Class COPYRJGKT DEPOSIT PRESIDENT CL.EVKLA;SD RECEIVING DIXIE OR SOUTHERN SCENES AND SKETCHES JULIAN RALPH AUTHOK OF "on CANADa's FUONTIER " "OUR GREAT WEST" "CHICAGO AND THE WOULD's FAIR " ETC. ILLUSTRATED NKW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1890 :<^v ^-^ OF no,v.7fl MOV 15 '1835 By JULIAN RALPH. PEOPLE WE PASS. Stones of Life among the Masses of New York City. Illustrated. Post Svo, Clotli. (Just lieadii.) ON CANADA'S FRONTIER, Illustrated. Square Svo, Cloth, $2 50. OUR GREAT WEST. Illustrated. Square Svo, Cloth, $2 50. CHICAGO AND THE WORLDS FAIR. Illustrated. Svo, Cloth, $3 00. Pdui-tbued by HARPER & BROTHERS, New Yoek. Copyright, 1895, by Harper & Brothers. All nob Ingersoll lives in New York, don't he? He's immense, ain't he? No, I see you ain't stuck on him. Well, neither am I, and I'm going to tell you the truth. Everybody my Avay is crazy to I'ead everything he writes and says, but I'm going to stick to my little old Bible till a good deal smarter man than he is comes ahjug. If I was Ingersoll, and knew for sure that I was right, I wouldn't stump the country to try and take awa\" the comfort of every poor old widow and Youne: girl and decent man ; because our belief in religion is close on to all that most folks has in this world." I spoke of my suri)rise that she should believe in re- ligion and not in love. •• Say !" said she ; '• I help run a hotel, and I agree with everybody that comes along— for the price. But I ain't in a hotel now. and you're married, and I'll give myself away. I made fun of love, but. gee whiz ! I didn't mean it. I reckon a girl don't fool you talking that way. I'm in love, right smart in love, too; up to my neck. " Mv mother hates him. You see, we used to be well PASSINC^ A SISTKIM50AT ort", and father's peo]>lo \vere 'way u\). and inotlier keeps in with all her old friends. They'i'e all as poor as we. hut they'i'e pronder'n Lucifer, and mother'd rutlier we'd many i)<)or quality folks than see us rich and hajipy if our husliands were common stock. Well, I want to do what's riii'ht, hut what must I ^o ami do but fall in love with a (ierman. lie's a civil eno-ineer, and Ik^ was lay- ing out a I'ailroad and come to our house. You'd think he was a chump to look at him ; but, say I he's just splen- did. Ma, saw what was g'oino" on, and sh<^ ordered me not to write to him. I told him that, and lie said for us to run away. Oh, he's immense, if he is a German. I let on I was real angry. I told him 1 was going to mind my mother, and he shouldn't ])ut such ideas in my head. I scared him jiale ; but I liked him all the better: he was so cut uj). I!ut he said 'AH right,' and wr (h)n"t write — except he writes to my aunt, and I see the let- ters. We are waiting two years till I'm twenty-one, and I'm telling ma I love him three times a day so as to get her used to it. ISiie's praying for everything to hap))en to Jake, but, say ! it tak(N mor(» than ])rayer to kill a German, don't it {" Our remarkable ffte-d-tete was interrupted by the an- nouncement of dinner, and we put tlie length of the cabin between us. I never more than " bade her the time of day," as the Irish say, after that, for it seemed more profitable to divide my time between the ])ilot- house and the towns ashore. At Columbus, Kentucky, we saw the first true Southern mansion, with its great columns in front and its wide hall through the middle. We began to make many stops in midstream to deliver the mail by a yawl, manned most skilfully by the second mate and several roustabouts. At Slough, Kentucky, we saw cotton - fields and corn-fields opposite one another, and felt that we were truly in the South. At every village the houses were emptied and the levee was crowded. Darkies were in })rofuse abundance, and fortv were idle to every one who worked. Every woman and girl, white and black, had put on some one bright red garment, and the historic yellow girls made no more effort to hide the fact that they were chewing tobacco or snuff than the old negresses did to conceal the pipes that they smoked. Down and down we went with the current, and no longer noticed the deep snoring of the engine, or thought of the rushing world to the north .and east. The table fare remained remarkably good, the nights' rests were unbroken; never did I stop marvelling that the boat was not crowded with the tired men of business, to whom it offered the most perfect relief and