Chapter
14 of
Mary Ware in Texas is
almost entirely devoted to a description of San Jacinto Day celebrations
in San
Antonio :
IT was the twentieth
of April when Phil returned to Bauer, and for the second time his visit
was cut disappointingly short. The reason was that he had promised Major
Melville the night he dined with him, to be back in San Antonio in time
for the Carnival. The Major wanted to take him to a Mexican restaurant
for a typical Mexican supper the night of the twenty-first. On the
twenty-second there would be an entertainment for the Queen of the
Carnival at her Court of the Roses; something too unique and beautiful
for him to miss, they all said. Then, on the twenty-third, San Jacinto
Day, which all loyal Texans keep as a state holiday, the annual Battle
of Flowers would take place in the plaza in front of the Alamo, which
they call their "Cradle of Liberty."
The Flower Battle was
an old institution, the Major explained. But this was only the second
year for the Queen's Court, and it was something so surpassingly
beautiful that he thought it ought to become a regular feature of every
carnival.
Roberta, who was also
at the dinner, added her persuasions.
"You'll think you're
back in the time 'when knighthood was in flower,'" she insisted. "I wish
every Easterner accustomed to poking fun at our state could see it.
Nobody knows what I suffered at school from having people talk as if all
Texans are 'long horns.'"
"Roberta was one of
the duchesses last year," explained Lieutenant Boglin. "You should have
seen her sweep up to the throne when they announced, 'Her Grace, the
Lady Roberta of the House of Mayrell!’ She certainly looked the real
article, and was a far cry from a long-horn then."
"Don't emphasize the
then so pointedly,
Bogey," ordered Roberta.
…The stage of
Beethoven Hall was turned into a bower of roses on this eve of San
Jacinto Day, and a great audience, assembling early, awaited the coming
of the Queen of the Carnival and her royal court. In the patent of
nobility given by her gracious majesty to her attendants, was the
command
"We bid you to join
with all of our loyal subjects in the Mirth and Merriment of this
Festival of Flowers, which doth commemorate the glorious freedom of
this, our Texas, won by the deathless heroism of the defenders of the
Alamo, and the Victory of San Jacinto."
This call for Mirth
and Merriment struck the keynote of the carnival, and everyone in the
great assembly seemed to be responding with the proper festival spirit.
Back in the crowded
house in a seat next the aisle and almost at the entrance door, sat Mary
Ware, completely entranced by all that was going on about her.
Lieutenant Boglin was beside her, and in the chairs directly behind them
were Gay and Billy Mayrell. Roberta and Phil were in front of them. They
had come early to secure these chairs, and the men had given the girls
the end seats in order that they might have unobstructed view of both
aisle and stage. They all turned so that conversation was general until
the house was nearly filled, then Roberta said something which drew
Phil's attention wholly to herself, and he turned his back on the
others, beginning to talk exclusively to her.
Gay, who appeared to
know at least every fourth person who came down the aisle, sat, like
most of the audience, with her head turned expectantly towards the door,
and kept up a running comment to Mary on the acquaintances who passed
her with nods of recognition or brief words of greeting. The thrum of
the orchestra, the sight of so many smiling faces, although they were
strange to her, and the blended colors of fashionable evening gowns
would have furnished Mary ample entertainment after her dull winter in
the country; but it was doubly entertaining with Gay to point out
distinguished people and give her bits of information, supplemented by
Billy and Bogey about this one from the Post and that one from the town.
She wished that Phil
could hear too. She wanted him to know what prominent personages he was
in the midst of. Once when some world-known celebrity was escorted up
the aisle she leaned over and called his attention to the procession. He
looked up with a smile to follow her glance, and made a joking response,
but returned so quickly to the fascinating Roberta, that Mary felt that
his interest in everything else just then was merely perfunctory.
…A hush fell on the
great audience, and the curtain rose on a tableau of surpassing
loveliness. The stage seemed to be one mass of American Beauty roses.
The walls were festooned and garlanded with them. They covered the high
throne in the centre and bordered the steps leading up to it. They hung
in long streamers on either side from ceiling to floor. Grouped against
this glowing background, stood the noble dukes, the lords-in-waiting and
their esquires. The gay-colored satins and brocades of their old-time
court costumes, the gleam of jewelled sword-hilts, the shine of powdered
perukes, transported one from prosaic times and lands to the old days of
chivalry and romance.
