. Book of the Royal blue . ceswith glittering tiaras, golden sceptres,flaring vestments of purple or scarlet andermine robes spreading out behind for thewidth of Broad Street and the length ofhalf a block, carried by a hundred or morepages. Behind them came lesser poten-tates with capes that recpiired only a scoreof pages to keep from trailing in the dustof the street. These were the fancy dressclubs. Gaudy indeed was their apparel indesperate attempt to vie with Solomon inall his glory. It may be mentioned here that theseclubs have no other purpose than to spendthe entire year and much money
. Book of the Royal blue . ceswith glittering tiaras, golden sceptres,flaring vestments of purple or scarlet andermine robes spreading out behind for thewidth of Broad Street and the length ofhalf a block, carried by a hundred or morepages. Behind them came lesser poten-tates with capes that recpiired only a scoreof pages to keep from trailing in the dustof the street. These were the fancy dressclubs. Gaudy indeed was their apparel indesperate attempt to vie with Solomon inall his glory. It may be mentioned here that theseclubs have no other purpose than to spendthe entire year and much money in pre-paring their costumes for the New Yearscelebration. Some of the clubs have overa thousand members, and the amount ofmoney spent is astonishing. One of thekingly robes worn l)y the captain of theFurnival Club is reputed to have cost over•Si,000 and every one of the . memberswas dressed in keeping with their leadersapparel. Scarcely less costly was the em-broidered robe of the captain of the Silver SHOOTERS tAN(i i^Kl; Crown Association who headed the proces-sion with his jrorgeous followers. In all there were thirty clubs representedand the inventive genius of the memberswas exhausted in efforts to produce novelcostume effects, while the highest art ofthe seamstress found expression in some ofthe robes worn by the kings and their pages. After these elaborately dressed individ-uals, came the comic clubs with theirmembers in everj sort of ludicrous garmentwhich has ever been devised. The comicsection of the parade was the largest by farthat has ever appeared, and being the reallaugh provoker, was, in spite of its lack ofshowiness, quite the most enjoyable in theestimation of those who grinned along thecurbs. In this section of the jiarade were theseventy large floats of more or less origi-nality, satirizing all the important questionsof the day at home or abroad. These floatsattracted miuch attention and ajjplause, andthe readers of the big daily papers whohave
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbaltimoreandohiorailr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890
