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Show bearing illuminated devices of carnival royalty and couched in hyper-oriental ' flowers of command, are distributed broadcast in every city and along every line of travel within reach. These are ! regarded with singular consideration by ' the public, even reaching a semi-official force, while rail and river lines combine obedience with their own best interests ! and cnt down round trip travel to almost al-most nominal rates. Thus curiosity goes hand in hand with convenience, and the vast incoming throngs combine pleasure travelers, health seekers and business men who delay their visits for this favoring time. Snch make up the ; composite crowds of Mardi Gras noon ; all trending to those central points an-! an-! nonnced in the edicts for the royal progress THE CltEOLE CARNIVALS. ROME MERRY MEMORIES OF FAMOUS MARDI GRAS. . The South Preparing for Next Month's Festlvnl The Rollicking Jollities Which Precede the Solemn Lenten Season, Van That f Taken Serloosly History. Special Correspondence.) Mobile. Jan. 29. The extreme south Is preparing for the croole carnivals. Two gulf cities. Mobile and New Organs, Or-gans, will spend nearly a quarter of a million of dollars next month in celebrating cele-brating the Mardi Gras festa. The mystic mys-tic programme will be carried out in the usual magnificent scale, and the American Ameri-can from the cold north can witness in his own country, in this land of the magnolia and the orange, a soectaclo more gorgeous than the time honored Venetian carnivals, more alluring than ivncence m inis seeming mon ot uncon-I uncon-I trolled and disguised men from every station of society. All who wish to wear I the mask and frolic in stage attire may j do so, but license, profanity or vicious-ness vicious-ness is never heard of in the dazzling display. To many the grand dances are the feature of the occasion, and the stories told of the splendor and brilliancy read like fairy tales. Mr. De Leon, a famous historian of Mardi Gras, tells me of the most daring stride in ball giving at the Creole carnivals carni-vals with which its picturesque history is familiar. It was given at the Mobile theatre. Changed at the touch of their enchanter"s wand into the court of a fendal castle, its galleries became the turreted ramparts, gay with fluttering flutter-ing banners of Burgundy, Lorraine, Brunswick and Champagne, in strong relief re-lief to solid seeming stonework. The rise from dancing floored parquet to stage was spanned bj a heavy drawbridge, draw-bridge, with moat and barbican and portcullis. This was raised while the guests were received by the sponsor committee, com-mittee, the drop curtain representing a massive and studded gate that shut off the stage. Suddenly from the streets without Far off a solitary trumpet blew, and quickly the lookholes of moat towers tow-ers were manned by warders blowing notes of welcome. The drawbridge slowly slow-ly fell across the moat as the portcullis rose up on niassive chains, Then was disclosed the beautiful banquet chamber I of mediseval days, with grim stonework j relieved by tapestry portieres and stained I glass windows, coloring a pretty group of fairest matrons awl maidens of the city. These represented the baroness and her maidens, being by special selec-i selec-i tion the "Queen of the Revel" and her attendants. Kneeling at her feet a pretty pai?o received a gracious nod of assent, and took the huge key of the onter gate from the wall where it hung. ! and, making obeisance to the baroness, joined his chosen maiden. As the hist rider cleared the drawbridge the band began a modern waltz, the court passed across the moa't to the dancing floor (painted as a tesselated courtyard) and the ball began, as the silken barrier ropes and padded roadway disappeared 1 as though by magic. Other Mardi Gras balls have surpassed I this one in splendor, but none has quite ventured on its daring and effective realism. Now the people who gather at these balls are by no means the motley element. ele-ment. Caste is strong in the south, and polite society is careful of its associations. associa-tions. Notwithstanding the incognito of the mask, the blue blood must not j mingle with the common herd, and un- j less one is what is considered well born j or introduced he cannot enter here. ' There is sometimes a ridiculous side to ; this sort of thing, but if the "Four Hundred" Hun-dred" alone pay for the piper, surely ihey may be allowed to dunce and choose their own company. And that is to the northerner a strange feature of the Mardi Gras festivities. All the dis-play, dis-play, the processions, the magnificent ; balls are a princely gratuity to the pub- i lie. There are no public subscriptions. ! ' The mystic orders Which comprise the I financial and ax ial