e connected with three of the city's four leading clubs,
all of which stand within easy range of one another on the uptown side
of Canal Street: the Boston Club (taking its name from an old card
game); the Pickwick (named for Dickens' genial gentleman, a statue of
whom stands in the lobby); the Louisiana, a young men's club; and the
Chess, Checkers and Whist Club. The latter association is, I believe,
the one that takes no part in the carnival.

Each of the carnival organizations has its own King and Queen, and the
connection between certain clubs and certain carnival societies may be
guessed from the fact that the Comus Queen and Proteus Queen always
appear on the stand in front of the Pickwick Club, to witness their
respective parades, and that the Queen of the entire Carnival appears
with her maids of honor on the stand before the Boston Club upon the day
of Mardi Gras, to witness the triumphal entry and parade of Rex. As Rex
passes the club he sends her a bouquet--the official indication of her
queenship. That night she appears for the first time in the glory of her
royal robes at the Rex Ball, which is held in a large hall; and the
great event of the carnival, from a social standpoint, is the official
visit, on the same night, of Rex and his Queen, attended by their court,
to the King and Queen of Comus, at the Comus Ball, held in the Opera
House.

Passing between the brilliantly illuminated flag-draped buildings,
under festoons of colored electric lights, the street parades, with
their spectacular colored floats, their bands, their negro
torch-bearers, their strangely costumed masked figures, throwing favors
into the dense crowds, are glorious sights for children ranging anywhere
from eight to eighty years of age. Public masking on the streets, on the
day of Mardi Gras, is also an amusing feature of the carnival.

The balls, upon the other hand, are social events of great importance in
the city, and as spectacles they are peculiarly fine. Invitations to
these balls are greatly coveted, and the visitor to the city who would
attend them, must exert his "pull" some time in advance. The
invitations, by the way, are not sent by individuals, but by the
separate organizations, and even those young ladies who are so fortunate
as to have "call-outs"--cards inclosed with their invitations,
indicating that they are to be asked to dance, and may therefore have
seats on the ground floor--are not supposed to know from what ma