F 379 .N5 S75 Copy 1 TER SOUTHERN PACIFIC Agents, Southern Pacific-Sunset Route ... „ f R. O. BEAN Traveling Passenger Agent Atlanta, Ga j I2I p ea chtree Street „ u . __, ) WM. B. JOHNSON District Passenger Agent Baltimore, Md ^ 2Q w Baltimore Street (O. P. BARTLETT General Agent Birmingham, Ala. . . . { IQ0I First Avenue ) J. H. GLYNN New England Agent Boston, Mass \ I2 Milk Street „ _ , __ „ f F. T. BROOKS District Passenger Agent Buffalo, N. Y | ri Swan Street T11 ( W. G. NEIMYER General Agent Chicago, 111 \ ?3 w j ac kson Boulevard . _. { W. H. CONNOR General Agent Cincinnati, O | S3 Fourth Avenue East _, . . - /GEO. B. HILD General Agent Cleveland, O \ 305 Williamson Bldg. ^ _ , ( WM. K. McALLISTER General Agent Denver, Colo [ 3I3 Rai i wav Exchange Bldg. _. A , „. . ( E. A. MACON General Agent Detroit, Mich [ „ Fort Street _ . ( A. E. WOODELL General Agent Havana, Cuba [ 4Q Obispo Street fT. J. ANDERSON General Passenger Agent Houston, Texas \ JOSEPH HELLEN . . . . Asst. Gen'l Pass'r Agent __ «. x „ f H. G. KAILL General Agent Kansas City, Mo. . . . \ 00I Walnut Street T , _,, , T | A. G. LITTLE Division Passenger Agent Lake Charles, La. ... j Majestic Hotel _ , (GROVE KETCHUM. .District Passenger Agent Los Angeles, Cal. . . . \ 6o? s> Spring Street /THEO. ENSIGN, City Passenger and Ticket Agt. ( 227 St. Charles Street New Orleans, La.. . { J- F - TFRREL 1 L ' ■ ■ w Traveling Passenger Agent Metropolitan Bank Bldg. . J. BOLE Passenger Agent 227 St. Charles Street New York NY f L. H. NUTTING, General Eastern Pass'r Agent " \ 1 and 366 and 1158 Broadway Philadelphia, Pa.. . . | R - J- SMITH .. District Passenger Agent I 632 Chestnut Street Pittsburgh, Pa ( G - G - HERRI Np • • c General Agent ( 539 Smithfield Street San Francisco, Cal. . | P - K " G0 * D °?i General Agent I 32 Powell Street St. Louis, Mo ( A - J' DUTCHER . . General Agent ••'•• \ 315-17 N. Ninth Street Washington, D. C. . . ( A " J- POSTON . General Agent Washington Sunset Route, 905 F. St., N. W. J. H. R. PARSONS, General Passenger Agent, M. L. & T. R. R. & S. S. CO. and L. W. R. R Co. NEW ORLEANS WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS SEASON 1912-1913 ISSUED BY General Passenger Department Southerm Pacific-Sunset Route New Orleans, La. NEW ORLEANS The Winter Capital of America CITY with a history teeming with rare romance, and a touch of European medi- evalism found in no other place in America; with an individuality all its own, and a beauty in architecture and general prospect that impresses the stranger from the first — New Orleans holds a unique place among the greater metropolitan centers of the Western Hemisphere and no traveler may count his education, as far as traveling is concerned, complete until he has seen New Orleans. New Orleans has many things to recommend itself to the tourist. In the first place, it is a modern city with every convenience and improvement — a part of the progressive twentieth century. It has magnificent hotels with charges graded to meet any purse; its restaurants rank among the finest in the world; it has smooth-paved streets, inviting driveways and beautiful parks, and what is generally con- ceded to be the most up-to-date street car system in the country. These things, so a part of the present civilization, repre- sent its modern side and place it, as it were, in favorable comparison with other large cities; but its history, its romance, its old French Quarter so close in its resemblance to cities in the South of France, its very atmosphere of a by-gone day, constitute its individuality and make it unique and without parallel. But one of the City BeautifuTs greatest recommendations to the traveler, especially in the winter months when the North is under its blanket of snow and ice, is its climate — as nearly ideal as it is possible to find. There are cold days, WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS yes, but they are not the days that freeze the ears, nip the nose and inflict other bodily woes upon those exposed to the weather; they are days that brace one up, make one appreciate the joy of living, and real frigid spells with ice or sleet come but rarely, and when they do come they quickly pass, giving place to the balmy kiss of the temperate, generous sun. Golf, tennis, polo, base-ball, racquet and all other field sports are pastimes throughout the winter, and the out-door season passes in the same gay and happy whirl that the opera, theatre and social season enjoys. The summer in New Orleans is almost on a par with the winter in New Orleans, with its temperate days and cool nights. While the late autumn and winter thermometer ambles around the fifties, with infrequent falls to the forties, the summer readings are generally found well within the eight- ies. There are occasional days when the mercury plays tag in the lower nineties, but only once in its history has the New Orleans thermometer recorded the one-hundred mark, and that was for a July day many years ago. During the summer of 191 2, when people were dropping like the proverbial flies from the awful heat in the Northern cities, New Orleans was enjoying weather that seemed to have a tinge of fall in it. The days, even in the sun, were easily bearable, and at night, for comfort's sake, the sleeper would provide himself with light covering. Life as a whole was enjoyable and the splendid season was but a repetition of a condition that may be looked for annually. New Orleans is easy of access from all parts of the country, the great trunk lines reaching the city from all directions. The Southern Pacific connects this Southern metropolis by rail with the entire West, and a palatial line of ocean steamships plies between there and New York and Havana. In front of New Orleans flows the mighty Mississippi, one of the greatest of all rivers and, lining the swirling, rush- ing stream, are miles and miles of costly docks and great steel sheds. At these docks moor ships from all parts of the world — ships flying the flags of maritime nations large and small. WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS From the snake-like twisting of the river, requiring that the docks and the streets lying behind it describe wide half-circles, New Orleans gains her famous sobriquet — that of "The Crescent City." When the visitor goes some after- noon for a delightful ride on one of the excursion boats, he will readily note the crescent formation of the city. Volumes could be written of New Orleans and the many attractions the stranger finds within its gates. The architectural uniqueness of the buildings; its shady parks, wood girded, and reminding one of the haunts of satyrs and nymphs; its inviting driveways, and its unusual historical associations, are features that appeal to all classes of travelers; and to complete the list of valuable assets might be mentioned the up-to-date and modern theatres, where the best of the road companies appear; the big vaudeville and burlesque houses, and the world's famous French Opera House with a company of artists recruited from the talented troupes in Europe. In the summer the amusement lovers find their recrea- tion at charming tree-shaded resorts on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, where all sorts of out-door attractions are offered and capable singers present comic opera-gems of the olden time and the latest musical hits. In fact, all the year round pleasure and mirth hold full sway and time never hangs heavy on anybody's hands. Good health is always a necessary constituent to full comfort, and when one is in search of good health, one need go no further than New Orleans. The city ranks among the very healthiest in the United States. Its death rate is the lowest for a city of its size and population and each year health conditions seem to improve and become better. During the past decade New Orleans has undergone a metamorphosis, as it were; from an old-fashioned city it is now a modern metropolis, with a sewerage and water system that classes with the first in the country. Excellent water and thorough drainage help in the making of ideal health con- ditions, and New Orleans is indeed fortunate in having had the skill of the best engineers exercised in the construction of its system. As a result of this system several months ago the National Board of Fire Underwriters