fold up the paper, and hand it back to me, 'n that's all the good it does. I reckon the small dealers and poor folks pay taxes quick er'n the rich ones 'n the big traders do." The opposition to the payment of the sums levied by the present Legislature certainly is a formidable one,* and comprises all the principal commercial men of the city and State. The organization has been so formed that poor and rich alike are to be enabled each to resist as long as the other. Mean time, the debt grows larger and larger; city officials receive no salaries for their labor; every department is in arrears; the discouragement grows deeper and deeper.

Some three years ago a prominent capitalist was addressed by a Louisianian, who represented that a great many rich estates could be purchased in various sections of the commonwealth for at least one-third of their original value; and added, as an inducement to speedy decision, that he did not think property would ever be lower in Louisiana. The capitalist replied that he differed with his much-esteemed friend; that in a few years those estates would, by the various derangements consequent on the then predominant legislation, be reduced to almost no value whatever, and that he was therefore determined to wait. But it is possible that capital may be compelled to wait too long. It will certainly be very loath to fix in Louisiana so long as it is subject to five per cent. taxation, with prospect of a continuous increase.

year.

The

This article was written in March of the present

bitterest needs of the people of the State will not move it out of currents in which it can run more freely than it may hope to run here under existing legislation. But the present condition of things must not, cannot endure. Whenever people find their burdens utterly unbearable, they throw them aside with a giant effort, and the world is convulsed by the shock of the fall. People here should not be crowded so closely to the wall; they should not be placed at the mercy of irresponsible governing officials, whose main purpose is the acquisition of wealth. There is no rebellious spirit in Louisiana against the United Statesno desire to undo the war's legitimate results; but there is a gradual accumulation of indignation against the plunderers, who have been numerous in the State, which bodes something very like the ugly form of revolution. Capital and immigration must be allowed to come in, and the legislators who stand much longer in the way of an influx of those two prime necessities will do so at their extremest peril.

The blood of the commonwealth is thin; it needs thickening. More money, more muscle must be conveyed to the State. If the money be put in circulation, the men who are interested in their homes will find a way out of their political troubles without undoing the proper "results of the war." The negro can defend himself now; he is protected as thoroughly as needs be: let us not utterly exterminate the white man on the Louisiana lowlands.

The Carnival keeps its hold upon the people along the Gulf shore, despite all the trou

Old Father Mississippi himself, De Soto and his fellow-discoverers, the soldiers, adventurers, cavaliers, Jesuits, French, Spanish and American governors, were all paraded before the amazed populace. In 1871, King Comus and his train presented picturesque groupings from Spenser's "Faery Queene;" in 1872, from Homer's "Tale of Troy;" and this year detailed the "Darwinian Development of the Species," from earliest beginnings to the gorilla, and thence to man. The Krewe of Comus has always paid the expenses of these displays itself, and has issued invitations only to as many people as could be accommodated within the walls of the theater to witness the tableaux. It is composed of one hundred members, who

are

sworn severally to conceal their identity from all outsiders, and who have thus far succeeded admirably in accomplishing this object. The designs for their masks are made in New Orleans, and the costumes are manufactured from them in Paris yearly. In 1870 appeared the "Twelfth-Night Revelers "who now yearly celebrate the beautiful anniversary of the visit of the wise men of the East to the manger of the Infant Saviour. In 1870 the pageants of this organization were inaugurated by "The Lord of Misrule and his Knights;" in 1871, "Mother Goose's Tea Party" was given; in 1872, a group of crea

but still robust and warrior-like, made his first appearance on the Mississippi shores in 1872, and issued his proclamations through newspapers and upon placards, commanding all civil and military authorities to show subservience to him, during his stay in "our good city of New Orleans." Therefore, yearly, when the date of the recurrence of Mardi-Gras has been fixed, the mystic King issues his proclamation, and is announced as having arrived at New York, or whatever other port seemeth good. At once thereafter, and daily, the papers teem with reports of his progress through the country, and anecdotes

tions of artists and poets and visionaries, from lean Don Quixote to fat Falstaff, followed; and in 1873 the birds were represented in a host of fantastic and varied tableaux. The two societies, Comus's Krewe and the Twelfth Night Revelers, will soon bring the revels of New Orleans up to the level of Italian magnificence.

