AMUSEMENTS. New Orleans is famous for its French opera. For forty years before the Civil War troupes were brought over from France to fur nish this entertainment, and With brief intervals the custom has prevailed ever since. Such is the passion for music and singing. especially among the Creoles, that even in times of great financial depression the city has managed by private sub scription to support these foreign companies. No other city in the Union has shown equal enthusi asm. Thousands of visitors are attracted to the city during the winter season by the opera; but a still greater attraction for ninny years has been the Carnival celebration. As early as 1840 tableaux on floats were drawn through the streets, and, except during the Civil War, the custom has continued to the present day. These superb pageants are now given by four secret organiza• tions—Momus. Proteus. Rex, and Conms—and each is followed at night by a gorgeous ball. Other secret organizations have sprung into being of late years, and the series of masked halls now extends with brief intervals from Twelfth Night to Mardi Gras, or Shrove Tuesday. When the
morning of Ash Wednesday dawns every vestige of this prolonged revelry has vanished. The sub jects represented in the parades are drawn from mythology. romance, and history. The floats are designed by artists of established reputation. who, with their assistants, spend many months in elaborating them. The expense of these parades is about $200,000 a year. Nowhere else in the world are similar pageants to be seen.
The principal social clubs of New Orleans are the Boston, the Pickwick, the Chess, Checkers and Whist, the Harmony. the Louisi ana, tho Era (a women's club), the Round Table, the and the Southern Yacht Club. The Louisiana Historical Society devotes itself to the investigation and preservation of the history of the State, while the Ath&nee Louisianais was founded for the study and preservation of the French language.