The jester shook his
bells, the trumpeters in their plumed helmets raised their long, shining
trumpets, and sounded the notes that heralded the first approach. Then
the Lord Chamberlain stepped forth in a brave array of pink satin,
carrying the gold stick that was his insignia of office.
"That's my friend,"
whispered Gay, "the man who originated this affair. I tell him I think
he must be one of the Knights of the Round Table re-incarnated, or else
the wizard Merlin come to life again, to bring such a beautiful old
court scene into being in the way he has done."
She stopped whispering
to hear the impressive announcement he was making, in a voice that rang
through the hall: “Her Grace, Lady Elizabeth, of the House of
Lancaster!"
Immediately every eye
turned from the stage to look at the rose-trimmed entrance door. The
orchestra struck into an inspiring march and the stately beauty, first
to arrive at the Court of Roses, began her triumphal entry up the long
aisle. She passed so near to Mary that the tulle bow on the directoire
stick she carried almost touched her cheek with its long floating ends,
light as gossamer web. And Mary, clasping her hands together in an
ecstasy of admiration, noted every detail of the beautiful costume in
its slow passing.
"It's like the
Princess Olga's," she thought, recalling the old fairy-tale of the
enchanted necklace. "Whiter than the whiteness of the fairest lily,
fine, like the finest lace that the frost-elves weave, and softer than
the softest ermine of the snow."
The long court train
that swept behind her was all aglisten, as if embroidered with dewdrops
and pearls. Mary watched her, scarcely breathing till she had ascended
the steps to the stage. Then her appointed duke came forward to meet her
and led her to the steps of the throne.
The music stopped.
Again the heralds sounded their trumpets and the Lord Chamberlain
announced the next duchess.
"You see," explained
Gay, hastily, as all necks craned toward the door again," each girl is
duchess of some rose or other, like Killarney or Malmaison or Marechal
Niel."
One after another they
passed by to take their places beside the throne, all in such
exquisitely beautiful costumes that Mary thought that each one must be
indelibly photographed on her memory. But when they had passed, all she
could remember of so many was a spangled procession of court trains,
covered with cascades of crystal and silver and pearls and strung
jewels.
Each time a new
duchess swept slowly and majestically by, Mary turned a quick glance
toward Phil to see if he were properly impressed; but when the Queen was
announced, she had no eyes for anything but the regal figure proceeding
slowly up the aisle, amid the admiring applause which almost drowned the
music of the march.
It was at this
juncture that Phil glanced back at Mary. Her face so plainly showed the
admiration which filled her that he continued to watch her with an
amused smile, saying to Roberta in an undertone:
"Look at Mary's rapt
expression! She's always adored queens and such things, and now she
feels that she's up against the real article."
"I don't wonder,"
answered Roberta, herself so interested that she turned her back on Phil
until the royal party had passed by. Two little pages in costumes of
white and gold, with plumed hats and spangled capes, bore the royal
train, and Roberta tried to upset the dignity of one of them, who was a
little friend of hers, by whispering, "Hello, Gerald, where did you get
that feather?"
In Mary's estimation
it was not the diamond crown that marked the Queen as especially regal,
nor the jewelled sceptre nor the white satin gown, heavily embroidered
in gold roses and gleaming with brilliants; it was the fact that the
long train borne by the little pages was of cloth-of-gold. ..
The presentation scene
followed. In the name of The Order of the Alamo, the Queen was given a
magnificent necklace, with a jewelled pendant. After that the visiting
duchesses were received, representing many towns of Texas, from El Paso
to the gulf. They came with their maids of honor, and when they had been
met by their lords-in-waiting and their esquires, the entertainment for
the Queen began.
Grecian maidens
bearing garlands of roses danced before her. The second group was of
seven little barefoot girls, carrying golden lyres, and forming a
rainbow background for another small maid who gave a cymbal dance. The
Grecian dances were followed by a gavotte of the time of Louis XIII, in
which all the dukes and duchesses took part.
"They danced the
minuet last year," commented Gay. "This is the end of the performance,
but we'll wait to watch them go out, on their way to the Queen's ball. I
went to that too, last year. These are good seats; we catch them coming
and going."