Another feature has been added to the festivities, one which promises in time to be most attractive of all. It is the coming of Rex, the most puissant King of the Carnival. This amiable dignitary, depicted as a venerable man, with snow-white hair and beard,

of his heroic career, which is supposed to have lasted for many centuries. The court report is usually conceived somewhat in the following terms,-supposed to be an anecdote related at the "palace," by an "old grayheaded sentinel :"

"Another incident, illustrating the King's courageous presence of mind, was related by the veteran. While sojourning at Auch (this was several centuries ago), a wing of the palace took fire, the whole staircase was in flames, and in the highest story was a feeble old woman, apparently cut off from any means of escape. His Majesty offered two

thousand francs to any one who would save her from destruction, but no one presented himself. The King did not stop to deliberate; he wrapped his robes closely about him, called for a wet cloth-which he threw aside then rushed to his carriage, and drove rapidly to the theater, where he passed the evening listening to the singing of 'If ever I cease to love.""

This is published seriously in the journals, next to the news and editorial paragraphs; and yearly, at one o'clock on the appointed day, King Rex, accompanied by Warwick, Earl-Marshal of the Empire, and by the Lord High Admiral, who is always depicted as suffering untold pangs from gout, arrives on Canal street, and surrounded by fantastically dressed cavalry men and infantry-men, and followed by hundreds of maskers on horseback and on foot. The parade is continued through all the principal streets of the city; and is gradually becoming one of the inportant features of the Carnival. Mounted on pedestals extemporized from cotton-floats are dozens of allegorical groups, and the masks, although not so rich and costly as those of Comus and his crew, are quite as varied and mirth-provoking. The costumes of the King and his suite are gorgeous; and the troops of the United States, disguised as privates of Arabian artillery and as Egyptian spahis, do escort-duty to his Majesty. Rumor hath it, even, that on one occasion, the ladies of New Orleans presented a flag to an officer of the troops of King Rex, little suspecting that it was thereafter to grace the Federal barracks. Thus the Carnival has its pleasant waggeries and surprises.

Oid Froissart thought the English amused themselves sadly; and indeed, comparing the Carnival in Louisiana with the Carnival in reckless Italy, one might say that the Americans masqueraded grimly. There is but little of that wild luxuriance of fun in the streets of New Orleans which has made Naples and Rome so famous people go to their sports with an air of pride, but not of all-pervading enjoy ment. In the French quarter, when Rex and his train enter the queer old streets, there are shoutings, chaffings, and dancings; the children chant little couplets on Mardi Gras; and the balconies are crowded with spectators. The negroes make but a sorry show in the masking their every-day garb is more picturesque than their masquerading.

Carnival culminates at night, after Rex and the "day procession" have retired. Thousands of people assemble in dense lines along the streets included in the published route of

march; Canal street is brilliant with illumination, and swarms of humanity occupy every porch, balcony, house-top, pedestal, carriage and mule-car. Then comes the train of Comus, who appears only at night; and torchbearers, disguised in outré masks, light up the way. At the last Carnival, one hundred fig. ures represented "The Missing Links in Darwin's Origin of the Species." After the round through the great city is completed the torchlight on the sky dies away, and the Krewe betake themselves to the Varieties Theater, and present tableaux before the ball opens.

The Varieties Theater, during the hour or two preceding the Mardi-Gras ball, presents one of the loveliest sights in Christendom. From floor to ceiling, the parquet, dress-circle and galleries are one mass of dazzling toilettes-for none but ladies are given seats. White robes, delicate faces, dark, flashing eyes, luxuriant folds of glossy hair, tiny, faultlessly gloved hands,-such is the vision that an humble looker-on of the masculine gender may see through his lorgnon.

Delicious music swells softly on the perfumed air, the tableaux wax and wane like kaleidoscopic effects; then suddenly the curtain rises, and the joyous, grotesque maskers appear upon the ball-room floor. They dance; gradually ladies and their cavaliers leave all parts of the galleries, and come to join them; then,

"No sleep till morn, when youth and pleasure meet, To chase the rosy hours with flying feet."

Meantime, the King of the Carnival holds a levée and dancing-party at another hall; and all the theaters and public halls are delivered up to the votaries of Terpsichore; and the fearless, who are willing to usher in Lent with sleepless eyes, stroll home in the glare of the splendid Southern sunrise, yearly swearing that each Mardi-Gras hath verily surpassed its predecessor.

From early morning until nightfall the same quaint, distorted street-cries which one hears in foreign cities ring through the streets of New Orleans; and in the French quarter they are mirth-provoking, under their guise of Creole patois. The Sicilian fruit-sellers also make their mellifluous dialect heard loudly; and the streets always resound to the high-pitched voice of some negro or negress who is rehearsing or griefs or joys in the most theatrical manner. Negro-beggars adorn the steps of various banks and public edifices; and they sit for hours together with outstretched open hands, too lazy to close them over the few coins the passers