rest. The hotel-keepei- and Ikm- fi-ank and beautifid daughter got ort' at a ])ictiiresque town fronted l)y ureat oaks. The (langliter waved her hand at the pilot-house and called out, " Ta-ta." There was mild excitement and much blowing of whistles when we ]>assed our sister-boat the C/'ff/ of Monror — the prize Aucli(n' liner from Natchez. •'Hark I" said the first mate in his society voice. " Stop talking. Listen to her wheels on the water. It's music. It's for all the world like walnuts dropping off a tree. When she made her first big run the roust- abouts got up a, song about her: 'Did ye hear what the Monroe done '.' " As the days went by it was apparent that the woods extended along both sides of the turbid river, with only here and there a clearing for a town or farm or house. The population does not cling to the shore ; it is too often overflowed. At Pecan Point (pecan is pronounced *• pecarn " idong tlie river) we saw the first green grass on February 23(1, and the first great plantation. It was, as we liave all read, a great cleai'ing, a scattering of n<^gro cabins, and tluMi the l)ig mansicju of the planter, surrounded by tidy white houses in numbers sufficient to form a village. Here a darky put a history of his life into a sentence. Being asked how he got along, he said : '• Oh. fairly, fairly, sail. Some days dere's chicken all de day, but mo' days dey's only feathers." We saw the first cane-brake in great clumps, and as each cane was clad with leaves from toj) to bottom, the distant effect was that of thickets of green bushes.. A¥e saw many little plantations of a few acres each, usually with a government river light on the bank, and consisting of a couple of acres of corn and as much more of cotton. We learned that in tins way thousands of negroes have kept themselves since the war. AVe saw their log huts, their wagons, and the inevitable mule, for a mule and a 38 shot-^'iui are the lirst things that are bought, h}- whites and blacks, in this region. Memphis proved an unex})ectedly lively town, with a main street that was rather Western than Southern. Here tlie freight from and for the boat was handled in sar])risingly quick time, by means of an endless belt railway something like a tread-mill. AVe left the dancing- lights of the city, and moved out into a pall of smoke suspended in fog, and then I saw how well and thor- oughly the men in the ])ilot- house knew the mighty river. After a run of a few miles tlie ca])tain declared it unsafe to go farther. The electric search -light was thrown in all directions, but onl_y illuminated a small cii'cle closed in by a fog-bank. In al)Solate, black dark- ness the pilot and the captain discussed the character of tlie shores, to hit upon a hard bank with heavy timber to which it would be safe to tie up. They agreed that some unseen island across the stream and lower down would serve best. "Look out foi' the bar just above there," said the captain. " Yes.'' said the pilot ; '' 1 know where she is." The wheel was spun round, the l)oat turned into a new course, and presently the search-light was thrown upon the very timber-studded reef they sought — as fine an exhibition of knowledge, experience, and skill as I ever witnessed. We now had Mississip])i on the left and Ai'kansas on the right, and saw the first commercial monuments of the great industry in cotton-seed and its varied prod- ucts. This was at Helena, Arkansas, and already, two days after AVashington's birthday, the weather had be- come so hot that the shade was grateful. The negroes warmed to their incessant, laborious work, and the l)lack processions to and from the shore at the ft'ecpient land- 40 iiigs became leaping lines of gaiTulons toilei's. The river becomes veiy wide, often miles wide, in long reaches, and at one part the boat's officers pointed to where it is eating its way inland, and said that a mile in the inte- rior snags are fonnd sitting up in the earth, far beneath the roots of the present trees, as they did in the old bottom, showing either that the river was once many times wider than now, or that it has shifted to and fro as it continues to d(>. To tell in detail what we saw and did during two more days, how Ave saw green willows and then dog- wood and jasmine in l)l<)om. or even how Ca])tain Gar- veil got out his straw hat at Elmwood, Mississippi, would require a ciiapter on the subject. AVe often heard the cry of '• Mark