The audience remaining
seated until all the members of the Court had passed out two by two, had
ample time for comment and observation. Bogey, who, seeing Mary's
absorbing interest in the scene, had considerately left her undisturbed
most of the time, now leaned over and began to talk. As Gay had once
said, "When it comes to giving a girl a good time, Bogey is quite the
nicest officer in the bunch," and Phil, overhearing scraps of their
conversation, concluded that Mary was finding her escort as entertaining
as the pageant. A backward glance now and then showed that she was not
watching the recessional as closely as she was listening to him.
The Battle of Flowers
Parade in 1902, above, and 1903, below. 1901
was the first year motorized
vehicles joined in the parade.
As they all started out
of the hall together, moving slowly along with the crowd, barely an inch
at a time, they talked over arrangements for the next day. Lieutenant
Boglin could not be counted in. He had to ride in the procession with the
rest of the troops from the Post who were to take part in the parade.
Billy Mayrell had another engagement, so Phil proposed to take all three
of the girls under his wing. It was too late to secure seats in the plaza
from which to watch the flower battle.
Battle of Flowers Parade
courtesy of the Fiesta Commission of San Antonio
The Major had been able
to get only two. So Phil said the Major and his wife should occupy those.
He would come around for the girls in an automobile and they could watch
the parade seated in that.
There was a blockade
near the door, but as soon as they could get through it, they all walked
up the street to a building in which the Major had secured the use of a
second-story window, from which they could watch the parade of the Queen
and her court on their way to the ball. The time spent in waiting was well
worth while, when it finally appeared. The horses of the chariots were led
by Nubian servants, and each chariot represented a rose, wherein sat the
duchess who had made it her choice.
A flower bedecked
carriage courtesy of the
Battle of the Flowers Association
The Queen's chariot was
surmounted by a mammoth American Beauty rose, and as she smiled out from
the midst of its petals, Mary had one more entrancing view of the royal
robes. This time they were lit up by the red gleam of torches, for eight
torch-bearers, four on a side, accompanied each chariot, and added their
light to the brilliant illuminations of the streets.
"You must see the
river," said Billy Mayrell, after the procession had passed by. "Nobody
can describe it, with the lights strung across it from shore to shore all
down its winding course. It makes you think of Venice."
He led them to a place
where they could look across a bend and see one of the bridges. It was
strung so thickly with red lights which outlined every part, that it
seemed to be made of glowing rubies, and its reflection in the water made
another shining ruby bridge below, wavering on the dark current.
Mary leaned over the
rail watching the shimmering lights, and feeling dreamily that this City
of the Alamo was an enchanted city; that the buildings looming up on every
side were not for the purpose of barter and trade. They were thrown up
simply as backgrounds for the dazzling illuminations which outlined them
against the night sky. The horns of the revellers answering each other
down every street, the music of distant bands, the laughter of the
jostling throngs, all deepened the illusion.
A 1905 stereo card by
B.W. Kilburn showing a baby in a stroller bedecked with flowers
and
captioned, “Lovely and pure as the Fragrant Flowers, San Antonia Spring
Carnival, Texas."
For over a century, the residents of San
Antonio have been honoring the fallen heroes of The Alamo and the victory
at the Battle of San Jacinto that won Texas her independence with
celebrations during the week of April 21. The event now known as
Fiesta was started
in 1891 by local women who organized the first Battle of Flowers Parade,
featuring horse-drawn carriages, bicycles and floats decorated with fresh
flowers.
Over time, other events
have been added. Today, the celebration lasts 10 days and includes over
100 events, from pageants and sports tournaments to art shows, fireworks
and balls. In early years, residents referred to the week of April 21st
as “Carnival,” “Spring Carnival” and “Fiesta San Jacinto.” In 1959, when
the Fiesta San Antonio Commission was created to oversee the celebration,
the name was changed to Fiesta San Antonio, its official name now for half
a century.
The Battle of Flowers
Parade is the oldest and original event, but other Fiesta traditions have
also reached the centennial mark. Among them are the activities at
Ft. Sam Houston and the Fiesta queen. “In
1896, the United States decided to recognize this important historical
event by staging a 21-gun salute at Fort Sam Houston. That tradition
continues today on Fiesta Sunday,” says Anne Keever Cannon, public
relations manager for the Fiesta San Antonio Commission. That same year
the first Fiesta queen was crowned.
