|TO the general public I may say that I violate no confidence in saying
that spring is the most joyful season of the year. But June is also a
good month. Well has the poet ejaculated, "And what is so rare as a day
in June?" though I have seen days in March that were so rare that they
were almost raw. This is not a weather report; however. I started out to
state that Central Park just now is looking its very best, and opens up
with the prospects of doing a good business this season. A ride through
the Park just now is a delight to one who loves to commune with nature,
especially human nature.
The nobility of New York now turns out to get the glorious air and
ventilate its crest. I saw several hundred crests and coats-of-arms the
other day in an hour's time, and it was rather a poor day, too, for a
great many of our best people are just changing from their spring to
their light, summer coats-of-arms.
One of the best crests I saw was a nice, large, red crest, about the
size of an adult rhubarb pie, with a two-year-old Durham unicorn above
it, bearing in his talons the unique maxim, "_Sans culottes, sans
snockemonthegob, sans ery sipelas est_."
And how true this is, too, in a great many cases.
Another very handsome crest on the carriage of the van Studentickels
consisted of a towel-rack penchant, with cockroach regardant, holding
in his beak a large red tape-worm on which was inscribed: "_Spirituous
frumenti, cum homo to-morrow_."
Many of the crests contained terse Latin mottoes, taken from the
inscriptions on peppermint conversation candies, and were quite cute.
A coat-of-arms, consisting of a small Limburger cheese couchant, above
which stood a large can of chloride of potash, on which was inscribed
the words, "Miss, may I see you home?" I thought very taking and just
mysterious enough to make it exciting.
Some day I am going to get myself a crest. I am only waiting for
something to put it on. It will consist of a monkey with his eye knocked
out and a bright green parrot with his tail pulled off, and over this
the simple remark: "We have had a high old time," or words to that
effect.
Not so many equestrians were out as usual on the day I visited the park,
but those who were out afforded the observer a beautiful view of the
park between their persons and the saddle. The equestriennes were more
numerous, and one or two especially were as beautiful as anything that
nature ever turned out. One young woman, in a neat-fitting plug hat,
looked to me like a peri. It has been a good while now since I saw a
peri, but I have always heard them very highly spoken of, and I hope she
will not be offended when she reads these lines and finds that I regard
her in that light.
Carriage-horses are dressing about as they did last season, except that
pon-pon tails are more worn, especially at the end. Neck-yokes are cut
low this year so as to show the shoulders of the wearer, and horses in
mourning wear their tails at half-mast.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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