twain,"' which Samuel I). Clemens took as his no)n de plume ^ and a line about that may be interest- ing. The Providence, laden down till her deck touched the water, drew a little more than four feet ; and though the river has a depth of SO to 120 feet, there are places where bars made it necessary to take soundings. When- ever this was done a negro on the main-deck heaved the lead, and another on the second deck echoed his calls. These are the cries I heard, and when the reader under- stands that a fathom, or six feet, is the basis of calcula- tion, he will comprehend the system. These, then, were the cries : " Five feet." " Six feet." '' Nine feet." -Mark twain" (12 feet). "A quarter less twain" (10^ feet) — that is to smv, a quarter of a fathom less than two fatiioms. •• A quarter twain " (134 feet). '■Mark three" (IS feet). '• x\. quarter less three." - A quarter three " (194^ feet). •" Deep four." '* Xo bottom." The tows that we saw were too peculiar t(^ miss men- 41 tion. On this river the loads are " towed befoi-e" in- stead of behind. The principle nnderlying the cnslom is that of the wlieelbarrow, and is necessitated by the curves in this, the crookedest hirge I'iver in the world. The barges and flats are fastened solidly ahead of the tng-boat in a great fan-sha])ed mass, and the steamer backs and pushes and gi'a(hially turns tlie bulk as if it had hold ()f the handles of a barrow in a crooked lane. AVe saw a famous boat, tlie W/'/.^o/i, from Pittsburg, come along behind a low black island. It proved to l)e a tow A KAFT OK ]A)GS of large, low, uncovered barges, thirty of tliem,('ach car- rying 1000 tons. She was therefore pushing .si 05. (too worth of freight, for the coal sells in New Oi'leans at ,^3 50 a ton. The work of propelling these tows is so ingenious that the ])ilots are handsomely paid. They cannot drive their loads ; they merely guide them, and a, mistake or bad judgment in a bend may cost thou- sands of dollars through a wreck. The l)arges ai'e made of merely inch-and-a-half stuff, cost ^TOO each, and are seldom used twice. They are sold to wreckers. 43 This is in the region wliere the levees, that are said to have cost ^5^150,000,000, line the river -side through whole States — mere banks of earth sucii as railways are built on where hllings are required. Some of these are far away from the water, and some are close beside it ; some are earthy, some are grassy, and some are heaped up with banks of Cherokee roses that blossom in bou- quets of hundreds of yai'ds in lengtii. These are the levees into which the crawlish dig and the water eats, and we read of crevasses that follow and destroy foi't- unes oi' submerge counties. lUit they are mere inci- dents in the laziest, most alluring and I'efreshing, j<-)ur- ney that one tired man ever enjoyed. 4:j II NEW ORLEANS, OUR SOUTHERN CAPITAL '' The biggest little city in the country," is what an adopted citizen of New Orleans calls that town. With but little more than a quarter of a million of inhabi- tants, the Crescent City has most of the features of a true capital and metro})olis. It is among the few towns in our country that can be comjiared with New York in respect of their metropolitan qualitlcations, but New Orleans leads all the rest, though in })opulation it is small beside any of the others. It has an old and ex- clusive society, whose claims would be acknowledged in any of our cities. It supports grand opera; its clubs are fully what the term miplies, and not mere empty club-houses. It has tine theatres and public and church buildings. The joys of the table, which Chesterfield ranked first among the dissipations of intellectual men, are provided not only in many fine restaurants and in the clubs, but in a multitude of homes. No city has finer markets. Its commerce is with all the world, and its ])opulation is cosmopolitan, with all which a long contin- uance of those conditions implies. Like the greater cities, it has distinct divisions or quarters, which offer the visiting sight-seer novehyand change. Its "sights" are the accumulation of nearly two centuries, and of Spanish, French, and American origin. It is of value to study the qualities which make the Southern ca])ital what it is, because it is evident that it 44 is to become the chief wintei* resort of those who jour- ney southward to escape the winters in the North. Tlic iiinrdi (■//'''••^•carnival is advertising its