solidity of the town pay all the bills. I No outsider knows whence the money comes. Unless he is of the elect he is not asked to contribute. To the colored element of the south this festival is also the great event of the year, and the amount of speculation as to what the procession will comprise is indeed amusing to listen to. Vou will frequently see a big, gaunt negro explaining ex-plaining to his admiring associates the ! wonders he has seen at previous fasti- ' vals, and regaling them with exaggerated exagger-ated stories of what is to come. Mardi Grits comes early this year, j Feb. 9 being Slirove Tuesday. Already j is hoard in the cities the busy note of I preparation. Frbp'k W. White. I STREET SCENE DURINQ MAKDI OR AS. j I It was here in Mobile that Mardi Gras ! first saw the light of day. According to ! an entertaining local pamphlet, entitled "Creole Carnivals," it appears that on j New Year's eve, just sixty years ago, j Michael Kraft anil a few jolly citizens of Mobile supped at a then famous creolo restaurant. Wine perhaps flowed freely before the midnight revelers, homeward bound, passed a hardware store belonging belong-ing to one of their number. Bakes, scythes, gongs and cowbells, as was the custom, hung without as signs. A raid was made, these strange instruments making music for serenade to several citizens. As each of these appeared to j quell the clamor he was impressed into the ranks of the revelers, and th List visit was to the mayor, who invitad the party in to breakfast! Next year this augmented party supped, paraded and serenaded, tho strange emblems now so vrell known again having use. Tho third year was tucked by more forinu j lated fun, under mask. This was" the acorn a very little one from which to spring the perfected pageantry of all ' the intervening years out of which j came the creolo carnival, at present existent ex-istent and known by name wherever Americans travel or read. Now the festival is an affair of mighty proportions, anticipated and in preparation prepara-tion a whole year. It ends in a glittering glitter-ing pandemonium, but one strangely decent, never carrying levity over the bounds of sense. Abnolnto liberty prevails pre-vails during the three days and nights, but it is a liberty that is never abused. And here is the marvel, the really strange feature of this strange festival, that , there should be such perfect order and .-V-'; f ORIGIN OP THE CARNIVAL. the bal masque in the giddy capital on the Seine. The now south, busier and braver now than ever before in its eventful event-ful history, does not forget in the hurry of its money getting prosperity the incognita, in-cognita, the famous frolics, the delicious intrigue of the Mardi Gras which precedes pre-cedes the gloomy Lenten season. It gives freely to this ancient custom and pays royal tribute to the mummer king. It is all very strange to the northern born and bred citizen. The New Yorker, the New Englander, the Chicagoan can scarcely conceive an annual festival presided pre-sided over by an unknown charivari who, in his absurd andglittcringperson-ality, andglittcringperson-ality, issues edicts which are implicitly obeyed by the serious commercial world. The sway of this merry monarch is as absolute as that of the Russian czar. At the royal commarul business ceases, banks close, schools suspend, and all the aspects of a legal holiday are assumed by both cities. Even the courts cease their warring and fretful troubles, and the mayor and civic dignitaries humor the popular comedy so far as to ride forth instate and deliver up the keys of the city, and with them its absolute practical control, to the lord high chamberlain cham-berlain of his mimic majesty. In a somewhat some-what lesser degree this festival it carried cut in Vicksbnrg, Memphis, Pensacola and even St. Louis. Truly it is all "most excellent fooling." All over the south today one sees these "edicts" that precede the carnivals, and which are their most pecnliar and perhaps per-haps their most effective adjunct. Weeks in advance brilliant placards, i". " 7. .. , .' """is j OP THE REVEL. Tripping across the entire floor, by this time cleared to a wide lane by the committee, the page unlocked the great outer barbican gate, the main dobrs of the theatre. As the second portcullis creaked upward a startled cry arose from all the guests behind the silken ropes of tho improvised roadway from gate to moat. For, dashinrr in at full speed, their beautiful horses felt shod j and their armors flashing and plumes flat from the speed, came some forty mounted knights, with vinors down, re- turning from the foray, i Straight at the drawbridge they rode I at speed; over it and on the sawdust of the inner court upon the stage. Here ' each leaped from his saddle, his horse 1 led quickly out of sight by armed esquire. |