A CIRCUS. GOVERNMENTAL SHOWS. 145 
had before experienced, richly aaa in costumes, striped, bespan- 
~‘gled and radiant with burnished silver and shining gold, they 
seemed to many an unlettered and untraveled looker-on, four- 
fold more the children of the sun than did the Spanish discoverers 
of 1492. The new Jerusalem, as seen in the fervid -dreanis 
of Nassau’s dusky, religious devotees, surely cannot boast: so 
gorgeous a chariot, nor do horses of equal grace and beauty tread 
the golden and jewelled streets of their celestial city. <A wild 
and bewildering excitement took possession of Grant’s Town, 
and, like an electric atmosphere, pervaded the thoroughfares and 
-by-ways of Nassau itself. While the show lasted, the contribu- 
-tions levied upon the guests of the Royal Victoria, Hotel, :to 
‘-enable the little negroes to see it and be forever happy, were quite 
formidable in number if not in amount. Indeed, some of the 
juveniles were smart and enterprising enough to make it an-ex- 
- cuse for obtaining a good supply of shillings for future use. We 
~ suspect that the circus as a motive power and moral force in the 
’ world has been underestimated. Weesteemed it more highly after 
“awe-witnessed its effects in that island of unending summer..- -In- 
~ dolence retired, and ambition came out of its tomb of death at 
its approach. Long live the circus! ee 
As we have elsewhere shown, the forms, ceremonies, tak, 
trappings and paraphranalia of a royal ROVErEMORE furnish an 
“integral and very important part of Nassau’s amusements. --In 
this point of view, colonial institutions on a monarchial -model 
‘are areal godsend. - For people living outside of the limits of 
-the great world of human activity and life, without railroads, 
telegraphs, steamboats, telephones, capital, enterprise, or busi- . 
ness, it seems to be a pleasant but expensive diversion. --_--.. 
A whist club existsat Nassau. Itis composed of the governor, 
and a few high officials and prominent citizens, n numbering, as we 
were informed, some fifteen in all. They meet twice a week, in 
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