attractions to such an extent that the hist occurrence of this festival fouiul 100,000 strangei's there, i-epresenting every State and large citv in the Union. It is on the southern or winter route to (California, it is on tlie way from the West and jS^ortiiwest to Florida and the (Georgia resorts, and it stands in the ]mth to Texas and 3.Iexico. It is the l)est of all the American winter resorts, because it has what the others possess (wdjich is to say, warm weatliei' and sunshine), and, in addition, it offers tlie theatres, shoi)S. restaurants, crowds, clubs, and multiform entertain- ments of a city of the first class. It is par ciu-eUence a city of fun, fair women, rich food, and flowers. Its open- air surface-drainage svstem is about to be replaced liv a different one that may not be more wholesome, but will have the advantage of being out of sight. Only one other reform must be instituted, and even that is ahnost accomplished. The local idea that a hotel which was the Ijest in the country in 1837 would remain lirst-class foi'- ever was an untenable proposition. A new management, fixed rates that do not bound into the re^lm of extor- tion when a crowd comes along, and a modei'u miUion- dollar establishment would fetch more persons there, keep them longer, and send them away liappier than most of the citizens have any idea of. Those other cities that are at the end of a long route of travel, out on the Pacific coast, exemplify the value of first-class hotels in all their histories. Tlie consequence is that in a tiny city called Fairhaven, at the upper end of Puget Sound, there is a better hotel than can be found along the wdiole coast of the (lulf of Mexico west of Florida. The Pacific coast ])eo|)le have found out that tourists will pass an otherwise important place to stop in one 1.-, that b(\asts 2; onl_y sev^en for the greater night pageant of the Com us Society. The actual mardl gras celebration is only the climax of a series of festivities lasting ten days or moi'e. First is held the I)al des Roses, in the week l)efore the week which precedes the puljlic carnival. This ball is purely a ''society atfaii',"' hke our Pa.triai'chs' Ijall in Xew York. The week which follows is one of almost daily sensa- tions. First, on Monday, the Argonauts begin the pro- lonii'ed f(^stival with a tournev and chariot- racino-. A l)all at night follows. On Tuesday the Atlanteans give their ball. On Thursday ^foinus gives a ball, with tab- is Jeaux, in costiiinc. Oii Friday <>l" this gala weelc is held the Carnival german. The Carnival (Ternian Club is composed of twenty-five society men, who give the ger- man by subscription. Onlv seventy-five couples partici- pate in it. The carnival j^roj^er is celebrated with pageantry and dancing that occupy the afternoons and niglits of Mon- day and " Fat Tuesday." Rex, the king of the carnival, comes to t(^wn on Monday afternoon. Who he is a few persons know at the time; who he was is sometimes published, as in 1801, and more often is not. A\niat is called a royal yacht is chosen to bi-ing him from some mysterious realm over which he rules in tlie Orient, to visit his winter capital in the Crescent City. Last time the royal yaciit was the revenue -cutter iidJi'esfoiK Imt ordinarily the societies liire one of the big river steam- boats. The yacht is always accompanied l)y ten or fif- teen other steamers, gay ly decorated, crowded with men and women, and appointed with bands of music and all that makes good cheer. It is supposed that the yacht has taken the king aboard at the jetties. The fleet re- turns, and the royal landing is made u})on the levee at the foot of (/anal Street, amid a fanfaronade of the whistles of boats, locomotives, and factories, and the firing of guns. The king is met by many city officers and leading citizens, who are called the dukes of the realm, and constitute his royal court. These temporary nobles wear civilian attire, with a badge of gold, and bogus jewels as a decoration. Many persons in cai'- riages accompany J:hem. A pi-ocession is formed, Jind the principal features of the dis])lay are a gorgeous lit- ter for the king, a litter carrying the royal keys, and a number of s))lendi(l litters in whi(th ride gayly cos- tumed women, re])resentiiig the favorites of the harem. This the public sees and enjoys. D 49 The king" goes to the City Ilall acc()in})aiiio(l as 1 have described. The way is lined with tens of tliousands of S})ectators ; flags wave fi'oni every building; music is plaving, the sun is shining; the whole scene, with the gorgeous pageant threading it, is magnificent. At the City Hall, the Duke of Crescent City, who is the Mayor, welcomes TJex. and gives him tlie ke^vs and the fi'eedom of the city. The king mysteriously disap])ears after that, presumably to his palace. That night, the night before iii(i/'