gave the city a first class rating for the congested-area district. WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS New Orleans is the only place in the world where the sun rises in the West and sets in the East ; that is, according to appearances, and this strange condition is brought about by the city following the river's many and peculiar turnings for miles. When one gets up with the lark he sees the great red orb of day slowly rising from behind Algiers, which is on the river's west bank, and in the evening he sees old Sol go- ing to bed in the sapphire depths of Lake Pontchartrain in the rear of the city on the river's east bank. This condition however is easily accounted for with the explanation that for several miles in front of New Orleans .the river flows from South to North. The beauties, the uniqueness, the originality of the old Creole city have been epitomized, and it would not be amiss now to briefly sum up a few of the more spectacular and thrilling of the out-door pastimes to be enjoyed in the country lying close to New Orleans. These are hunting and fishing. There is big game in this section of the country every winter, and the Nimrod who wants to chance it with bear or wolf will find Bruin and his shaggy brother waiting for him in the woods of Tensas. Deer are plentiful and in the open season some fine prizes are bagged by huntsmen. Fishing is popular with everybody in N[ew Orleans and the vicinity, and the waters of Lake Pontchartrain and the wind-swept lagoons and bays of the picturesque Barataria section yield to the anglers every description of the finny tribe from the man eating shark to the toothsome trout. The stranger's first impression when walking the city's streets is of something different. He appreciates of course that he is in a great and bustling city, teeming with every activity, part of the nation's progress, but he catches glimpses of side streets, like narrow arteries between their tall, weather stained, quaint old buildings that seem to have been taken up bodily from the time worn precincts of some venerable- European city. It is in the "Vieux Carre" that this impressii in is the strongest and where the atmosphere is so distinctly European that one forgets for the time that he is in America. Royal Street — Modern Entrance to the "Vieux Carre" WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS n THE VIEUX CARRE The "Vieux Carre de la Ville" is the old city; that is to say, the site comprised within the walls of the city ordered, built as the capital of Louisiana, in 1718. The boundaries are Canal Street on the South, Esplanade Avenue on the North, Rampart Street on the West, and North Peters Street and a portion of the river on the East. The "Vieux Carre" was laid out by the engineers, La Tour and Pauger, in 1720, two years after Bienville had given up the idea of making Biloxi, Miss., on the Gulf Coast, the capital of Louisiana and sought convenient location far up the mouth of the great river where safety from the forays of English pirates would be assured. New Orleans was confined with- in these narrow limits until early in the nineteenth century, when it began to broaden out, and the great plantation which covered the section now occupied by the St. Charles Hotel, the Hennen Building, the Metropolitan Building, the Whitney- Central Building, the Grunewald Hotel, the Canal Louisiana Building, the Perrin Building, the De Soto Hotel, and other of the tallest sky scrapers of the down town district, was cut up into lots and small squares and soon became known as the English or American city. As the visitor wanders through Royal, Dauphine and Bourbon streets, and other thoroughfares of the "Vieux Carre," he notices a style of architecture with which he is entirely unfamiliar unless he has spent some of his time in the cities and towns of France and Spain. Sandwiched in between the old houses are modern dwellings, partaking altogether of the twentieth century style, and these later day houses serve to emphasize the dis- tinctive features of the ancient structures. Between the years of 1830 and 1837 New Orleans enjoyed an era of great prosperity and in their enthusiasm to keep abreast of the times the people tore down many of the buildings erected after the second great fire of 1794 and replaced them with modern structures. These houses, which were modem in 1837, are still standing for the most part to-day and are in use, either as stores or tenemenl dwellings. The district has undergone very little alteration or change since the Civil WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 13 War, save in the upper portion where a whole square of ancient Spanish buildings was torn down to make room for the new $3,000,000 Civil District Court and public office building. This square is bounded by Chartres, Royal, Conti and St. Louis streets. When one goes to see the "Vieux Carre" it is better for him to walk, as the points of interest are so numerous and so close together that whirling by in an automobile, or even following a more sedate course in an open carriage, he will miss much that he would otherwise see were he on foot and taking his time. Canal Street, the upper boundary of the "Vieux Carre," is the city's principal business thoroughfare. It is one of the widest streets in any American city, and has a neutral ground in the center upon which the car tracks are laid. It is lined on either side by buildings, some of them new and modern, and most of them of the Ante-Bellum days. This street contains great stores of all description and is one of the important business marts for the retail trade in the United States. Canal Street separates the old or French City from the new or American City, and back in the eighteenth cen- tury it was known as "terre commune," and was simply a broad open space intervening between the southern wall of the "Vieux Carre," and the lower limits of Bienville Planta- tion, afterwards the Jesuits. The "terre commune" in that day was cut in the center by a canal which emptied into the river. This canal, when the city's wall was first built, was part of the moat, after the European military plan of pro- tecting defense. The mouth of the canal, or bayou running through the plaza, was closed in 1795 by the construction of Fort St. Louis. Tin. canal was filled up in 1838 as far back as Claiborne Street but the entire stretch was not closed until 187.S. In 1838 the plan was conceived to erect the statues of famous Americans on either side of the canal as far back as Rampart Street, but only one was placed, that of Henry Clay, which stood for so many years in the neutral ground where St. Charles and Royal streets meet. The Clay Statue was long a landmark in the city. It was standing there when the Federals took possession of Liberty Place and Monument, Canal Street WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 15 New Orleans, and General Butler, the Union commander, had chiseled on the base Henry Clay's denunciation of slavery. It was at the Clay Monument that the mobs met on the morning of March 14, 1891, and marched on the Parish Prison to wreak summary vengeance on the Italians accused of the Mafia plot which had as its bloody consum- mation the murder of David Hennessey, the chief of police, who had brought to justice Esposito, the Sicilian brigand, and whose operations in Little Italy — the name by which the Italian Colony was known — had put a damper on crime and bloodshed. The march of the mob to the Parish Prison is a well remembered event in New Orleans. The jail was stormed, eleven of the accused were shot to death and two dragged into the streets and given over to the infuriated thousands on the outside to be hanged "a la lanterne" as in the dark days of the French Revolution. The Clay Monument was removed from Canal Street in the late nineties to Lafayette Square. A new base was used — a base of stone — upon which the inscription of Gen- eral Butler is missing. At the very head of Canal Street and on the southeast corner of the "Vieux Carre" stands a stone obelisk, which reminds one of Cleopatra's Needle in New York City. This obelisk is known as Liberty Monument and the little plot it adorns is Liberty Place. This monument was erected in 1 89 1 as a lasting memorial to the citizens killed in the battle of September 14, 1874. The