379 N5 P2 r \r Illastt^ated 12 Ltsmtcttn Slides WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA 1690 .Mmry W.MI K'. / v-r :^J m,-& \\H\ DESCRIPTIVE READING ON New Orleans c*^ i. \ ILLUSTRATED BY TWELVE LANTERN / \^- SLIDES "^ /t / ®^ — -vS^ — ^ WILLIAM H. RAU PHILADELPHIA 1890 C ot)yj i^ht, 1890, by Williarn H. Rau. ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Jackson Square. 2. Lee Monument. 3. The Mint. 4. National Cemetery, Chalmette. 5. Canal Street. 6. Street Cobbler. 7. The University, Common Street. 8. St. Philip's Street. 9. St. Louis Cemetery. 10. Old City Hall. 11. Live Oak Tree?^. 12. On the Levee, Loading- Steamers. NEW ORLEANS. The city of New Orleans is so fruitful a theme, so full of interest, that it will excite enthusiasm, and warm up the fancies of the veriest sleeper. Poetry and plain matter of fact appear to have' harmonized for once and blended into an attractive union. This lovely *' City of Roses " is dropped down somewhere in the marshes of the Mississippi and the bayous and lakes. It is below the one and tangled up among the others or it might some day float out to the Gulf and disappear. Although all on one level it is a town of contrasts. In no other city of the United States or of Mexico is the old and romantic preserved in such integrity and brought into such sharp con- trast to the modern. In a morning's promenade, which shall not extend over a hundred acres, one may encounter the civilization of Paris, of Madrid, of Messina ; may stumble upon the semi-barbaric life of the negro and the native Indian ; may see the over- worked American in his business establishment and in his elegant home ; and may find, strangest of all. that each and every foreign type moves in a special current of its own, mingling little with the American, which is dominant ; in it, yet not of it— as the Gulf Stream in the ocean. Yonder is the archbishop's palace. Stand on one side of it and you seem in a foreign land ; stand upon the other and you catch a glimpse of the rush and hurry of American traffic of (893) 894 NEW ORLEANS. to-day along the levee. The comparative isolation of the city has secured the development of provincial traits and manners, has preserved the individuality of the many races that give it color, morals and charac- ter. To the Northern stranger the aspect and man- ner of the city are foreign, but if he remains long enough he is sure to yield to its fascinations, and be- come a partisan of it. 1. Jackson Square. — Here in the heart of the French Quarter is the most picturesquely classic spot in the Mississippi Valley ; it is the ancient Place d' Armes, now Jackson Square, beautiful with semi- tropical plants and quaint gardening. On this spot Bienville gave his colony a name ; here the citizens met to revolt against their cession to Spain; and here they welcomed victorious Jackson after the victory of Chalmette. Here were the victorious troops of the iron, angular, unbending General drawn up in order of review. Under a triumphal arch backed by glittering avenues of bayonets stretching to the river, the hero passed, and with laurel-crowned head bowed low to receive the apostolic benediction of the venerable abbe at the Cathedral door. One never tires of wandering in the neighborhood of the old Cathedral, which is flanked by the Pont alba buildings, and supported on either side by the ancient Spanish court-house. When the court is in session, iron cables are stretched across the street to prevent the passage of wagons, and justice is administered in silence only broken by the trill of birds in the Place d' Armes and in the old flower garden in the rear of the Cathedral, and by the muffled sound of footsteps in the flagged passages. NEW ORLEANS. 895 From the tower of the Cathedral St. Louis the tremulous harmony of bells drifts lightly on the cool breeze, and hovers like a benediction over the antique buildings, the blossoms and hedges in the square, and the broad and swiftly-flowing river. The bells are calling all in the parish to offer prayers for the Cathe- dral's founder, the royal standardbearer of Spain, Don Andreas Almonaster y Roxas. Venerable and impos- ing is the Cathedral with its towers crowned with spires, and its arched door, with clustered Tuscan columns on each side ; and many a grand pageant has it seen. Under the pavement of the Cathedral is buried Pere Antoine, the beloved Spanish priest who, in his time, was one of the celebrities of New Orleans, and the very recollection of whom calls up memories of the Inquisition, of intrigue and mystery. His name is sacred in the Louisianian capital nevertheless, for he died in the odor of sanctity, mourned by the women and worshiped by the children. 3. fjce Monument. — At the intersection of St. Charles Avenue and Delord Street, in the centre of what is known as Lee Circle, stands the statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee, the idol of the Southern Con- federacy. Born in Virginia, a member of the famous Lee family so conspicuous in the history of that state, his gallant ancestry might well imbue him with an enthusiasm for a military career. He was grad- uated from West Point in 1829,* ranking second in a class of forty-six, and was immediately commissioned as second lieutenant in the engineers. At the begin- ning of the Mexican War he was assigned to duty, his rank being that of captain. His abilities as an 896 NEW ORLEANS. engineer and his gallant conduct as a soldier won the special admiration of Gen. Scott, who repeatedly singled him out for commendation. He was raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel for his distinguished services in the storming of Chapultepec. In 1852 he was appointed to the command of West Point, which position he held until in 1855 he was assigned to duty on the Texan Frontier. On the 20th of April, 1861, three days after Virginia seceded, Lee resigned his commission, his letter of resignation containing these words : — "With all my devotion to the Union, and the feelings of loyalty and duty of an American citizen, I have not been able to make up my mind to raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home." With his gallant career as commander-in chief of the Confederate army we are all familiar, and his ability as a leader and his character as a man, inspire the admiration of both friend and foe. The statue represents him, with folded arms, sur- veying the scene of battle. It was unveiled during the carnival of 1883, in the presence of an immense multitude. The statue surmounts a pillar, one hun- dred feet in height, which rises from the centre of a large mound. The pillar is hollow, and a spiral staircase gives access to a small room at the top, immediately beneath the coUossal bronze figure. 3. The Mint. — At the corner of Esplanade and Old Lee Streets, on what was the site of Fort St. Charles, stands a compact brown building fronting on a wide street; greedy of ground it is, and has a square to itself, with green grass and shrubbery about NEW ORLEANS. 697 it, which look strangely, but gratefully, amid all the dust and smoke about. This is the United States Branch mint, an imposing structure, built of brick, plastered to imitate granite. It consists of a central projecting building of the Ionic order, and two wings. Within those rigid walls are being put into unques- tioned shapes the gold and silver that wield such powerful influence in the world outside. There is still pointed out to the visitor the window, under the front portico of the main building, from which Wm. B. Mumford washungon the yth of June, 1862. Mumford hauled down the stars and stripes which by Farragut's order had been raised over the Mint; he was tried, was convicted of treason, and by Gen. Butler's orders was hanged from a gallows placed immediately under the flag staff. He ad- dressed a vast crowd from the gallows, and urged in extenuation of his offense that it had been committed in a moment of intense excitement. The street is wide and the sun is hot ; the heroic mule struggles with the convenient car, which in other cities is drawn by two horses ; and he whirls the airy vehicle along the well-laid tracks, while the driver watches the passengers, who are required to drop their fare into a little box, glass-faced, fastened near the front platform. 4. National Cemetery, Chalmette.— A pleasant drive of four miles along the bank of the Mississippi will bring us to a spot famous in American history as the locality where, in January, 1815, the American forces under command of Gen. Jackson obtained a glorious victory over the British invaders of Louisiana, 898 NEW ORLEANS. and drove them from its soil with great and terrible slaughter. . The plain* is washed on one side by the ''Father of Waters," and extends back about a mile to cypress swamps. How the lines of British swept back and forth that day, and many of the brave subjects of King George rushed into the very jaws of death. Assault after assault was met by a perfect sheet of fire from behind the cottonbales where "Old Hickory" had entrenched his forces. The British failed to realize the almost impregnable position occupied by the adversary. Seven hundred of them were killed and fourteen hundred wounded before they retreated from the field. The casualties on the American side did not number seventy-five altogether, A marble monument, seventy feet high occupies a suitable site overlooking the ground, and fittingly commemorates the victory. The south-west corner of the field is occupied by the National Cemetery. This beautiful resting-place of the dead was donated by the city in 1865. Of the twelve thousand graves within its limits, more than five thousand are marked ''Unknown," but all share alike the floral benediction on the 3otl\ of May. Twenty three states have contributed their quota to this silent city of the dead, and many brave boys from each of the thirteen original states now lie sleeping in this peaceful spot. The monument which speaks so eloquently of the arts of war, fittingly commemorates the illustrious dead ; it was erected by the Joseph A. Merves Post, of the Grand Army of the Republic. NEW ORLEANS. ,5. Canal Street. — Canal Street is the great artery which cuts this cosmopolitan city in twain, and until recently was itself divided into two parts by the canal which gave it its name. The wide, fine avenue is bordered by shops and by many handsome resi- dences ; the banks, insurance offices and wholesale stores are elegant and modern. On one side of this great thoroughfore is a powerful American city, firmly established, fully abreast of the trade and industry of the times, and clutching eagerly for its share of the commerce of the world ; on the other is the quaint quiet French town, sleepy and sunny, and dreaming life away. It is a fine street, massively built, through which endless tides of human life ebb and flow all day ; stretching away out to the country, it is lined with modern hotels, club houses, and huge dwellings. On the broad raised level in the middle of the street meet all the lines of horse cars which traverse the city. One taking a car in any part of the city, it matters not what line or where, will ultimately land in Canal Street. But it needs a person of vast local erudition to tell in what part of the city, or in what section of the home of the frog and crawfish, he will land if he takes a horse car in Canal Street. From twelve to two the American ladies monopolize the main thoroughfare, coming to it from all portions of the city on errands of shopping ; hundreds of lovely brunettes may be seen in carriages, in cars, in couples with mamma, or accompanied by the tall dark Southern youth attired in black broadcloth. At three a tide of beauty floods the neighborhood, but at evening all is very quiet and it hardly seems the main thoroughfare of so large a city. 900 NEW ORLEANS. 