The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1915-01-01

fed cities in the United States, but
once year it lapses into unrestrained
| frivolity. The occasion is a curious
| carnival called the New Year shoot
ers' parade" which is described in
the Wide World Magazine by resident
of the city.
"OR three hundred and sixty-four
| days in the year Philadelphia
lives up to its national reputa-
ton of being the quietest city
| In the United States, but for one glori-
Gus day the Quaker town vies with
New Orleans, Rome and Paris as a
center of frivolity suddenly stricken
mad. Ii is a very methodical madness.
however, for the chief participants in
this great annual festival of Philadel-
phia-which is known as the New
Year shooters parade-begin their
preparations for the following year as
soon as the sun sets on the scene OF
gayety on Jan. l.
One of the objects to be gained is
the winning of large cash prizes offer
ed by the civic authorities for the
most elaborate and novel costumes
worn in the procession and for the club
whose members make the most strik-
ing appearance on parade.
Each year the eccentricity OF the
costumes exceeds that of the previous
year. Immense sums are spent on the
costumes of the kings, of whom there
are several in the procession, and num-
bers of girls are employed for months
previous to the date of the festival
cutting out and embroidering the ma
terial intended for their majesties' fin
cry on festival day. The larger the
robe and the finer the embroidery
the better the chance of winning q
prize. A hundred young Philadelphians
will form themselves into club and
do little else in their spare time but
plan and prepare for the annual pa
rade, paying subscriptions into a gen
eral fund. from which the miliner's
bill is to be met. and looking forward
to winning cash prize sufficient AT
least to reimburse them for the initial
outlay.
times required to support some of the
gorgeous robes worn by the kings at
this curious festival The parade takes
place on Broad street. the widest thor
! oughfare In the city, and the royal
robes are made large enough to stretch
from curb to curb when pulled out to
their full width by the attendant
1t would be impossible for even the
sturdy men selected as kings to sup
port them but for the small army OF
gorgeously clad pages who carry sec
lions of the train. At times. when the
/ street narrows or the crowd Is SO
dense that it is impossible for the
pages to stretch the robe to its full
| length, the weight necessarily falls to
a great extent on the shoulders of the
king, and his majesty frequently
faints from the terrible strain of sup
porting his splendor without the aid
of the pages.
/ These pages are attired in costumes
that match the robe of the king, and as
a royal retinue passes along to the
music of military band the spectacle
is a magnificent one But the kings
| are not the entire show by any means.
Following each royal parsonage comes
! n motley procession of jewellers. each
dressed according to his own peculiar
| fancy, but all with some attempt al
expressing a meaning in the masquer
| ade Public men who are not popular
are held up to ridicule by men who
impersonate them in the most gro
| tesque costumes conceivable, current
events are depicted by cars in which
| Young America exercises his wit in a
manner that the man in the street can
understand. and jests that are oe
! casionally couched in language more
| forceful than polite are carried aloft
on transparencies. Pretty girls,
whose large feet and mannish stride
betray the sterner sex. stalk along
beneath bewitchlng sunshades OF
dance merrily with maskers in all man
ner of foolish guises, and a regular
| Noah's ark of animals. with trousered
legs protruding through the corners oil
their anatomy. march soemnly along
with nodding heads and cavernous
smiles
At the city hall the procession halts
while The mayor and his cahinet re
view the parade Then for hours II
plods along through avenues of cheer
ing citizens TO a point where the com
mittee. TO which is left the selecting o.
the prize winners. critically scans the
costumes and the appearance of each
marching hand The decisions are
not made known until several days
after the gorgeous finery has been LAID
away 20 do duty in some way or Other
the succeeding year When the names
of the prize winners are finally IN
nounced there is generally a howl OF
disappointment from those passed over
with much talk of unfairness and bias