  • "litter and sheen of metal, lustrous stones, and silk, nutterflies, catei'pillars, bii'ds. a great squin'el on the acorn float, snails, and nameless grotescjue animal forms were seen u]ion the vegetables and their leaves, while men dressed as fairies, of both sexes, were grouped picturesquely on every one. These devices were not inartistic or tawdrv. They were made by skilled workmen trained for this particular work, and were not only superior to any of the show pieces we see in other l)ageants elsewhere — they wove ecpial to the best that ai'e exhibited in theatres. They were displayed to the utmost advantage in the glare of the torches and flam- beaux carried by the men who led the horses and marched beside the hidden wheels. The figures in Paris -made CREOLE TYPES costumes, theatrical })aint, and masks Avere 150 to 2(>o members of the Krewe — serious and earnest men of af- fairs during- the other days of each year. On Tuesda\% mdrdl gra-s^ Rex really made his ap- pearance, leading a pageant called "the symbolism of colors," just su(;h anothei" display of the blending of stroun- and soft coloi's. but a thousand-fold more (b'tli cult to render satisfactorilj^ by daylight. The twenty (Miornions floats in line represented boats, castles, tow- ei'S. arches, kiosks, clonds, and thrones, and one, that I thoug'ht the best of all, a great painter's palette, l^'ing against two vases, and having living female figures re- cumbent here and there to represent such heaps of color as might be looked for on a palette in use. (/'anal Street, one of the broadest avenues in the world, was newly paved with hunuin forms, and thousands of others were <»n tiie revie wing-stands built before the faces of the houses, over the pavements. The sight of such a vast concourse of ])eople was as grand as the chromatic, ser- ])entlike line of floats that wound across and acnjss the street. Tiiat nigiit all tlie peo})le tui'ued out once again and witnessed the parade of the Mistick Ivrewe of Co- mus, a Japanesque series of floats called '' Xippon, the Land of tlie liising Sun." The display was, to say the least, as line as any of the season. But the splendid function, one that I never saw ex- celled in this country, was the ball of the same society, that night, in the old French Opera-house. All the kings and their queens, representing all the carnival societies, were in the o])ening (juadrille, all crowned and robed aiul with their splenditl suites. Looking down upon that brilliant mass of dancers were seven rows of the belles of the city — rows unbroken by the jarring j)resence of a man. These ladies wei'e all simply at- tired in white, pink, ])ale blue, and all the soft faint colors which distiuii'uish the dress of New Oi'leans women. Llere and there a young girl wore upon her liead a narrow fillet of gold; but jewels wei'e few and far a])art- — a striking omission which greatly dignified the gathering and enhanced the beauty of the spectacle. If the reader has seen the beauteous women of Spanish descent and the petite and sweet-faced French Creoles of that city, let liini fancy these, and tlie loveliest Amer- ican belles, forniing seven rows in a theatre of grand size — and then let him try his best to picture to himself the wondrous garden of personilied flowers that was tlius presented. I luive said tliat "society" controls the o[)era. This institution, regularly maintained only in ]Vew ( )rleans, of all the cities of our country, is almost self-su])port- ing. It is grand opera, and it is always Fnuich, and IX Till-: OLD KKENCU CJIAKTKK given in the old French ()i)era- house, which reminds New-Yorkers of the "Academy," in Fourteenth Street. The troupe that I saw was a complete one, with a double set of leading' voices, with ii corps dc Ixilhf. and a force of hovf'e artists for the ])resentation of comic opera, which is given at reguhar intervals, and always on Sun- dav nights. Many of the chief performers were from the Grand Opera of Paris. The fashionable society