battle of September 14 was, in a measure, an armed revolt against what was known as the Black Republican, or Carpet Bag Government. The citizens gained a signal victory and routed the Metropolitan Police. After the battle United States troops held the city under Martial Law. The names of the twenty-four citizens killed in the battle are inscribed on the base of the obelisk. A square from Liberty Place, out Canal Street, toward the Lake, and on the "Vieux Carre" side of the thoroughfare, stands the Customhouse, one of the most substantial build- ings of its kind in the world. It is of solid granite and occupies the site of Old Fort St. Louis. This structure was started in 1848 under the direction of P. G. T. Beauregard, at that time major of engineers in the United States Army, but WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 17 later in his career, one of the famous generals of the Con- federacy. Henry Clay laid the cornerstone and work was continued until the outbreak of the Civil War. It was not until 1 88 1 that the structure was finally finished. It fills an entire square, is five stories high and has a marble hall, fronted by a marble stairway, that is one of the architec- tural gems among the nation's public buildings. In Canal Street, between Royal and Bourbon streets, were erected tlie Touro Buildings early in the last century. The buildings took their name from their owner, one of the lead- ing Jewish philanthropists of his time. A few of these buildings are still standing, but for the most part the block is taken up by modern buildings. At the intersection of Canal and Bourbon streets stood Christ Episcopal Church, the first Protestant house of worship in New Orleans. Touro bought the building in 1835 and tore it down erecting in its place a Synagogue known as Congregation Dispersed of Judah. As monuments to Touro's philanthropy, New Orleans of to-day boasts of the Touro Infirmary, a modern hospital, Touro-Shakespeare Alms House and Touro Synagogue. Having skirted the southern boundary line of the "Yieux Carre" the stranger enters the real historic part of the famous section, and taking Royal Street from Canal he first encoun- ters a cow of old-style brick buildings built by Touro. Just on the spot now taken up by the Royal Street entrance of the Cosmopolitan Hotel, stood in former years a four-story brick dwelling house of French appearance. This was the residence of Dr. Antommarchi, the physician to Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French. Antommarchi was a practising physician in New Orleans for many years after the tragedy of Waterloo. Adjoining this site is Old 127 Royal Street, where insurgents of the Radical State Legislature held a spirited session in reconstruction times. The Radicals were expelled by the governor's police and a sensational riot followed. < )n the other side of Royal Street, stands the old Mer- chants Exchange, once used as United States Court Building. In this b tilling Walker, the filibuster, who was afterwards executed in Central America for leading a revolution, was Old Spanish Courtyard — in the "Vieux Carre' WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 19 tried and acquitted on the charge of violating the neutrality- laws. This was in 1858. For many years the place was used as a gambling house. Royal Street on either side has many curio stores where relics of the old Colonial Days are offered for sale by vendors as ancient looking as their wares. Royal Street, at the intersection of Conti, was once the banking center of New Orleans. A bank was located at each corner and two of these buildings, yellow with age, have sur- vived the weight of a century and still stand as reminders of the past. Further down the street, at 417 Royal, is a build- ing which was erected in 1816 by the Louisiana Bank Com- pany. This building was built partly in Moresque and partly in Spanish style and is to-day tenanted by several families in upper floors, while the lower floor is taken up by a curio shop. This house won its greatest fame through being the home of Morphy, the world's greatest chess player. Morphy died suddenly in the bath tub in this house in 1884. The place has one of the most picturesque courtyards in a city which boasts of many T beautiful courtyards. Opposite the Morphy home stands the splendid new court- house which has taken the place of an entire block of old buildings. Among the buildings destroyed was the home of Mrs. T. E. Davis (M. E. M. Davis), the well-known south- ern poet and novelist. The next point of interest is the Hotel Royal, first known as the St. Louis Hotel. It was erected in the early thirties and for many years was the leading hotel of the South, later becoming the Capital Building and again assuming its first character of hotel. The building is now falling into ruins and is occupied by poor families. Like many other venerable buildings in the city of ancient houses, the Hotel Royal has its weird ghost story. Henry Clay was entertained in the Hotel Royal in 1843, and the supper alone, which was served on gold plates, cost $20,000. In the rotunda of the hotel is the old slave block where negroes were auctioned to the highest bidder in the Ante-Bellum days. The first sky scraper of the south stands at the upper river corner of St. Peter and Royal streets. This place was erected in 1809 and at the time was considered a marvel for i u 3 > '] \\.> *i* C P| WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 21 heighth, overtopping all the surrounding structures as a giant overtops a dwarf. This building is known as "Seiur George's House" because it is described in Cable's story of that name. Just a few steps further down Royal Street the sight- seer comes to Orleans Street and encounters a large weather- stained brick building occupied by the Sisters of the Holy Family. This building was originally the Orleans Theatre, built in 181 7. In this theatre appeared Lola Montez and other famous stars, and the French Opera, so a part of New Orleans, it might be said, had its birth there. The theatre was later the meeting place of the elite of the city, but in 1835 it became the scene of the famous "Quadroon Balls." The building was purchased in 1881 by the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order organized in 1835 by Abbe Rouselon, of colored women, for work among the quadroons, whose attendance at the masques had given them their evil repute. The sisters still show visitors to the place the famous dancing floor of cypress, three inches thick, said to have been the finest floor of its kind in the world. Just a block below, at St. Ann and Royal streets, stood the "Cafe des Exiles," where many of the emigrees from France during the Red Terror, and later fugitives from the negro uprising in San Domingo, gathered to discuss the past over their cognac. In Dumaine Street, just off Royal, stands an old colonial house, with queer tiled roof, celebrated in song and story and popularly known as "Madame John's Legacy." Just at the corner of Royal Street, and close to the old building, is another colonial house, the residence of Mme. Poree, where the prominent Creole ladies gathered to wave farewell to General Jackson's troops as they marched out to fight the British under Pakenham. At the upper river corner of Hospital and Royal streets is found the "Haunted House," perhaps the most talked of haunted house in America. It was built in 1813 and was the city home of M. and Mme. Lalaurie. In this house the Marquis de Lafayette was entertained at a splendid fete in 1825 and Napoleon's brother was also a guest there. In 1834 the building caught fire and the people entering to extinguish the flames made a horrible discovery. The attic was a WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 23 veritable Chamber of Horrors, a Torture Chamber after the approved mediaeval pattern. Negro slaves were found badly mutilated from the engines of torment with which the vaulted room was filled. The slaves were chained to the wall and one of them was embraced in spiked iron bands much after the order of the Scavengers Daughter, a part of the question system in the Tower of London. The mob wrecked the house and Mme. Lalaurie, then a widow, fled to France, where it is said she dedicated her life to charity, to be finally killed in a boar