It was
four more years before a Fiesta queen had a court.
According to
the
Battle of Flowers Association, Lola Kokernot’s court in 1900 included
a princess, duchess and other attendants as well as royal robes. Parade
royalty, however, remained “hit or miss” until 1909, when John B.
Carrington, secretary of
the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, founded the Order of the Alamo, an
all-male group responsible for choosing the queen and her court. According
to Cannon, “Selection as queen is one of the highest honors San Antonio
society can bestow. Most queens come from the inner circle of old
aristocracy. Heritage, not money, is the principal criterion. The queen’s
court includes a princess, 12 in-town duchesses and 12 from out of town.
This royalty is featured in the major Fiesta parades.”
The elegant gowns worn by the
queen and her court are the stuff of legend – yard upon yard of expensive
materials encrusted with beads, crystals and rhinestones hand-sewn to form
intricate designs. The trains of the queen and princess can measure as
long as 18 feet, the duchesses, 15. According to the Fiesta San Antonio
Commission, the gowns cost from $10,000 to $35,000 apiece and are paid for
by the families.
Today, Fiesta has six queens:
the Order of the Alamo Queen and her court, who represent the Fiesta at
all the official events; Miss Fiesta San Antonio; the Charro
Queen, who represents the Charro association, which sponsors a “charreada”
or Mexican rodeo; the Queen of Soul; a Teenage Queen; and Miss San
Antonio, who goes on to compete in the Miss Texas pageant and, if she wins
the state title, the Miss America pageant.
Author Annie Fellows Johnston appears to have attended the San Jacinto Day
celebration in 1910. The novel specifically states that it “was only the
second year for the Queen's Court” and mentions The Order of the Alamo in
the description of the presentation scene below:
In the name of The Order of the Alamo, the Queen was given a magnificent
necklace, with a jewelled pendant. After that the visiting duchesses
were received, representing many towns of Texas, from El Paso to the
gulf. They came with their maids of honor, and when they had been met by
their lords-in-waiting and their esquires, the entertainment for the
Queen began.
From this passage, it also appears she knew John B. Carrington:
"That's my friend," whispered Gay, "the man who originated this affair.
I tell him I think he must be one of the Knights of the Round Table
re-incarnated, or else the wizard Merlin come to life again, to bring
such a beautiful old court scene into being in the way he has done."
Annie herself would have been among the “prominent personages” and
“world-known” celebrities who attended the event. By April 1910, she was a
famous children’s author and had received
requests to have her works translated into French, German, Spanish,
Italian, Japanese and even Braille.
We know the Johnstons didn’t attend the celebration in 1908 from a
letter
Annie wrote on April 19, while she was hard at work on
Mary Ware: The
Little Colonel’s Chum, the predecessor to
Mary Ware in Texas in the
Little Colonel series:
The Carnival begins tomorrow in San Antonio with its Battle of Flowers
and parades, and we are thankful we are up in the hills "far from the
madding crowd.”
Hardworking Annie, however, may not have managed to sidestep quite all
the mirth and merriment. Though 30 miles away from San Antonio,
the Queen and her court reputedly visited
Boerne for
several years at the end of Fiesta, where they received the “royal
treatment” at Phillip House/Phillip Manor, according to the Boerne Area
Historical Preservation Society:
In 1872 a hall was added and used as a church for religious revival
meetings, also a shooting gallery was installed and different kinds of
festivities were had here. Sometimes the hall was used as a kind of city
Auditorium for diverse public meetings. In 1883 the frame hall was
rebuilt of stone and a large stage added where local and traveling
theatrical troupes performed. At the close of the first Fiesta
Celebration in San Antonio, and for several years thereafter, the
reigning Queen with her personal attendants were entertained with dinner
parties at the Phillip Manor House by members of the association.
For more about Phillips
House/Phillips Manor/Phillip’s Hotel
and the role it played in
Mary Ware in Texas, visit the
Little Colonel’s Boerne page.
Thanks to Anne Cheever Cannon, Public Relations Manager of the Fiesta San
Antonio Commission for providing the information on the Fiesta origins and
traditions and to the Boerne Area Historical Preservation Society for the
information about Phillips House.
This web site is devoted to
