered over
head. Other floats were "Jupter, -
the White Bull,'' "Philomela, the
Nightingale, - "Arachne, the Spider,o
''Loti, the Lotus Blossom "Tithonus,
the Grasshopper, the Shower of Gold''
Daphne, the Laurel Tree oneida
Enchants the Dragon, '.The Pleiades,
1.-The Medusa, - "The Frogs of Lycri,'
1.-The Enchanted Sleep Endymion,"
1.-The Golden Touch of Midas "'The
Enchanted Ship of Bacchus, - Atlanta
and Her Lover Become Lions, - "sElec-
tric, the Comet "Cadmus Sows the
Dragons Teeth, "Arethusa, the Foun
tain
Mardi Gras is the French expression
for Shrove Tuesday which being the day
preceding Ash Wednesday, or the begin
ming of Lent, makes it easy to follow the
analogy of its literal translation-Mardi,
Tuesday, and Gras, fat. 1t also stands
for the last day of the Carnival-the lat
ter signifying farewell to flesh meant,
and finding expression in gala days of
revelry. There are four principal socie-
ties connected with the Mardi Gras,-
Rex, Proteous, Comus and Momus, be-
sides other mystic organizations. The
parade given by each society were similar
to the Rex parade and were all gorgeous
and magnificent sights.
There are many interesting subjects to
write about in this quaint old city-called
"The City of Care Forgot Touring
the city we took in the Cabildo, where
the transfer of the PROVINCE Of Iou;r;a,a