of ISTew Orleans is not in any sense a plntocracy. The wealth of those who have it is shared by or hidden from those who have it not. This is becanse the pride of birth and family, inherent in all our Southerners who have an excuse for it. meets an equal pride of family and name among the ])Oorer Creoles. The two combine to create a large exclusive set. among whose meml)ers the terrible ravages of the war spread a. disaster that is ])rivately understood and publicly ignored. xVmong the fashionables, the I'ich and the impoverished meet on a footing whii-h the rich are at such pains to nudce equal that they are oftc^n ]>lain in their entertainments in order that they may not hurt the sensitiveness or strain the resources of the others when it is their turn to open their houses. The men and women of this society maintain among themselves the purest, most wholesome, and honest conditions, un- blemished by any hint of scandal, latitude of speech, or debatable behavior. Again, while " societ}^ " here loves pleasure keenly, and, as we have seen, makes a business of some sorts of it, there is, nevertheless, an intellectual wing to it, with a liking for and an inclination to pursue art and litera- ture. Several ladies, led, ])erhaps, by Mrs. Mollie P]. ]\Iooi'e Davis, who has a marvellous gift for gathering bright folks about her in her (piaint house in the French (juar- ter, lind it a pleasui'e to entertain and introduce such visitors as have interested them by their w streets AN OI.D COUKT IN THE FKENCH QUAHTEIt there is at least one in the l)ack. on the courts and gai'- (lens. Thus tiie Creoles, having' the warm weatlier solely in view, are like the Italians at home, who stoop over theii". charcoal hand-stoves during the few davs when it is vei'v chilly, sutfei'ing a little time in order to enjoy the greater ])art of the year. I did not hear how they dress in summer. l)ut when I rode through the Garden District — the new ])art of the town — my lady friends pointed to the galleries and said : " You should see them in the sum- mer, before the people leave or after they come back. The entire population is out-of-doors in the air. and the galleries are loaded with w(jmen in soft colors, mainly Avhite. They have white dresses by the dozen. They go about without their hats, in carriages and the street cai's, visiting up and down the streets. In -doors one must spend one's wlujle time and energy in vibrating a fan." They liave moscpiitoes thei"e, but they have also electric fans which moscpiitoes eschew. The Avater su])ply is from the Mississi])pi, which has had millions ex})ended upon the im})rovement of its l)aidvs. but not a cent upon its watei". It is not offei'ed in the clubs, but they did not hesitate to serve it in the old-fashioned hotels, the burning of one of which has led to the Ituilding of the greatly needed modern one. In the clubs mineral water is freely set about on the dining-tables. This is attractive to the eye. but those who have not already made the discovery will tind that etfei'vescent waters ai'e too thin and gaseous to satisfy thirst ; in fact, nothing but honest water will do that. Therefore I drank a great deal of Mississi})]*! water, and followed the local custom of dashing a pitcher of fil- tered fluid over me after each bath. The residents of the American (juarter use it filtered. One of the strangest and most distinctive features of New Orleans is the pres- ence of the collecting-tanks for rain-water in almost ev- 50 ery door-yai'd. Rising above the })aliiis,tlie rose-ti'ellises, and the stately magnolias are thes(^ huge, hooped, green cylinders of wood. They suggest enormous water-mel- ons on end and with the tops cut ott'. The Creoles keep the rain-water cool in enoi'mons jars of pottery sitting about in their pretty courts — such jars as Ali Baba had an adventure with, in which oil was once stored, and pr(tl)ably is now, in the ()rieiit. They arc^ from halt' t<_) two-thirds the size of tiour-barrels, symmetrical in shape, and come from the south of France. They are ])ainted with some light fresh c-olor, and prettily ornament the cool, paved, jalousied courts.. Xine-tenths of the water used for cooking and drink- ing is this cistern watei', and when the cisterns get low, as they do two or three times a year, thei'e is actual sutfei'ing in the poor districts, back from the ri v- er. The i-iver water was not filtered when I was