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Car
1—Comus.
First
comes the glorious personage himself.
Enthroned as it were upon an enormous
bunch of his chosen and symbolic fruit,
golden and typifying thereby his 60th
anniversary, he waves aloft his never
empty jeweled chalice, filled to the brim
with mirth and bubbling happiness. Around
him are half a hundred golden laurel
wreaths showing how many splendid mile
stones he and his Mistick Krewe have already numbered on their
gay career. A shimmering, glittering veil,
suggesting the secrecy surrounding the
movements of himself and his mirthful
followers, is caught amidst the swaying
tendrels of his whilom throne.
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Car
2—Title.
“Masque of
Comus,” he who runs
may read without the letters, Surrounded by an enormous mass of
luscious,
royally-tinted grapes that seem well-nigh bursting with juicy
fruitiness, a
life-like mask, be-ribboned at either side, rests against a
chisoled goblet of
precious metal, In it is to be seen the liquid so
deliciously red and
exhilirating. A jovial and merry look glints from the eye spaces
of the smiling
mask, the reflected look of the whimsical god himself.
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Car 3—The
Spirit Descends,
The first tableau
illustrated from the poem is that point where
the attendant spirit descends or enters, In
the words of the poet:
"Before the starry
threshold of Jove's court,
My mansion is, where those
immortal shapes
Of bright aerial spirits live
insphered
In regions mild, of calm and
serene air,
Above the smoke and stir of
this dim spot
Which men call Earth.”
Mindful of those however who
still strive
Upward, the spirit, or good
fairy, descends to
help.
To such my errand is.”
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Car 4—The
Sea-Girt Isles,
Neptune of course
sways over Imperialwise,
All the realms of the sea—But there are
Many small sea-girt isles
“That,like to rich
and various gems,
inlay
The unadorned bosom of tho
deep;
Which he, to grace his
tributary gods,
By course commits to several
government,
And gives them leave to wear
their sapphire crowns
And wield their little
tridents.”
Here are cogent in all their
glittering array various rulers of these
varied isles, brilliant in hue as the colors
of the rainbow, and sparkling as with
diamonds,
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Car
5—The Song of Comus.
Light and
tripping as the measures of a fairy dance is the
metrical rhythm of
the song of Comus sung In
the magic wood.
“And on the
tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert Fairies and
the dapper
elves,
By dimpled brook and
fountain-brim,
The wood-nymphs, decked
with
daisies trim,
Their merry wakes and
pastime keep:
What hath night to do
with sleep?”
By the side of a rippling
water-fall move
strange fantastic creatures garbed In goblin woven dresses,
shimmering as
moon-shine and garlanded as flowers,
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Car 6—Echo's Vale,
“Sweet
Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen
Within thy airy
shel
By slow meander's
margent green,
And in the
violet-embroidered vale
Where the love-lorn
nightingale
Nightly to thee her
sad song mourneth well.”
Under a canopy of Shells dripping perfumed sparkling
rills stand Echo and her nymphs. From silvered horns
spring back,
arrow-like, the clear notes of
their
laughing voices.
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Car
7—Circe Culling Poison,
"Circe with the
Sirens three,
Admist the
flowery-kirtled Naiades,
Culling their potent
herbs and baleful
drugs,
Who, as they sung,
would take the
poisoned soul,
And lap it in
Elysium:"
Alluring
dark-souled Circe surrounds her victims with
a mesh as
fine as the gossamy spider's web,
yet
withall as strong
as chains of steel. And so they seem to
shrink into the grovelling shapes of
phantom swine.
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Car
8—The Dragon Watch,
While wondering through the gruesome enchanted wood
and well nigh
distracted at the loss of their fairy sister Alice, the
two brothers
hold converse together. The elder is more optimistic over the
final result
of their calamity but the younger
one,
pensively musing, has no hope that danger would wink on
Opportunity
and let a helpless
maiden pass safely through the surrounding
waste,
“Beauty,
like the fair Hesperian tree
Laden with blooming
gold, had
need the guard
Of dragon-watch with
unenchanted
eye
To save her blossoms,
and defend
her fruit.”
Behold the Dragon-Watch! What need of more defense, of
glittering
knight or well used magic art,
before the
sleepless eyes of this enormous dragon?
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Car 9—The Magic Plant.
Suddenly
to the two distressed brothers appears a
guiding angel, the good spirit in the garb
of their
father’s shepherd, Thyrsis, He tells them of a magic plant
that grew
round about. A common herb apparently, it possessed
most wonderful
qualities, rendering the possessor thereof invulnerable to
all the
necromancer’s art, He
gives them
some and on they sally in quest of their sister,
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Car
10—The Enchanted Chair.
