Year: 1877

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The spring exodus is already COM
mencing. Ii was generally supposed
that poverty would keep people at home
/ this summer and send them to quiet
seaside or country places, but those who
wish to go to Europe insist that it is
cheaper to go there than to remain in
New York, or rather at some fashionable
watering place. The rumors Of war in
which all Europe is gradually becoming
involved has no terrors for them, as it
will, lift eventually comes, be carried on
beyond the reach Of ordinary travel, and
vii, only add an additional excitement
to their summer tour, while it will also
make money matters easier here and
help pay the expense.


While humanity is thus seeking for
eign shores the arrivals are of another
sort. In the spring of the year, just be-
fore the circus opens or begins its emf
gratory rounds, that portion of it so at
tractive to the small boy is disembarked
here. Lions and tigers, elephants and
monkeys, big snakes and strange birds
form part of the cargoes of vessels, and
the disembarking of an elephant last
week attracted so large a crowd and as
many followers as if he had been a royal
object instead of quadruped.


OF late years there has been a pretty
species of entertainment, in which by
tableaux and pantomine the scenes in
some poems have been attacted. Bar
bara Freitchie has been a favorite for
this kind of scenic effect, but the Mis-
tletoe Bough" which has recently been
produced here in aid of charity, was by
far the finest affair of the sort ever Civ
en-. 1t was in the hands and under the
supervision of some Of our wealthiest
people, to whom the fun was the princi-
pal item, and who therefore spared no
expense in dress or decoration while
the whole affair might or might not
benefit the charity in question as ii
might be. As it happened it did hall
fill the Golfers of the Hospital in whose
aid it was given. The whole song was
studied most artistically, and Mrs Gula-
ger sang the verses, one for each tab
leau. There was the dinner in the "old
oak hall' and the dancers; Lord Lovelis
young wife who was weary of dancing
and ran away to hide; the old chest in
which she sprang to her doom. This
scene was charming, the arch young girl
who played it being very lovely, and
performing her part admirably. Then
the lapse of fifty years, the dance around
the maypole on the village green, the
arrival of the old man who so many
years before 10 t his bride, and the final
opening of the chest and finding the
bridal veil, all of the terrible discovery
that is shown to the public.


This bids fair to prove very frshion
able species of entertainment. 1t i:
more easily arranged than play, the
dramatic effects are very fine, and it
permits the action tableau does not
allow, as well as giving wide scope tC
originality in getting up the scenes anC
accessories, as they may be as simple o.
elaborately arranged as the means o.
the fancy of the actors may permit.


Mr. Keene, the San Francisco Specu
lator who has been disporting himselfir
our Wall Street Menagerie, has beer
having very handsome drag built. tn,
drags that gentlemen drive for theil
own amusement, are very little like the
stage coach which most of us remember
having taken excursions in at some tim,
of our lives, notably among the White
Hills of New Hampshire. They are
much lower apparently, have a larger
look and only carry ten; instead of 13 OF
IA passengers on the outside.


The box seat next the driver is the
seat Of honor, then there is the seat Just
back which becomes the next most de-
sirable place. The Coaching Club will
soon have their parade here, and each
year the number increases, while the
the horses that draw them are some OF
the finest in the country.


The spring fever is felt in other direc-
tons as well, in the Yacht Clubs, at the
Trotting Parks and the Base Ball
grounds. Altogether we begin TO be-
lieve the coy damsel has really arrived
with her train and her festivities


HOW To REACH THE POLE.


Captain II W nowgate, of the Signal
Office, sees no grounds of discourage
ment in the failure of Fares expedition
to reach the North Pole. The seasons,
he remarks, vary in the Arctic circle as
markedly as in more temperate attitudes
and in favorable year the ice of the so
called ~Paleocrystic Sea" might be bro
ken up. Captain Howgate would have
party of at least twenty hardyIesolute,
and experienced men, with provisions
for three years, stationed at some point
near the borders of the Polar Sea-for
instance, where the Diseoyery wintered
last year. These men would seize the
occasion of the opening of the frozen
sea to push on TO the pole At the end
Of three years the party should be visit
ed, and, if unsuccessful in accomplishing
its object, should be revictualed and left
again to their work. With good, sub
stantial building, such as could easily
be carried On shipboard, they would be as
comfortable and safe from atmospheric
danger as the men of the Signal Service
on the summit on Mount Washington.
"A good supply Of medicine. adds
Captain Howgate, "a skillful surgeon,
and such fresh provisions as could be
found by hunting parties, would enable
them to keep off scurvy, and to main
tain as good sanitary condition as the
inhabitants of Godhaven in Greenland
Game was found in fair quantities by
the RIaris party on the Greenland coast
and by those from the Alert and Disoor-
cry on the mainland to the west especi-
ally in the vicinity of the last named
vessel, where ifty-four musk-oIen were
killed during the season, with quantities
Of other and smaller game. 4 seam Of
good coal was also found by the Disco
erys party, which would render the
question offueI light one and thus re-
move one Of the greatest difficulties
hitherto found by Arctic voyagers. Let
an expedition be organized to start as
early as practicable, and | firmly believe
that by 1880 the geography of the polar |
circle would be definitely settled and that !
without loss of life


The arrival Of the long stranded |
Amerique, last week, was a regular oya- I
tion