hunt in the forest of Versailles. The ghosts of the murdered slaves are said to haunt the building and popular legend has it that, in the dark of night, the sound of clanking chains and agonized shrieks come from the attic where so much blood was shed to glut the insane desire of a refined woman to witness human suffering. The Haunted House is a point of interest that no visitor to New Orleans can well afford to miss. In Royal Street at 527 stands one of the most interesting of the city's old houses. The building is fronted by a Moorish archway, flanked by cannon, and beyond the archway is a great courtyard, in which a fountain plays and orange trees nod their heads to the breeze. This building was built by Gov. Miro in 1784 and is to-day much as it was in the past. The place was used as the Commanderia, or head- quarters of the Spanish Mountain Police. The city residence of De Marigny stood at Esplanade Avenue, a block or two from Royal, toward the river, and in this old mansion, long since torn down to make way for the street railway company's power-house, was the scene of a brilliant entertainment to Louis Philippe, afterwards King of France. Chartres Street is one of the most interesting of all the old city's highways and up to 1838 it was the principal business thoroughfare of New Orleans. At Chartres and Esplanade was the site of old Fort San Carlos, erected by Governor Carondelet in 1792. It was surrounded by a deep moat, and from the ramparts of the Fort General Jackson reviewed his little army with which he shattered the ranks of the British veterans of the Peninsular war at Chalmette. The fort was dismantled in 1821 and a few years later the > 'a a br C 3 CO / WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 25 United States Mint, which still stands, was built on its space. In the block from Hospital to Barracks streets, just above the mint, was located the French military barracks erected by Governor Kerlerec in 1758 to accommodate the troops forced to evacuate Fort Duquesne by General Wash- ington during the French and Indian War. In the barracks yard in 1764 was enacted a gruesome tragedy under legal warrant which savored of the Place de Greve, or Monfaucon, of Paris. The murderers of Col. Roux, commandant of Cat Island, were the victims of the tragedy. The culprits were executed in a most horrible manner, two being broken on the wheel, and the other, the ringleader in the plot, being nailed alive in his coffin and sawn asunder by negro slaves. The wheel was the common mode of execu- tion for certain classes of criminals, the French custom being followed in the colony, and for a long period the wheel, and the iron bar used by the executioner in crushing the male- factor's limbs, were to be seen in the quarter. The upper part of the next square is taken up by the Church of St. Mary Archbishopric and the Archiepiscopal Palace. The Archiepiscopal Palace is the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley and was erected in 1727. The seminary connected with the Palace was built during the early part of the last century on the site of a chapel erected in 1787 by Don Andres Almonaster y Roxas for the Ursulines nuns. The Church of St. Mary was built in 1846 and one of the windows near the altar is decorated with a picture in colors representing the Battle of New Orleans. A priest is in charge of the Palace and it is always his pleasure to show visitors around. The old palace is full of valuable relics, one a clock made in Paris in 1632. Across the street from the Archiepiscopal Palace is another of the city's venerable houses, a link with the olden time. It has a broad portico, supported by Ionic columns, and is perhaps the only house of its kind still standing. In this house Paul Morphy, the world's greatest chess-player, was born and it was later the residence of General Beauregard, the distinguished soldier, who with General Johnston directed the Confederate forces at the Battle of Shiloh. The house is to-day the home of Sicilian wine merchants, and a few years WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 27 ago a desperate Mafia battle was fought in the courtyard, a battle in which four men were killed. At Dumaine and Chartres streets is one of the rare sights of Colonial New Orleans. It is a Spanish tile-roofed house, built in the Eighteenth Century, and was once a tavern where the soldiers of fortune and the up-river voygeurs met to plan a raid on the Sun Worshipping Natchez Indians. The old Cafe des Refuges is situated half a square up Chartres Street and the place is full of historic memories. It was here that the famous cordial known as "Le Petit Gouave" was brewed for the first time. General Humbert, one of Napoleon's soldiers, made this tavern his headquarters during his declining years. The ancient Hotel de la Marine faces the Cafe des Refuges. The hotel was the rendezvous of pirates and buccaneers in the old days and during the Know-Nothing riots of 1857 scores of Italians were cornered in the place by the mob and butchered to a man. Vendetta Alley runs in the rear of the hotel, and it obtained its terrible name from the Mafia murders committed in the narrow arched passageway. Lafitte Brothers' blacksmith shop stood at St. Philip and Chartres streets. The Lafittes, Jean and Pierre, were the last of the great pirates and had their stronghold out in the wild Barataria country on a beautiful strip of land washed by the surf of the Gulf known as Grand Isle. The Lafittes obtained a pardon by rendering valuable assistance to Gen- eral Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans. In Dumaine Street, near the Lafitte blacksmith shop, the Royal ware- houses were built in 1728. Many stirring stories are still told of the daring forays and raids of the buccaneers by descendants of the very men who served under the pirate chiefs. On Grand Isle, which is within easy reach of New Orleans, the tourist encounters a strange population — a population made up of French, Portu- guese, Spanish, Filipinos, Chinese and the true type of Creole. Most of these people are the grandchildren, or the great grandchildren, of Lafitte' s picaroons, and there are family traditions that ring with the booming of cannon and the clashing of short arms, and compare with the darkest legends of mediaeval times. The Lafittes were long popular heroes WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 29 in the old city and as they carried letters of marque from the Republic of Carthegena, they were considered privateers, with the privilege of preying on ships flying the English flag, by those who defended them. There is an old house in Chartres Street, facing the St. Louis Hotel, where, according to popular but not authen- ticated story, Jean and Pierre Lafitte met General Andrew Jackson one cold winter night late in 18 14 and tendered him their swords for service in the campaign that was being planned against the British. Just at the corner from the housa — to be exact, at the intersection of St. Louis Street — is an old-fashioned structure, savoring of colonial times, where Pierre Maspero had his cafe. It was in this cafe that General Jackson planned the defense of New Orleans and at the conference Jean Lafitte, it is said, was in attendance. The St. Louis Cathedral ranks as one of the best known churches in the United States. The site was selected by Bienville for a cathedral when the city was laid out in 1718, but it was not until 1724 that the first brick church was built. The church was destroyed in the fire of 1788 and in 1794 the present structure was built by Don Almonaster, previously mentioned as the donor of a chapel to the Ursulines nuns. The church was repaired and added to from time to time and is to-day firm and substantial. Don Almonaster is buried in a crypt under the altar. Other distinguished Frenchmen and Spaniards rest in the crypt and the slabs bearing the names of the dead are plainly to be seen in front of the altar rail. In the rear of the cathedral is a small gar- den in which many duels were fought in colonial times. One of the interesting personages connected with the history of the cathedral is Padre Antonio de Sedilla, of Toledo, Spain. He was connected with the Holy Office in Spain and came to New Orleans in 1779 to establish the Inquisition, but Miro, the Governor