150 NEW YORK. 



animation and excitement occasioned among the people by 

 this event. From the end of June to the 4th of July, it can 

 be easily seen that something unusual is going to happen. 

 Numerous sandwich men are seen in the streets with 

 circulars on their backs, informing the public where the best 

 flags and crackers can be bought. The sale of these goods 

 is fabulous during several days. On all sides are seen men 

 and children carrying flags, banners, and crackers. On the 

 3rd of July begins the decorations of houses. All the flags of 

 the world, but more especially that of the United States, are 

 displayed with such profusion that nothing else can be seen. 

 From one street to another not a single space remains with- 

 out a flag, banners cross the streets from one side to the 

 other. It is by hundreds of thousands that they are seen, 

 and the houses disappear entirely under this exuberant dis- 

 play of flags of all colours. The next thing is the Torch- 

 Light Procession, which always takes place on the night of 

 the third of July. 



All the windows of the houses are crammed with specta- 

 tors, eager to see the procession, and many are those who 

 cannot secure a place for that purpose. 



At about 10 p.m. the procession, composed of many 

 thousands of people, bearing torches, Chinese lanterns of all 

 colour and descriptions, flags, banners, etc., begin their march, 

 of which the itinerary is known by all, beforehand. 



The procession usually lasts from twelve to one or two 

 in the morning, and for hours you see them pass by, 

 Societies with their banners and cars, Soldiers, Members of 

 Clubs, Citizens of all descriptions, women, children, 

 masks, fancy dressed people, including even repre- 

 sentatives of wild Indians, all of them with their bands 

 of music, follow one another, and all the while Bengal 

 fires are lighted in the corners of the streets, pistol shots 

 are freely fired, rockets and crackers are fired in all directions, 

 without caring where they go, and what mischief they may 

 cause. Add to that the continuous vociferations and hurrahs 

 of the spectators and of the members of the procession, and 

 you will have a feeble idea of what a Torchlight Procession is 

 in the United States. Europeans especially Italian and 

 French cannot have a better idea of what it is than by sup- 

 posing that they assist at a Monster Carnival, with the 

 addition of shots, fuses, and crackers fired at random in all 

 directions. How many hundred weights are fired in the 

 United States during the third and fourth of July every year 