there, l)ut lai-ge filters "were conti'acted for, and are by this time supplying an abundance of clear wa- ter. I should think that the' coolest place in Kew Oi'- leans in summer must be the Boston Club. It sug- gests sonu' club - houses that I have seen in tiie Cuban cities, but it is lit- tle like any other in this countiw. It is white with- (nit and light and o[)en within. \n o[>en ])orch on one WINDOW IN OLD FKENCIl QUAKTEU side, hidden from tlie street, serves to cool the entire liouse in summer, and as a pleasant retreat for card- ])layers and smokers all through the year. There are four notable clubs in New Orleans, and they stand near one another in a row upon Canal Street. The Boston is the oldest and choicest. Jt was organized in 1845, and was not named in hon(n' of the Athens of America, but after a game at cards which was ])opulai' at the time. Another game furnished the ('hess Clul) its title, thouo-h that is but a nickname, the full title being *' The Chess, Checkers, and Whist Club." The llarnujuy is the .Jewish club, in essence, though it is not sectarian. The most modern house and most youthful club in member- shij) aiul spirit was the Pickwick ; but since my visit there this club has vacated its hue (piarters. which have become those of a hotel of the same name. The clul) is temporarily housed in a, more modest manner. The Boston Club, always the more exclusive, has taken upon itself the full burden of popularity as well, but it does not offer what the l^ickwick did in its glory. There, after the opera or a counti'v ride, or rout of any sort, the most brilliant beauties of the old and the new town were to have been seen in the softened light of electric- ity lunching with their cavaliers, while the usual club routine went on above the ladies restaurant as if there were no women near. The best place to see the famed belles of New Orleans is in the French ( )pera-house on a fashionable night at the opera. Then there are scores there — blondes with limpid blue eyes, and complexions of roses and cream ; brunettes of the purest t^qies with rounding forms, great black orl)s, hair of Japanese black, and skins of softest brown ; Spanish Creoles with true oval faces, long nar- row eyes, the same soft sun - kissed complexions, with ])roud bearing, and mouths like Cupid's l)ow. With r>s ffL THE NEW ORLEANS YACHT CLUB them are our American gii-ls from all over the coun- try, boasting the eclectic beauty of many blended n;i- tionalities. The place is like a great bouquet. They dress alnnjst like Parisians, and that is one great secret of the splendid fame they have won. To a great extent the Creoles even now remain apart from the Americans, in ]iursnance of the spirit that led their ancestors never to cross Canal Street be^'ond tlieir own old (juarter, and even to riot when the ship])ing be- gan to collect in front of tlie American half of the town. .■)!» l>ut there is more and more mixing of the races, and marriao^es between the two o;row more and more fre- quent, so that it is felt that another generation may brealc down all tlie false barricades between the peo- ples. As to the marriages, it is said to reqnire a bold and indomitable man to court a Creole, because when he calls upon her he finds the court and the parlor dark, and he waits while the servants light up the place for him. Then the parents come in, European fashion, and sit ill the room while he "sparks'" the ravisher of his heart. But all agree that when the end is come, and she is his bride, he is going to be envied among men, for there are no better wives or lovelier mothers than those dark-tressed, brown-skinned, graceful, soft-voiced Creole women. It gives a ])eculiar sensation to hear Cable abused by the Creoles — and 3'ou never can hear anything but abuse of him. '' George W. Cable and Benjamin Butler? Bah! Let them show themselves in New Orleans ; that's all." This astonished me, though 1 had heard I was to expect it. It had seemed to me that they must in their hearts recognize the tenderness with which he deals with raan}^ of his heroes and heroines, the grace with which he clothes them, the soft light he turns upon most of them ; and to-day I believe that in their hearts they know that he has done for them something of what Longfellow did for the Acadians in " Evangeline.'' Surely he it was who lifted them to a sentimental and romantic realm, out from their walled -in courts of