of the Colony, expelled him. He returned in 1 78 1 and became priest of the first brick church which stood on the cathedral's site, the church which was destroyed by fire in 1788. Pere Antonio's portrait still hangs in the rector's parlor at the cathedral. The Cabildo is next to the cathedral, separated from it by Orleans Alley. The building was erected by Don WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 31 Almonaster in 1795 and its history reads like a romance. The Cabildo was the old Spanish court-house in the colonial days and some of the implements of torture allowed by the criminal code of the time, in the question ordinary and extra- ordinary were known to exist, several years ago. There were many stirring dramas enacted in this building, but the only relic of mediaeval justice still preserved in the building is the heavy set of iron bound stocks. The transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France and from France to the United States took place in this building, and the spot where the officials stood is marked by a big brass plate. Lafayette, as the city's guest in 1825, had his quarters in the Cabildo. On the other side of the cathedral is a building similar in appearance to the Cabildo. It was built by the United States as a court building and was used by the Civil Courts of the Parish of Orleans up to 19 10. Both the Cabildo and the old court building are now used as museums, and the Louisiana Historical Society has done much in aiding in their proper fitting up. Jackson Square occupies the square of ground in front of the cathedral. It was laid out by Bienville in 1720 and known as the Place d'Armes. It has been closely identified with the history of the city for nearly two hundred years, and one of the most romantic incidents connected with it was the reception given the Acadians who were driven out of Canada by the British. General Jackson was welcomed in the square after his victory over the British at Chalmette and conducted into the cathedral to the solemn "Te Deum." The square was beautified first by Mme. Pontalba, daughter of Don Almonaster, who had it laid out French style. In 1846 the magnificent equestrian statue of General Andrew Jackson was placed in the square and the name changed from Place d'Armes to Jackson Square. Two long rows of three story brick buildings were erected on either side the square by Mme. Pontalba in 1849. Her monogram is still intact in the iron railings. These buildings were once the home of fashionables, but to-day they house for the most part foreigners of the lower class. In the central building in St. Peter Street Jenny Lind lived while a resident of New Orleans. • «*y ?£=, S u. c/3 a WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 33 The French Market is just off Jackson Square and extends down to Barracks Street. The first market was erected on this site by the Spaniards in 1 791 and it remained intact until 181 2 when it was destroyed by a hurricane. The old structure was replaced by the present meat market at a cost of $30,000 in 18 13. In 1822 the vegetable market was added and the Bazaar market was not erected until 1872. In the rear of the French Market and extending back several squares and taking in the area from St. Ann to Barracks Street is what is known as Little Italy. Thousands of Italians live in this section of the city and some of the tall dingy tenements have been the scenes of bloody Mafia crimes and Black Hand assassinations. All along Chartres Street are buildings with interesting histories, among them the old Orleans Hotel, built in 1799, and the Strangers' Hotel, erected a few years later. At 514 Chartres Street the story of the attempt to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena is still told by the concierge. It was the home of Girod, a wealthy merchant, who, with Dominic You, one of Lafitte's pirates, planned to make a sudden dash on St. Helena with a swift yacht and bear the imprisoned emperor to liberty. Girod fitted the house up magnificently to serve as the Emperor's home. The plot fell through when a sailing ship brought the news of the Little Corporal's death in 1821. Bourbon Street has its famous buildings and the first of these structures that attracts attention is the "Old Absinthe House," built in 1798, and used as a cafe since 1825. Next comes the French Opera House known the world over. It was built in 1859 at a cost of Si 18,000. In this theatre many of the best known singers have been heard, among them Adelina Patti, who was once a member of the company performing there, playing a very small part. In the opera house are given the annual carnival balls. There are old buildings some of them with fine court- yards for a considerable distance down Bourbon Street, and in St. Peter Street, just off Bourbon, stood Tabary's theatre, opened for its first performance in 1791. Rampart Street preserves, as it were, the line of defenses built around the old city in 1793 by Baron Carondelet, the Spanish governor, to protect the town from an attack by WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 35 the French. The neutral ground on which run the electric cars was the moat beyond the city walls. The New Orleans Terminal Station, erected a few years ago, is on the site of Fort Burgundy which formed the southwestern corner of Carondelet's defenses. In Rampart Street stands the house of the wealthy banker, Michael Heine, whose daughter Alice married the French Due de Richelieu, afterward the Prince of Monaco. There are buildings of the attractive colonial type in Rampart Street, and beginning at St. Peter Street and extending down to St. Anns is the famous Congo Square, now Beauregard Square, where the old Voudou rites were performed and wild weird revels indulged in. Voudouism was brought into New Orleans by the negro slaves, many of whom were imported direct from the Congo on slave ships. Marie Leveau, a mulatress, was for many years recognized as the Voudoo Queen. She had a large alabaster box in which the followers of the repulsive cult imagined she kept the "Great Zombi," the monstrous serpent whose only food was children offered up as sacrifice. Her home was at 1030 St. Ann Street and the old house was only demolished in 1903. Voudouism was at its height in New Orleans during the last century and up to a few years ago men and women of the sect would gather on the banks of Bayou St. John, near Spanish Fort, on St. John's night, June 24, and conduct their strange rites. Several of these dances were raided by the police who finally broke up the custom. The rites are still practised in secret by negroes in the lower part of the city. Just off Congo Square the sight-seer comes upon the modern main pumping station of the new waterworks system. This building is on the site of the old Parish Prison, a structure for many years identified with the criminal history of the city. The Prison was torn down in 1895 when the modern prison in Gravier Street was erected. CHALMETTE Just below the city, and within easy walking distance from the car line, is Chalmette, the famous battlefield of New Orleans. On this spot, January 8, 181 5, General Jackson, with a little over 6,000 soldiers, most of them raw recruits, t r : ; Chalmette Monument — Site of Battle of New Orleans WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 37 defeated the English army of 12,000 men under General Pakenham. The British soldiers were largely veterans of the Peninsula campaign — Wellington's men, who had driven the French out of Portugal and Spain. The house in which General Pakenham slept the night before the battle stood up to a few years ago when it was destroyed by fire. The battlefield is marked by a tall obelisk and the front section facing the river is taken up by a national cemetery where Federal soldiers, killed in the Civil War, are buried. IN AND AROUND THE CITY No visitor to New Orleans should fail to visit Spanish Fort. The fort is reached by a quick and comfortable electric car service. The ride is a pleasant one out Canal Street along the New Basin Canal and then for a mile or more skirting Lake Pontchartrain. The Fort is the city's popular summer resort, with beautiful gardens, shade trees, pavilions and all forms of attractions. The Fort, whose remains and can- non are still to be seen, was erected by