The advance giiard of the marine procession was a broad line of some twenty-one tugs, stretching hah' across the mile- wide Hudson with an almost perfect alignment, as if a file of soldiers on parade; they were manned by white-uniformed volunteers. Among the craft that followed the saucy-looking tugs, was conspicuous the torpedo boat Cnshing, on which was Commander Kane, and tiny steam yachts darted back and forth like winged birds, apparently distributing orders for the chief -- a singular contrast to the Indian canoes that for centuries monopolized these waters. They bore the aides of the commander, among whom were General S. V. R. Cruger, James W. Beekman, Woodbury Kane, Archibald Rogers, Irving Grinnell, and many other well-known gentlemen. The great steamer Howard Carroll, bearing a host of notables -- a burden of eminence not easily described-- seemed to parade all by herself in lordly grandeur. Then came three large steamers sailing abreast, the Sam Sloan, Matteawan, and Mohawk, on which was the Committee of One

Festivals and Pageants 51

Hundred and their invited guests. An interval of open water was given for the gigantic war vessels of America, Spain, Italy, and France, a column of stately men-of-war, the chief attraction in the pageant. They moved in three Indian tiles, the foreigners flanked by the white-hulled vessels of America. On their decks and bridges and in their lookouts were drawn up the various crews, looking like statues at a distance, so impassively did tlicy hold their respective stations. Our flagship Philadelphia, of the White Squadron, was on the right, with her high white hull, and her two yellow smokestacks. The trim despatch vessel Dolphin followed in her wake, and the long, low, dynamite projector VesHvins, looking like a torpedo boat enlarged, brought up the rear. The place of honor in the centre was given to the French flagship Arcthiisc, the largest of the foreign contingent, with her triple row of portholes and towering masts, effective for display, and behind her came her mate, the rakish white Hnzzard.