Seated
upon a throne-like chair, fashioned of a
style beyond mere mortal's dreaming, is
the sweet and beautiful Lady Alice. With
gleaming eyes and claws of sword length
shape, a watchful griffon of gigantic size
crouches before her. Winged creatures,
half bird, half beast, guard her on every
side. In the midst of these horrid shapes
she appears as an angel of light, and
though not able to rise and leave her
surroundings, her spirit and will are
still free and unconfined,
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Car
11—Apollo's Pursuit.
In the legend old
‘tis stated, Apollo
falls in love with Daphne, a nymph, and he after killing her lover
pursues her that she
may love him. Being
the son of Zeus and representing the light and life-giving Influence
as well as deadly
power of the sun, he rides in a chariot that beams as the
sun itself. Small
chance hath Daphne and
she not caring or returning the affection of the mighty Apollo,
entreats to be
transformed into a bay-tree, which is granted her. She turns
Into one as she
stands uttering her
prayer,
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Car
12—Thone of Egypt.
Weirdly mystical
and seemingly
pulsating with ceinmerian necromancy, this float appeals to all in
our senses that is
responsive to the call of the occult, The moon-shaped lotus lily of the Egyptian river sways
in rustling garlands
from winged-tipped
capitals and snake coiled urns, From the base of a strange shaped
altar flows the
waters of life. ‘Twas the wife of Thone that gave to Jove,
born Helena, a
marvellous potion to drink, of which brought joy divine. And yet this could not compare to the wonderful effect of the wine of Comus.
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Car
13—Nature's Bounties,
“Wherefore did
Nature pour her
bounties forth
With such a full and
unwithdrawing hand,
Covering the earth with
odours, fruits and
flocks;
All to please and sate the
curious taste?”
Here are
displayed with lavishness above described many of mother
Nature’s gifts to
her children, From
brimming golden cornucopias stream her treasures, and yet after
all'tis but a small
part of what she has bequeathed us with a gracious
hand. By
displaying treasures such as these, Comus seeks to beguile the
“fair ladye.”
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Car
14—The Wrath of Jove,
In contrast is
displayed the Wrath
of Jove as he visits it upon those of the Inhabitants of Saturn who may have been one time so unfortunate
as to draw down upon
their luckless heads
his god-like ire. Giving vent to itself in voices of thunder, of
flashes of lightning,
the chains of Erebus
seem not heavy beside the anger of him who knows so well how to make his crossed fancy wreak vengeance
on offenders,
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Car 15—Nereus'
Hall,
Surrounded by
columns of coral
which are bejeweled with briny drops that gleam like snowy pearls, old Nereus rears his hoary head, true monarch of the deep. Before him, with gem encircled wrists, sport
his daughters,
flashing and gleaming like so many mermaids. On either side of him stands Locrine, son of
Brutus, and his
stepdame Guendolen The
Iatter's cruel treatment of the fair Sabrina is related by the water
nymphs to their Kingly sire
who listens with
sympathetic ear to all
they say
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Car 16—The
Appeal to the Gods.
The guardian
spirit making every
effort possible to break the enchanted spell, appeals in the name of all
the Gods for some aid
to work the miracle,
Great Oceanus, earth shaking Neptune, grave majestic
Tethys, hoary and
wrinkled, the Carpathian Wizard, Soothsayer Glaucus, Leucothea of the lovely heads, Thetis Pharthenope and fair Ligea who
with her golden comb
sits on diamond rocks
and allures unwary mariners all these and more great ones of Olympus are called on for ald.
“Listenand Save! "
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Car
17—Sabrina's Bower.
On the rush
fringed bank of a
crystal stream, the tender hearted nymph moars her chariot which is thickly encrusted with agate,
"And the Azurn
Sheen
Of turkish blue and emerald
green.”
In her hand she clasps the
goblet, containing
the magic potion that will release the Lady Alice from the
enchanted chair,
“Sabrina fair,
Thou art sitting
Under the glassy, cool
translucent wave,
In twisted braids of lilies
knitting
The loose train of thy
amber-dropping
hair;
Goddess of the silver
lake.”
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Car
18—The Billow's Treasury,
“Thy billows
roll ashore
The beryle and the golden
ore.”
Here are seen a few of the
wonders of the
treasury of the waves, which the Spirit in blessing wishes to
be showered upon the
sweet Sabrina for her
graciousness tn coming to the rescue of the Lady Alice. Marvellous treasures beyond human pen they be, more glittering than jewels, more resplendent than
earth's precious
metals,
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Car
19—Cupid and Psyche,
“Far above, in
spangled Sheen,
Celestial Cupid,
Holds his dear Psyche,
sweet entranced
After her wandering labours
long,
Till free consent the gods
among
Make her his eternal
bride.”