6. Street Cobbler.— The glimpses of street life m New Orleans are always entertaining because un- conscious, while full of character. There the negro boot-black sits sprawled in a chair, with his own feet on the blacking block ; the old bouquet sellers, both black and white, are ranged along the walls at some convenient corner, with baskets filled with breast- knots of violets, and a host of rosebuds and camelias and other rich blossoms. The newsboy, vociferous as his brother in the North, yells and yells. Here is an ancient darkey asleep, with mouth open, in his tipped up two-wheeled cart, waiting for a job ; here comes the ** solid South" in the shape of an immense "aunty" under a red umbrella ; the broad-faced women in gay bandanas rest behind their cake stands ; then we meet the black stalwart vender of tin and iron utensils, who totes in a basket and piled on his head and strung on his back, a weight of over two hundred and fifty pounds. Here and there we see a cobbler on his bench in the street plying his awl and singing to himself We stop awhile to watch his work, and to admire the skill that can make as good as new the decrepit specimens of boots and shoes on the pavement at his side. All his implements are out here on the walk, and his entire stock in trade hangs almost over his head. As we turn away we meet a group of negro women who walk erect wnth baskets of clothes or enormous bundles balanced on their heads, smiling and chattering and unconscious of their burdens. All these are familiar figures of a street life as varied and picturesque as an artist can desire. NEW ORLEANS. 901 7. The University, Common Street. — On Com- mon Street, one of the business thoroughfares of the town, is the University of Louisiana, a handsome edifice, flanked by two wings, one of which is now occupied by the State Library and the other by the Law School. It was through the enterprise of seven resident physicians that in the fall of 1834, the Medical College of Louisiana was organized; and in March, 1836, the first degrees in science ever conferred within the state were conferred by the professors of the unendowed medical college. This remarkable epoch in the scientific history of Louisiana was succeeded by seven years of unrequited and unaided professional labors by the faculty for the advancement of medical science. In the twenty-seven years suc- ceeding its beginnino-, this institution had augmented its class from eleven students to a number which elevated it to the third in numerical rank among the colleges of the United States. The faculty have matriculated 7522 students. The great success of this institution was in a large part due to the learning, marked capacity, and wide-spread reputation of those members of the faculty, who from the foundation of the college gave their zealous labors for many con- secutive years to its prosperity. Encouraged by the success of the Medical College, the I>aw Department of the University was organized in May, 1847. The course of lectures given by the able members of the Law Faculty have embraced the civil law, common law and equity, admiralty, commercial, international and constitutional law, and the jurisprudence of the United States. The large number of graduates who have received degrees 90 2 NEW ORLEANS. from this department constitute a considerable pro- portion of the most prominent and distinguished members of the bar of the State ; many have reached high public honor, and have filled with great credit to their alma mater some of the highest positions the nation can bestow. 8. St. Philip's street. — The streets of New Orleans have the prettiest names of any city in the Union ; this one alone of American cities has pre- served all the romance of its earlier days in the titles of its streets, and with a simple directory one can recall the entire history of the French and Spanish dominion. Having changed its ownership no less than five times, having passed under so many masters, having witnessed such vicissitudes of fortune, New Orleans has a history full of incident and romance, and this it tells in its street nomenclature. After historical and poetical sources had furnished their quota, the religious tendency of the population was evinced by giving religious names to many of the streets. There are several hundred saints so honored, and scarcely one in the calender has escaped a namesake in the Crescent City. In the old French quarter, running at right angles to the levee, is a shabby old street, named after the holy St. Philip. It is ill- paved with undulating sidewalks and open gutters green with slime. On each side are rows of houses of brick with the painted stucco peeling off; with green doors and batten window shutters, with wooden galleries or the delicate tracery of wrought-iron work. The odd little balconies jut out from the dingy wrinkled houses, peering into each other's faces as if NEW ORLEANS. 