the Spaniards toward the last part of the seventeenth century. The lake was at that time infested by pirates and frequently hostile Indians made forays in their war canoes on the farmers, crossing the lake from St. Tammany. Just behind the fort are four big cypress trees which mark the grave of a Spanish officer killed in a duel with an Indian warrior. The fort was garrisoned by the Confederates during the Civil War and the ancient guns used in driving off several flotillas. On the lake shore, several miles to the east of Spanish Fort, the village of Milneburg stands. Milneburg is reached by the second oldest railroad in the United States. The place is full of romantic memories and is now made up largely of fishing camps and boat clubs. It was at Milneburg that Thackeray, the English novelist, was given a great dinner and he w T as so impressed with the Creole cooking that he immortalized it in one of his subsequent works. The restaurant still stands and a descendant of the chef who prepared the Thackeray dinner conducts it. West End is located on Lake Pontchartrain a mile or two to the west of Spanish Fort. It has a big hotel and boasts of a number of boat and yacht clubs. One of the B V I WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 39 principal clubs is the Southern Yacht Club, which has a fine fleet of vessels of every type and class known to the sport of sailing. PARKS City Park is one of the famous beauty spots of the South. Bienville made his first landing at City Park, coming up Bayou St. John from Lake Pontchartrain in his little barque, the "Bonaventure." In the old colonial days many of the aristocrats built their villas in the park and the place did not become a public pleasure ground until the Americans had charge. The park is laid out in most imposing and orderly style. In its center is a large lake and lagoons extend- ing from the lake intersect the woodland reaches and bower- lined w r alk. Only recently a magnificent Art Gallery, built on the plan of a Grecian temple, was erected in the park. Just in the rear of the Art Gallery, on the northern shore of an arm of the lake, is situated the Peristylium, which bears a close resemblance to an ancient pile on the hills of the Acropolis at Athens. The park was the duelling ground of old New Orleans, and the great oak still stands under whose protecting shade many of the sanguinary combats were fought. Mr. Wagga- man, a United States Senator, whose name is borne by a little village just across from New Orleans on the Jefferson Parish bank of the Mississippi River, was killed with rapiers in an encounter with Denis Prieur, afterwards mayor of the city, one Sunday morning under the oaks, and on the same day ten duels were fought on the spot. There were many well-known maitres d'armes in New Orleans in those days and fencing was an art with all the gallants. The masters themselves fought to the death and Marcel Dauphin, who formerly oper- ated a "salle d'armes" near the Bastille, in Paris, and fled to America during the Red Terror, was one of those whose heart was pierced by the sword point of a rival teacher, Bonneval, an ex- Jacobin, and personal friend of the "Sea Green Incor- ruptible" Robespierre. One of the best known of the'Ante- Bellum fencing masters was Pepe Lula, the Spaniard, who is said to have fought over thirty duels in the park. He issued a sweeping challenge to all sympathizers with the Cubans in one of the earlier rebellions and killed three antagonists S'l .'f./\W The Famous Dueling Oak in City Park, and AHard's Tomb WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 41 who tried to break down his masterly sword guard. Pepe Lula in his declining years turned his private grounds into a graveyard. That graveyard to-day is known as St. Vincent de Paul's Cemetery, having come into the possession of the Catholic Church congregation of that name. A large part of the park was originally owned by Louis Allard, the planter, and Allard's tomb is to be seen to-day in the picturesque place near the dueling oak, its somber front half hidden by rose bushes. Behind the city park are the two great race tracks, one the Fair Grounds, and the other known as the New Orleans Jockey Club. These parks are now used only for picnics and open-air entertainments, the Legislature of 1908 having put the ban on horse racing. Audubon Park is another spot of imposing beauty. It is situated in the upper part of the city and is surrounded on three sides by the residential section of splendid mansions. The park covers 247 acres and takes its name from Audubon, the great naturalist. It originally belonged to Masan, the French patriot who had his plantation there. He was con- demned to ten years' imprisonment in Morro Castle, Havana. for resisting the ceding of the colony to Spain. The park was the site for the Cotton States Exposition in 1885-86, and the magnificent Horticultural Hall, all of glass, erected for the exposition, still stands. The park has oak trees representing the highest type of their class. In the park Audubon did much of his work as a naturalist and recently his monument was erected near the Horticultural Hall. There are a number of smaller parks in the city used for picnics and pleasure parties. RESIDENTIAL SECTIONS St. Charles Avenue is the street of fine homes, and the thoroughfares intersecting it above Jackson Avenue also possess an attractive array of residences. There are mansions in St. Charles Avenue that might well rank as palaces and opening into the street are a number of residence parks where costly houses, surrounded by great gardens, are grouped into charming pictures. Esplanade Street also has its stately homes. It is the street of the aristocratic French families and extends from WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 43 the river to Bayou St. John. Below Esplanade Street, in what is known as the Third District, is the residential section of small houses. Most of the streets are well paved, affording smooth roads for automobiles and other vehicles. Canal Street in the rear of Claiborne ; Carrollton Avenue practically a new thoroughfare; City Park Avenue and lower St. Claude Street afford great beauty in charming vistas, ample room and lots of air, as attractions to the residents. THE CEMETERIES New Orleans has always been considered a peculiar city in regard to the burying of its dead. Efecause °f the moisture of the soil it was the custom up to a generation ago to inter the dead in tombs, or what was known as ovens — small, narrow crypts built out from a solid brick wall. That custom is now no longer followed. Metairie Cemetery takes rank with the richest burying grounds in the country. It contains many costly mausoleums and at the entrance surmounting the tomb of the Army of Tennessee is a great equestrian statue of General Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate commander killed at Shiloh. The Washington Artillery Monument to the Confederacy is also in this cemetery. The cemetery parallels a pretty lake. The entire plot was once a race track. Greenwood Cemetery is just across the new canal from Metairie. At the entrance is a monument to the Confederate dead, with four marble shafts supporting the busts of General Robert E. Lee, General Albert Sidney Johnston and General Leonidas Polk. Close to Greenwood, is the Firemen's Ceme- tery and the other burying grounds near by are the three — St. Patrick's, the Dispersed of Judah and the Masonic Cemetery. The old St. Louis cemeteries are in North Basin Street and Claiborne Avenue. These are historic burying grounds and an interesting day one may spend among the old tombs and ovens studying the inscriptions. These cemeteries which are the oldest in the city were laid out by Bienville and many of the noted men and women of colonial times lie sleeping there. Among the most famous of those buried in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 might be mentioned Charles Benoist de La Salle, a brother of the ,■>■■ J * WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 45 great explorer who made the first voyage down the Mississippi River; Benedict Van Preebles, an officer in the Revolutionary Army under the Marquis de Lafayette. On a number of the marble slabs facing the tombs and ovens this strange inscription will be found : ' ' Mort sur le