the French quarter. I still believe that it is onl}' a sense of mistaken self-re- s])ect that causes them to fancy that they must assail him, because they showed me many of the places he described, and told me with poorly hidden pride that much, aye, most of what he describes is true. But he \vas a Xew ( )rleans man, and should not have betrayed 60 AT TIIK OLD KI'vKNCII OPKK.V- HOUSE his neighbors. Some said " he was of tlie South, yet he writes like an old-time abolitionist." And 3^et these are not the true reasons for their animosity, not tlie whole truth. I believe I am right when I say that what really wonnds them most deeply is his mocking their broken Engiisli. As a writer, I have never been so certain of hurting the feelings of others as when I imitated their dialects, or mistakes in grammar, or awkward efforts to pronounce our words. It angers every race; and the moi'e intelligent the race, the deeper the sting and the anger. I am the more sure this diagnosis of the case in ])()int is correct, because the manner in which he makes his characters talk was always bitterl}^ alluded to, if at all. "■ He puts negro words into our mouths ; he copies tlie servants' talk, and puts it in the mouths of the la- dies and gentlemen." The funei-al notices tacked upon the telegraph poles and awning posts interest strangers. I have lieard Xorthern men in business in New Orleans speak in praise of this method of publishing the deaths, because, tliey say, these cards are read when the newspaper funeral notices might not l)e. I copied one or two, and will reproduce them here, with the munes changed, of course : JEANNE, Fille de James Coudort et de Adele Palm. Les amis et coniiaissaiico dcs families C'ouderl, Palm. Rochefort, et Bellecamp sont pries d'assister il ses funeiailles, qui auroul lieu Same- di, apres-midi, a 4 heures. Le convoi parlira de la resideuce des parents, No. 2091 rue Plaisaiit, entre St. Jacque et Cnuroime. r.'3 LION NET Ce matin, Dlrnaixche, 19 Aoiit 1900, (1 7 heiires, AIM Emile Lionnet, age de 57 otis. Ses (trnis ft connaissances, airisi que eeiix de la famille, sont invites d assister d ses fiirierailles, qui awrojit lieii Deniaiii Matin, LUMDI, d 10 heures precises. Le eonvoi partira de sa derriiere resi- dence, encoignure Esplanade et Derhigny. Nouveile-Orleans, 19 Anut 1900. MPRIMERie PHILIPPE, 40, HUE SAINT-LOUlS. JOHN BONNOT, 45. Rue Sainte-Anne. And here is one in Eniiiish BIRMINGHAM. DIED. Wednesday evening. Mareii 2, isy2, at half-past six o'clock, K. L. IWii.MiMiiiAM. aged fortv-seven years. Tlie friends and acquaintances (if llie Birmingham, Smitli, Bobinsoii, and Decatur families are respectfull}' invited to attend tlie funeral, which will take place this ('I'hursday) evening at half-past four o'clock from Triint V Church. An eccenti'ic gentleman, exercising the inahenable privileges of freetlom, makes it his bnsiness to reatl all these placards, and to tear down those that have served their pnr})ose, else no one can say what would become of the poles and posts as they acciimnlated. Another custom in mortuary matters there is the publication in the Pleaij'inc- and Times-Democrat of eulogistic refer- ences to the dead by way of notifying the public of the sad occurrence. These obituary cards are quite as pe- culiar in their own way as the rhyming notices of Bal- timore and Philadelphia. Without turning far from the subject, it ma}' be said that (though I do not in any degree favor the custom which leads our citizens everywhere to insist upon driv- ing' visitors to the cemeteries as first among the '' sights '' of our cities) it is certain that the cemeteries of New Orieaiis are worth a visit. They are not only unlike any burial-yards known to the rest of the country, they are beautifid as well. The grounds are laid out much as are onv own in the Xorth, but the white shell roads and paths enhance the neat and tidy effect such ])laces usu- f>:! LE AI Tuesday, June 25, 1901, at 7:15 p. m., Carrie L. McDonnell, WIFE OF JAS. J. LEGEAI, aged SI year's and 7 months, a native of this city. The relatives, friends and acquaintances of the family are respectfully invited to at- tend the funeral, from her late residence, 100^ Louisiana avenue, corner Constance, on JVEDJVESDAY EVEXLYG, 2Gth inst., at 5 o'clock. New Orleans, June 26, 1901. •JMlLIPPt S PHINItHV. 10 SI. LOUIS STREET JOHN BONNOT, 45 St. Ann Street. L (^Zyi^ ^ <:?-«^x_=L^ ^::l^^^iZZ:/