Surrounded by great golden
roses whose petals
are bediamonded with
dew drops, the two immortal youthful lovers oblivious of all that
is passing below them
seem embowered In
beauty’s realm itself. Breathing the liquid air of such gardens of Hesperus, small wonder that thus they live forever,
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Car
20—The Abode of the Spirit.
An appropriate
closing of a dream
of splendor, the Author's description of the resting place of the
good spirit of his
fanciful tale, is one of the most beautiful In the poem. In that
happy clime day
never shuts his eye, in the broad fields of the blue realm
above us trees of
gold give shade to the Graces and the Hours, There
eternal Summer
dwells and western winds waft balmy breezes, through
this home, There at
"The green
earth's end,
Where the bowed welkin
slow doth vend,"
odorous banks of flowers
blossom in
marvellous colors, Beautiful spirits in wonderful sparkling robes
flash upon the
sight gorgeous as flaming rainbows, fit Inhabitants of this
radiant, Elysian
dwelling, and so closes "The Masque of Comus.”
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NEW ORLEANS BIG CARNIVAL IS SEEN
HERE
For the First Time in History It Is Given Bodily in a
Northern State
The last night of the Broome
County Centennial was marked by a full development
of the carnival spirit, and from early in the
afternoon until late at night crowds marched up
and down the principal streets, good naturedly
tickling each other with small feather "ticklers"
throwing confetti and thoroughly enjoying
themselves. Although many left the city at the
close of the Industrial parade, there was no
perceptible diminution in the size of the crowds,
which seemed rather to increase as the evening
advanced, and when the hour arrived for the
formation of the Mardi Gras parade the sidewalks
were filled to overflowing and the crowds took to
the pavements. It was the largest street crowd in
the history of Binghamton. Each individual
appeared to be armed with a feather tickler, a
paper duster or a bag of confetti, and some had
all three. They were used indiscriminately on
every one, and all took It good naturedly, There
were no instances of undue roughness, although the
streets were filled with strangers, and the police
had no trouble in maintaining order in the big
throng.
Streets a Glare of Light.
The crowd wended its way to the Court House and
overflowed onto the Court House steps and the
grandstands. The glare of red fire added to the
blaze of illumination from the many electric lights,
and those who were out last evening witnessed a
spectacle that they will not see again in Binghamton
in years.
Every available space that would afford a slight
elevation in the central part of the city was
occupied by curious sightseers, anxious to catch a
glimpse of the King and his court. To the thousands
who were not present at his entrance into the city,
this was the first opportunity to see the “King of
Misrule.”
There was a continual blare of horns the length of
Court street, and as a squad of marchers would pass
up the street tooting their tin instruments, the
waiting crowd would crane their necks with the
remark, “Here comes the parade,” only to settle
backinto their seats when the mob appeared.
It Was shortly after 8:30 when a Platoon of mounted
pollce and the sound of approaching music announced
the coming of “King Comus.” Again the glare of red
fire shone on the marching columns, and the King’s
float, with King Comus on his throne, led the van.
The huge bunch of grapes on his chariot glistened in
the vari-colored lights, and the King gravely
saluted his subjects as he
passed,
Each of the floats was accompanied by link boys
fantastically attired, who carried prepared torches
to light the way.
A group of clowns ran on foot beside the floats,
cutting grotesque capers and causing many a merry
smile by their pranks,
The appreciative crowds loudly applauded the various
floats as they passed along the line of march, and
the Carnival and Executive committee, which escorted
the King, in carriages,came in for thelr share of
the praise.
It was the first time in the history of the north
that the New Orleans Mardi Gras had been transferred
to the streets of a northern city, and the fact was
duly appreciated by the large crowd,
The residences along the line of march were
handsomely illuminated and the applause the entire
length was generous, When about half the line had
been traversed the crowds began to wend their way
toward the Armory in hopes of seeing the King and
his court descend and by some possibility get a
glimpse of the Queen.
The regular and special police forces were kept busy
making a way through the dense throng for the
approaching carriages bearing guests and the
chariots with the court, The crowd massed closely
around the entrance until the last float had been
emptied and disappeared. Then it still Iingered,
watching the luckier ones, who had provided
themselves with ball tickets, entering beneath the
glare of light that led to the brilliantly lighted
ball room.
Finally, after the strains of the orchestra had
announced the enthronement of the King and the
arrival of the Queen, the crowd gradually thinned
and returned to Court street, where it paraded the
pavement, throwing confetti and having a royal good
time in commemoration of the waning reign of King
Comus I,
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