LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI, Part 10.
BY MARK TWAIN
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER XLVI. CHAPTER XLVII. CHAPTER XLVIII. CHAPTER XLIX. CHAPTER L. |
Chapter 46
Enchantments and Enchanters
THE largest annual event in New Orleans is a something whichwe arrived too late to sample—the Mardi-Gras festivities. I sawthe procession of the Mystic Crew of Comus there, twenty-fouryears ago—with knights and nobles and so on, clothed in silkenand golden Paris-made gorgeousnesses, planned and bought for thatsingle night's use; and in their train all manner of giants,dwarfs, monstrosities, and other diverting grotesquerie—astartling and wonderful sort of show, as it filed solemnly andsilently down the street in the light of its smoking andflickering torches; but it is said that in these latter days thespectacle is mightily augmented, as to cost, splendor, andvariety. There is a chief personage—'Rex;' and if I rememberrightly, neither this king nor any of his great following ofsubordinates is known to any outsider. All these people aregentlemen of position and consequence; and it is a proud thing tobelong to the organization; so the mystery in which they hidetheir personality is merely for romance's sake, and not onaccount of the police.
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