Oatman’s Skating Rink Carnival and Masquerade

“A full band will be in attendance. Splendid Illumination with 200 gas jets. Colored Lights and Lanterns. This will be without question the grandest carnival ever seen on ice. Mr. Williams, the Costumer, will have a full assortment of dresses at the Rink...The Rink will be open at 10 A. M.”

“Last night was a gala season among skaters. Whereever the facilities were afforded for the enjoyment of icy sport they were promptly turned to account by the festive and fun-loving denizens of this metropolis. At Oatman’s skating Rink, corner of Sixth avenue and Fifty-ninth street, there was grand fancy dress carnival, which was participated in by hundreds of our most fashionable people. The ice here was never in better condition, and the Rink never shone handsomer than on this occasion. The large area devoted to the manoeuverings of steel-shod Gothamites was covered with both male and female skaters pursuing their tortuous way, gliding this way and that, wiring in and wiring out, and enjoying to the full the excitement incident to occasions of this character. A number of the participants in the festivity were in fancy dress, and vastly the greater portion of them would have been had not the costumer who advertised to be on hand ‘with a full assortment of dresses,’ failed to put in an appearance, much to that individual’s loss in a pecuniary point of view. As it was, however, a sufficient number of the skaters appeared in fancy costume to give variety to the scene. There was the tall, raw-boned, angular-featured Yankee, habited in the dress of a New Englander (according to the stage view of that singular creature) making love to Jerusha, whose make-up was according to the received opinion as to the dress of Yankee women. Flitting past these, and ever saluted with a drawling ‘how d’ye du,’ would appear the representative of Charles O’Malley, the Irish light dragoon, who, judging from the fun-loving instincts that possessed him, and to which he gave loose rein as he glided hither and thither, was very far from being ‘on hostile deeds intent.’ There was, too, a representative of the genuine Patlander—the Tipperary boy—with knee breeches of corduroy, buckled brogans, freize coat, and the inevitable shillelagh—this latter, by-the bye [sic], of stuffed leather and not of blackthorn. Following Pat came a cowled monk of the Benedictine order, intent apparently on the perusal of his breviary, and looking now and then askance at the frivolities surrounding him. Little Red Riding Hood had also a representative at the Rink in the person of a beautiful girl aged about ten years, whose graceful movements attracted much attention. There were other characters represented, but those just mentioned were the most prominent. The ladies present, and they were legion, appeared in costly apparel, and most of them were excellent skaters. A very large auditory filled the galleries on all sides of the Rink, enjoying the moving panorama below them with the greatest satisfaction. The Rink itself was hung all around with lanterns of variegated hue, and in addition to this, Bengal fires of different colors shed a mellowed light upon the glassy surface of ice, heightening to a very great extent the beauty of the scene. Financially as well as in its sport-affording character the Oatman’s carnival was a success, to which the excellent music furnished by Dodworth’s band materially contributed.”