twelve special aids similarly mounted, with rosettes of blue ribbon gracefully adjusted on their lappels. Now we have prodigious alarm bells, supported by coloured frameworks of wood, placed on wheels, and drawn by horses richly caparisoned. Ringers are in attendance, and a rude pæan is sounded on the "bosom of the palpitating air." Oh! these bells, bells, bells, as poor Poe wrote it "And his merry bosom swells with the pean of the bells, Keeping time, time, time, in a sort of Runic rhyme. * * * To the throbbing of the bells-the sobbing of the bells, As he knells, knells, knells!" A novel feature next approaches. It is a cavalcade of firemen, composed of a representative from each of the various companies participating in the festivities of the day. The riders are four abreast, and the elegance and diversity of their costumes form quite a gorgeous and pleasing spectacle. The squadron has assumed the form of a deep, hollow square, reminding one of the angles of an antiquated palace court-yard. A train of carriages, containing a number of well-dressed, respectable-men, are next in order. They are officers and committee-men of various fire associations. And now begins the picturesque portion of the panorama. A brass-band, with an overplus of bassoons, step gaily along, venting a gush of distracted melody at every stride. With the exception of the very corpulent man with the cornet, the toute ensemble is musicianly. Four sleek, black horses, in sombre trappings, with plumes coquettishly waving at their heads, are attached to a large magnificent engine, the gallery of which is surmounted by a large spread-eagle. A silken canopy is also formed over the whole, at the sides of which hang garlands of drooping white roses. Accompanying this engine, are at least one hundred and fifty members plainly equipped. This is followed by what is termed a "hose-carriage," a light fairy-like machine, that would seem at a glance more fitted for the gambollings of Puck and his elfin cotemporaries than the visitant of the disastrous scene of a conflagration. The carriage is painted black and striped with gold, while the frontispiece is ornamented with a well-executed coat-of-arms of the city. The members are attired in dark trowsers, gray coats with large metal buttons, black leathern capes, and hats, with gold letters forming the name of the company. A "Hook and Ladder" company are next in the line. They muster numerously and display a beautiful banner trimmed with cherry and blue satin and silver stars. On one side is an inscription showing it to be the gift of the ladies. Another engine follows, the body of which is black, striped with bronze and silver. The galleries and upper works are completely covered with the most magnificent bouquets and garlands that the taste of Flora could devise. The panels on the ends of the body of the engine, and those of the gallery, are ornamented with niches, in which are placed dazzlingly brilliant representations of the Genius of "Liberty," which is the name of the apparatus. To proceed in detail in this manner would, perhaps, weary the reader; so we will group the incidental features for the sake of brevity. As the procession advances it brightens in aspect. Company after company succeed each other, attired in every conceivable variety of fanciful fire equipment. Black and gold, now blue and silver, and dotting the line, a relief to the glitter, is found in a quiet, unpretentious drab, a subdued claret, or staid, sober, old gray. Many of the horses attached to the larger engines are led by African grooms richly dressed as Turks, the folds of whose turbans Ali Pacha might safely admire in the very depths of Pera. Tribes of Indians in Wampum, and feathers, and beadembroidered feet, lend their picturesque assistance in completing the grotesquenesss of the celebration. These whoop and dash along much to the fascinating horror of the romantic little boys who congregate near them in very wonderment, and march by their side the whole of the route, just for the purpose to hear them whoop savagely. It will readily be inferred that these Indians are not the Simon Pure aborigines, but ordinary white men, costumed to order by some respectable theatrical and bal masque dispenser of togas and terror, who can get one up for a few shillings to resemble a great Sachem or a Sicilian peasant at ten minutes' notice. One or two of the companies may have a dozen or so placid, sedate, queer-looking Quakers in white wigs and broad-brimmed chapeaus. This character instalment generally affords the fast. men among the spectators an opening for a volley of badinage, which is given and received, however, in the best humor. Here and there may also be seen a group of jolly sailors with any quantity of pigtail and nonchalance. The banners amount to a multitude. Some of them are surpassingly beautiful, composed of satin-blue, white, green, maroon, or pink, as the case may be, trimmed with gold and silver bullion, and bearing graceful devices in poetry and mythology. On many are exquisite paintings by the best artistes, representing scenes of history, antiquity, and art; or medallion heads of the great men that America has produced in her young careerWashington, Franklin, Patrick Henry, Jefferson, Adams, Clay, and others of similar statesmanship position. The appearance of this long line of banners from a high point of view is extraordinarily imposing, suggesting a huge, richly-tinted ribbon, shifting with capricious motion in the bright sunlight. The variety of the engines, the modes of decoration, and the elegance of the designs, afford a world of interest. The more graceful hose-carriages, with their rich mountings and delightful frontispieces, also claim a large share of attention. Some of the latter are painted in the most graceful colors beautifully blushed, and adorned with arabesque border etchings. The panels in many cases are embellished with pictures chosen with pure artistic taste; while the frontispieces, swelling proudly forward like the-but we wont make the simile, for fear of displeasing the ladies-present specimens of the painter's delightful art, which would grace a niche of the Louvre. Mythological subjects exceed, with once in a while an incident of historical importance. Jupiter, Mercury, Pluto, Venus, Europa, Psyche, and a lot of people of that class, are brought forward pictorially with the most unexceptionable taste. It is not only the elegance of the apparatus-the cleanliness and polish of every portion of which is a distinguishing feature— that we have to take captive our admiration; flowers of gorgeous hues, twined by thousands of fair fingers, are suspended from every point of the engines; wreaths and coronals the most fan tastique-bouquets the brightest and sweetest-devices, the result of refined ingenuity, are placed where taste has pointed her "slender reed." Every bush and flower-garden has been ransacked to supply gifts for the occasion; not a rose is left blooming, and the lilies have been wantonly torn from their "parent stems" to deck the procession. The city seems offering up incense the sweetest that flowers can yield, and the sun goes down on as bright and brilliant a carnival as the United States numbers among her festivities. 237 JONATHAN BEHIND THE SCENES. ACTORS are famous jokers, verbal and practical. There is the low-comedy man of your provincial establishment, for example, the delight of the children and the gay companion of the men-convulsing by his grimaces, and producing any quantities of mirth by his odd capers and ancient green-room jests. There is your "heavy father" and "first old man," with a burly cane, telling a story with an agony of attitudes. There is your dancer and Harlequin, practising an absurd pirouette by way of burlesque; and standing at the stage-door with a cut-away coat, smart scarf, though somewhat the worse for wear, yet glossy from a recent iron, is the "light comedian”—the Rover, the Dick Dashall, and Young Rapid of the playhouse. He is reciting a snatch of Massinger, and swearing it reminds him of Shakspeare. Then he introduces a new reading of the line "Honest, my lord ?" by pausing deliberately after the first word, and dwelling sig. nificantly on my— Honest? my lord! at which the surrounding histrions leer and gradually drop in through the door to look after rehearsal. And actors seem to tell a joke with more zest than most other people. They enter into the spirit of it with deliberate self-possession, throw in the varied tones required to enamel it, dilate their eyes and contract the brows if the story demands it, and in fact act the part off the stage with an agreeable power. Your would-be funny man is a nuisance; and an actor's appre |