Champ d'Honneur," indicating the last resting-place of some gentle- man of the old-time who was slain in a duel. In the rear of the cemetery, beyond a board fence separating the consecrated from the unconsecrated ground, will be found the original monument erected to the memory of General Claiborne, the first American governor of Louisiana. The little section of unconsecrated ground was for the interment of Protestants. New St. Louis Cemetery is located in Esplanade Street near Bayou St. John. It dates back to the last century and one of its unique monuments is to the memory of Father Turgis, the devoted soldier priest. The monument was erected to the heroic clergyman's memory by the Army of Northern Virginia Camp of Confederate Veterans. No one comes to New Orleans without a visit to St. Roch's Cemetery. St. Roch's Shrine is known as the miracle chapel for it is said that many wonderful cures have taken place at its altar. The chapel was built by Father Thevis in fulfillment of a vow. He laid the stones in place himself, and soon everybody flocked to see the wonderful shrine in honor of St. Roch, the patron of health. A statue of St. Roch and his dog surmount the shrine. Every morning the bell in the belfry is tolled following an old Hungarian custom. There are many tombs and graves in St. Roch's. Among the interesting cemeteries down town are Louisa Street Cemetery, Hebrew Rest and St. Vincent de Paul's. Of the up-town cemeteries the burying grounds along Washington Street are the best known. Girod Street Cemetery has an interesting history. It was the first Protes- tant burying ground in New Orleans and took the name of its founder, Nicholas Girod, the wealthy merchant who planned with Dominic You, the pirate, to rescue Napoleon from St. Helena. Mr. Girod was himself a Protestant and established the cemetery, as Protestants back at the beginning of the eighteenth century were buried in unconsecrated ground in the rear of St. Louis Cemetery. WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 47 MONUMENTS New Orleans has many monuments but perhaps the most imposing is that to General Robert E. Lee, the great Confederate Commander in Chief, which stands at the head of St. Charles Avenue. The statue is of bronze and rests on a column one hundred and six feet high. Where Camp and Prytania streets converge, just two squares from Lee monument, is the statue erected in memory of Margaret Haughery, a well-known woman philanthropist. This is said to be the first and one of a very few lasting testi- monials given by a grateful people to the memory of a woman. New Orleans is soon to have another statue of one of the city's famous women. The statue is to be erected in honor of Sophie B. Wright, a devoted Christian worker who, although a cripple, labored unceasingly for the happiness of others, especially friendless girls. The monument of Henry Clay stands in Lafayette Square. In front of the square is a bronze bust of John M'Donogh, the philanthropist of New Orleans and Baltimore, who left a fortune to build the city's public schools. The statue of Benjamin Franklin, in white marble, formerly stood in Lafayette Square, but several years ago it was removed to the great marble hall of the Public Library. A marble bust of Gottschalk, the famous pianist, who was born in New Orleans, is also in the Public Library. The statue of General P. G. T. Beauregard, the brave Confederate commanding officer, will stand at the Bayou St. John Gate of the City Park. General Beauregard, who commanded the Confederates in the great victory at Bull Run, was born in New Orleans. UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES Tulane University occupies a broad site facing St. Charles Avenue, opposite Audubon Park. There are many fine buildings in the reservation, including a medical laboratory where some of the greatest discoveries of modern times have been made by the skilled scientists in charge of the work. Newcomb College is a leading institution of learning for young girls under the same general direction as Tulane University. The college is now in Washington Avenue but Lee Lircie and Monument, St. Charles Avenue WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 4Q is to be built on a grander and more imposing scale in the rear of Napoleon Avenue. Loyola University adjoins Tulane. It is conducted by the Jesuit Fathers, and the buildings are among the most attractive in the city, being built on the architectural plan of the old English abbeys. In Nashville Avenue, only a short distance from Loyola, the new Ursulines Convent has been erected. These buildings are Gothic and old English. The Ursulines formerly had their convent where young ladies were educated in one of the city's ancient buildings down on the river front. The building had to give place to a new levee line and the sisters bought the site up-town. The Jesuits have a fine college in Baronnc Street, near Canal, in the very center of the business district. The building is of Moorish type and adjoins the Church of the Immaculate Conception. MODERN NEW ORLEANS The new city is of course above Canal Street, and the great jobbing center is in Canal Street, while the wholesale district includes nearly all the streets close to the river from Canal to Julia streets. In this district there are a number of big manufacturing plants. The office-building section from Camp to Baronne streets, is dotted with tall skyscrapers and modern structures. In this section are located the Cotton Exchange, Stock Exchange, Board of Trade, Contractor's Exchange, Real Estate Exchange and most of the banks. The Sugar Exchange is below Canal Street close to the levee, where the sugar is landed at the publicly-owned docks. The streets are paved and there is an air of activity evident during every season of the year. New .Orleans, while the greatest sugar market, is also one of the greatest rice and coffee markets, and the docks are always lined with ships discharging and taking on cargoes. CHURCHES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS Christ Church Cathedral, Protestant Episcopal, stands in one of the prettiest portions of St. Charles Avenue at the intersection of Sixth Street. The First Baptist Church, constructed of stone, is further up the avenue and presents an imposing appearance. A WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 5 1 few blocks above this is Rayne Memorial Methodist Church and lower down the avenue is the costly and stately looking First Methodist Church. One of the most attractive buildings in the avenue is the Touro Synagogue, with its circular bronze roof. Temple Sinai, constructed on the plan of ancient Jewish houses of worship, is in Carondelet Street further down town. Prytania Street Presbyterian Church is a massive struc- ture of stone, in Prytania Street, a block from St. Charles Avenue. The First Presbyterian Church, which faces Lafayette Square, is one of the oldest of the Protestant churches in the city. A recent addition to architectural New Orleans is the Mater Dolorosa Catholic Church, in Carrollton Avenue. The catholics have many other fine churches in the city. The Christian Scientists have only a small church of frame construction facing Coliseum Park, but have pur- chased ground in an exclusive section of the city and intend to build a large and costly church. The City Hall is a building that impresses one at the first glance. It is built after the Grecian plan, with wide portico and massive columns supporting the arched roof. The Public Library ranks with the finest in the United States. It is built of stone and marble and the architects copied the designed of the Temple of Mars in Rome. The Criminal Court and Police Service Building in Tulane Avenue is of red brick and reminds one of an old French chateau. The Parish prison, in the rear of this struc- ture, is built of brick, with inner steel casings, making the cells mob proof. The New Court House Building, already referred to, covers a square of ground in what is known as the "Vieux Carre," and was only recently completed. The House of Detention is another great prison, built of brick, with steel cells and corridors. The Charity Hospital accommodates the sick of practically all the city and state and from the neighboring states as well. It was founded in 1832 and has been steadily