903 in endless conversation. Under these, queer little shops are to be found, apothecaries' and musty stores where old furniture, brasses, bronzes and books are sold, and birds innumerable. The language heard on all sides is French, or the degraded jargon which the easy-going African has manufactured out of the tongue of Bienville. Nothing could be shabbier than the picturesque tumble-down old street, which fascin- ates us from the first, but are utterly unable to say wherein the charm lies. While the thrifty and neat and orderly streets win our approval, such a thriftless, battered and stained, and lazy old place as the street St. Philip immediately takes our hearts. 9. St. Louis Cemetery. — The cemeteries, old and new are scattered throughout the city. It would be difficult to dig a grave of the ordinary depth here in the "Louisiana lowlands" without coming to water, and consequently burials in sealed tombs above the ground are universal. The old French and Spanish ceme- teries present long streets of cemented walls, with aperatures in which the dead are enclosed. One sees long processions of mourning relatives every day carrying flowers to the spot where their loved and lost are entombed ; or catches a glimpse of some black robed figure sitting motionless before a tomb. There is a sense of peculiar sorrow at the sight of these stone boxes which does not prevade the mind when those gone before are resting under the green sod. The hot southern sun beats down on these ex- posed brick vaults, and onl\' those who have dear ones buried both North and South can appreciate the peculiar sense of desolation which comes with 904 NEW ORLEANS. crushing force, when standing near the last resting place of a loved one in the quiet Southern cemetery of St. Louis. 10. Old City Hall. — Another interesting relic of this old French city is the City Hall, standing on Chartres Street, in the French quarter. It was built in 1795 and for many years afforded ample accommo- dation for the city council, city officers, and city guard. It is one of the most artistic public buildings in the city. Its front occupied one hundred and three feet on Chartres Street ; it had a wide flight of granite steps leading to a beautiful portico supported by six columns. Built after the model of an ancient Greek Temple its fine proportions and noble appearance were the admiration of all. Now it is fast going to ruin, and the stuccoed pillars are peeling off for their final plunge into obliv^ion. But it is beautiful even in its picturesque decay, and as we stand before it we mentally review the romantic history of the city in which this building has played so important a part. 11. lAvf Oak Troes, — Most characteristic and beautiful of Southern foliage are the gigantic live oaks, moss draped trees, monstrous in girth, towering into the sky with a vast spread of branches. Nowhere can be seen a nobler growth than these stately trees. Truly beautiful they appear, spreading, leafy and rough, with filmy draperies of the Spanish moss. This graceful plant, unlike most parasites, does not kill the tree to which it clings, but seems lightly to touch it here and there, hanging in most beautiful draperies, gently swaying in every breeze, until the NEW ORLEANS. 905 whole landscape is transformed into a mass of waving green. Once familiar with these giants of the South with their long streamers of moss waving in colors of silver grey against the rich green of the leaves, our landscapes at the North seem bare in comparison. Although many of our trees are perfect in their stately beauty, still the mind reverts with longing to the live oaks with silver hangings swaying, dreamily in the rich sunlight ; or at evening seeming like vast canopies of frost work lighted by the perfect Southern moon. 12. On tlie Lovee, T.oacling- Steaiuers. — The steamboat landing is peculiarly characteristic of New Orleans. Here all is action ; the very water is covered with life. Huge vessels float upon its bosom which acknowledge none of the powers of air and wait no tide. As far as we can see in either direction ex- tends a forest of masts and spars, and black smoke stacks, and flag staffs upon ships and steamers. Up the river — ships and ships and ships. Down the river — steamers and steamers and steamers ! Sharp cut American, solid sea-going English, queer Spanish — vessels from every European port — flying almost every important ensign — h'ing at the levees and dis- charging their cargoes into bonded warehouses or the drays drawn by patient mules. One steamer is weighed down to the guards with cotton, all that can be seen of her are her stacks and upper works rising out of a mountain of cotton. Im- posing structures are these Mississippi steamers ; some are three hundred feet long and their tall stacks rise eighty feet above the decks. They carry immense go6 NEW ORLEANS. cargoes, some of the largest being able to take ten thousand bales at one trip. The freight depots, the reception sheds and the warehouses are crammed with jostling, sweating, shouting, black and white humanity. There seems life, prosperity, energy enough on every hand to suffice for half a dozen ports. When once seen we cannot forget the levee of New Orleans ; the storehouse of the great valley of the Mississippi ; the receptacle of the products of a hun- dred climes ; the goal of a thousand steamboats and of more than a thousand merchant-men ; the exchange, the place of purchase, of sale and barter ; the shop, the newsroom, the mart of the city in the world. mMmmiimMm-B-^-^-^:. Wmi ''wMA