added to until it now covers four squares. Among the private hospitals are the Hotel Dieu, Touro WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 53 Infirmary, Presbyterian Hospital, Water Cure and Bethany Home. A unique institution is the Confederate Veterans' Home, out on Bayou St. John. The old veterans wear uniforms of grey and lead a happy care-free life. ALGIERS Algiers is the Fifth District of New Orleans and lies on the west bank of the river. In old Creole days it was one of the royal plantations and negro slaves gave it the name of Algiers, as it struck them as resembling a portion of the northern African coast. M'DONOGHVILLE AND GRETNA M'Donoghville and Gretna lie just above Algiers and are in the Parish of Jefferson. M'Donoghville was the planta- tion of John M'Donogh, the eccentric philanthropist. Gretna is the home of many factories and the Southern Pacific has big railroad terminals in the place. Gretna was the scene of many bloody riots in the old reconstruction days. THE CARNIVAL The Carnival in New Orleans is not only marvelous for its richness and beauty, but it is a season when people of all classes enter into the spirit of fun and frolic, throw care to the winds, and yield themselves willing subjects to the gentle rule of King Rex. Parades that cost thousands of dollars are featured for several days ; magnificent balls, where the social leaders and distinguished people of all parts of the country assemble, and a great day when maskers claim the streets, make up the season, and give it a touch of splendor found no where else in the world. Thousands of strangers come to the city each year for the carnival and those who have participated in the season once generally return to enjoy its pleasures again. The Carnival season properly begins twelve nights after Christmas with the ball of the Twelfth Night Revellers and other exclusive organizations give their revels on stated nights to the Monday before Lent. On that Monday, King Mardi Gras Pageant, Canal Street WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 55 Rex arrives with royal magnificence on a big flotilla made up of war ships ancl all types of river craft. He parades the streets in a golden car followed by soldiers, marines, blue- jackets and the lords and dukes of the realm in rich costume. The same night Proteus appears in the streets, coming out of the sea, with a brilliant pageant of from eighteen to twenty cars. Proteus concludes his parade with one of the great balls of the year at the French Opera House. The next day is Mardi Gras day — Fat Tuesday is the English of the name — and from early morning until dusk, maskers, who tax their ingenuity to find costumes striking and distinct, are in the streets. Rex's parade of dazzling cars is given Mardi Gras day and the maskers throw to the crowds in the streets handsome souvenirs and trinkets of less value. The day concludes with the pageant and ball of Comus, and the pageant is generally one of the grandest of the season. At the ball at the French Opera House, Rex and Comus, with their beautiful queens, reign together. The first parade is given by the Krewe of Momus, Thursday night before Mardi Gras. This parade is always one of the events of the season and is followed by a ball at the French Opera House. The Twelfth Night Revellers, as was previously stated, open the Carnival season with a ball twelve nights after Christmas. The second ball is given by the Krewe of Nereus, and in order come the Olympians, the High Priests of Mithras, the Elves of Oberon, the Atlanteans, the Krewe of Mystery, Momus, Proteus, Comus and Rex. The Rex ball given Mardi Gras night, is the people's ball, while Comus, like the other organizations mentioned, gives the exclusive revel. Each organization has its king and queen, and while the identity of the king, at all the balls, with the exception of Rex, is kept a close secret, the queens are announced on the nights of their reign and are selected from the year's debutantes generally for their charm and beauty. Rex and his lady are king and queen of the entire Carnival. The Mittens organ- ization is composed of young society ladies who give a stately revel and reverse the order of things by choosing from society's popular young men a king and publicly crowning WINTER IN NEW ORLEANS 57 him. The carnival has been celebrated in New Orleans since the early thirties, but the first parade was not given until 1837. Comus is the oldest of the present organizations and was formed in 1857. While the smaller organizations give no parades, their revels at the French Opera House are made up of gorgeous tableaux. The organizations are of a most secret character and the members of the Krewes work for months in preparing their subjects. Until the day of the parade and ball the subject for the display is not made public. CLUBS The leading clubs of the city arc the Pickwick, Boston, Chess-Checkers and Whist, and Louisiana, in Canal Street; the Young Men's Gymnastic, in North Rampart Street; the Harmony and the Young Men's Hebrew, in St. Charles Avenue. The latter organization owns the Athenaeum and the quarters arc the largest and best appointed of any He- brew organization in the United States. SIDE TRIPS The Southern Pacific Railroad from New Orleans runs through one of the richest sugar and rice countries in the world, and cheap rates prevail on excursion days. Within a few hours of New Orleans, on the Southern Pacific, is the romantic Bayou Teche Country, with Acadian villages dotting its oaked-linccl banks. St. Martin ville, one of the oldest towns in the state, is included in the trip, and the Teche winds by the ancient place. High on the bank, beneath a giant oak tree, is the grave of Evangeline and the villagers delight in showing strangers where Longfellow's heroine sleeps. In this section are many interesting Indian relics and old buildings which were erected in the days of the French and Spanish rule. SEA TRIP TO NEW YORK Many of the tourists who visit New Orleans in the win- ter take advantage of the opportunity offered for the return to New York by the sea route. The palatial steamships of the Southern Pacific have regular sailings between New Orleans and New York and all seasons of the year the trip is delight- ful. The vessels make a daylight run down the great river z X H WINTER IN NE W ORLEA NS 5 9 to the Gulf and on either side the famous Delta spreads out like a panorama before the eyes of the passengers and the famous Eads jetties, which required so much engineering skill in the building, are also seen. The Southern Pacific also runs a fine line of steamers to Havana, only two days' sail from New Orleans, and this is a favorite trip with visitors, especially in the winter season. Restaurants Above Canal Street Brasco's — 720 Gravier Street. De Soto Restaurant — Hotel De Soto. Fabacher's Rathskeller — 414 St. Charles Street. Grunewald Restaurant — Grunewald Hotel. Kolb's German Tavern — 125 St. Charles Street. Maylie's — -1001 Poydras Street; dinner for gentlemen, 6 P. M. Reno's — 728 Gravier Street. St. Charles Restaurant — St. Charles Hotel. The Cave — Grunewald Hotel. The Italian Garden — St. Charles Hotel. The Old Hickory — 306 Carondelet Street. Restaurants Below Canal Street ("Vieux Carre") Antoine's — 713 St. Louis Street. Begue's — 823 Decatur Street; breakfast at 11 only. Fabacher's — Royal and Iberville streets. Galatoire's — 209 Bourbon Street. Janssen's — -124 Royal Street. La Louisiane — 717 Iberville Street. Monteleone Restaurant — Monteleone Hotel. The Gem — 127 Royal Street. Railroad Depots Union Station — Rampart Street and Howard Avenue — -Southern Pacific, Illinois Central, Yazoo and Mississippi Valley and Texas and Pacific. New Orleans Terminal Station — Canal and North Basin streets — Frisco Queen and Crescent, New Orleans Great Northern and Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company. Louisville and Nashville Depot — head of Canal Street — Louisville and Nashville and Pontchartrain R. R. New Orleans, Fort Jackson and Grand Isle Depot — Algiers near Canal Street Ferry house — New Orleans, Fort Jackson and Grande Isle. Louisiana Southern Depot — St. Claude and Elysian Fields — Louisiana Southern (Frisco). Q. o O 1 Z < J. a. O) cc III T' X I o u Adv. 10-30-12-20M. U) to Rand McNally & Co., Chicago LIBRARY OF CONGRESS