The daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1848-1851, 1849-03-29
tFrom the NJ Y. Literary worId.]
"a Manbattatter 1T Mem Wrleaus.
RAIN AND MOSOUIToEs

~ ~$sssssy"AAWttkA ~ NkW sVVIlfQU9.
RAIN AND MosoU1Tozs.
my word for it, that if Professor Espy would
axe front room on the second floor of any frame
mouse N Marals street, in the First Municipality of
view orleans, and live within it six months: or
nlre an Office near the corner of Poydras and St
Eharles streets, within a minutes hail of Sol
SMITHS box-Office or the cracked trumpet of the
ltneratng circus opposite; he would acquire a
lasting disgust Of rain water, and leaving his theo
RES OF winds, clouds, and storms, betake himself
to stingle whiting. or any other Yankee recrea-
ton, which is a. soothing to troubled nerves.
have been on the Catskills when the roof of
the Mountain House reverbented with the peltings
OF the rain, and when. my spasmodic dreams were
crowded BY floating visions of drowning men and
image. OF diluvian arks. / have worn out several
umbrella in my day; and ovenhoe-shod have
padded the causeways of various cities: and 40
seen something of rain. But never realized the
capacity Of the clouds for water until going
i!nrough course OF the wet season in New Or
leans. When there was little squeamshness, or
modesty, OF gentlemanly consideration in the rain
drops. When the latter rarely gave due and gen.
er0us notice of intention to commence action.
when small giimpses Of hope for an early cessa-
ton during progress were afforded. When the
ram was now logged, obstinate, and persevering;
and now the rapidly succeeding showers charged
the earth like reserve after reserve of cavalry in
battle. - -
The soil of the Crescent City, in. the driest time
OF the season, is filed with humidity land this to
Its utmost capacity, at two feet from the surface)
and under favor Of these aforementioned showers,
soon overfiows. Stunning the river, the choking
cutters send their burdens swamp ward, littering
the angles OF pavements with clumps Of cotton and
wool wool, heads Of barrels, hogsheads sometimes:
bsosnp paper boxes pts Of pastsboaId twne and
licked, in course Of time, into its capacioua nav.
II you are q stranger in the city, and the clouds
nave LITERALLY dispensed their favon all the night
ana, q! Unconscious to yourself, the monotony of
tne falling rain has beguiled you into late nap
and you arise at 10 o'clock to view the prospect
without, and then " to breakfast with what appe-
ute you may" you have queer sights to look at.
And queerer ones, if business or curiosity draw you
our Pedestrians are standing on divers corners
IN dreadful state of uncertainty, looking gloom
lily from their boots to the surgng floods before them;
now and then consulting Watches making feints
to Jump, and baking, until urged on by the still
more dreadful visions of protested bills, undunned
accounts, and lost bargains, accoutred as they
were' Plunglng in" Astonished Eastern men ga
Bibles Of any they have) for statistics respecting
Noahs Ark. Piano stunning misses in the by
streets are executing Home, sweet Home" (how
soothlngly the melody vibrates the outdoor air.
valiant bank runners and collecting clerks wading
apparently unconcerned through Canal street,
josting nicely poised umbrellas or skilfully nav
eating them aerial machines) about the tall heads
and wide brimmed hats (the latter sometimes
knocked off with provoking ease), and low balco-
mes, and projecting signs, and nusances of awning
posts. Here and there fat men who are victims Of
are seen with large umbrellas-cano
pies, more like, of silk and whalebone-in narrow |
streets, caught and brought hard up by pile of |
Drlcks or a stack of boxes The unemployed cab
horses everywhere are in melancholic attitudes |
Wnklng and blinking, martyr-like, from behind
passers-by. The drivers with oskin capes las if |
one needed to be SO cruelty reminded Of the state
Of the weather., standing under dripping corners
and dexterousy dividing the pouring streams about !
them with their whip lashes; or peerng, aggravat-
ngy, from the back seats of their vehicles through
the leathern curtains.
Anon, the earth would seem tired of "staying |
herself with fagons, and as if by Geographic d.
lection the heavens would suspend their rain drops.
Then the air would become chilly, and the ascend
he chimney-tops, and the ST. Charles's Dome, and
he tops of flag stats skulk in misty obscurity.
And again, when brisk illusions to that clearing
up shower had circulated through the city, the rain
would once more descend in torrents, and set at 1
iefance all deductions and calculations of meteo-
ology. ~ IS anssss .sis7 f.ngV3s
never take up q newspaper, and read from the L
'rice-current of the day the words !" in conse-
luence of the weather yesterday outdoor, opera h
ions were suspended, and sales Of produce were
limited. but know directly that the said " yes
erdaY' was day like the one above described
often roar with laughter, even in my blush, L
lump'sh moments, at thoughts of a ludicrous scene
nee witnessed by me, an incident of rainy day; 1
when, as one may well imagine, the slightest Incl
lent is worthy Of being booked lfor rarity, like
inches deep on the corner of St. Charles and Canal
treets, and my pedestriansm was at ssand-still
fruiterer's shop. Cab-horses were splashing and
pattering along like country nags in shallow
meadow creeks and timid clerks in patent leather
'oots Caught untimely with them on by bit of
econtIVe elInehno lad chi
ngiy by, looking grimly at the Musson granite
buildings opposite that just as grimly looked back
t them. The stands of the fruiterer on the curb
the shelves running from awning post to awning
osD were filled with high-priced oranges and
vafer-melons (sunny May, by good rights, reader.
knot Of lazy negro boys on the opposite corner
bowed their white teeth on the black prospect /
bout them, and wistfully eyed the palatable mer-
handize across the surging currents. .af
Presently q cabman turning the corner, deceived
urb, and with the luch Of his vehicle turned over
pine shelves Of the fruit-stand. In moment the
miniature maelstroms and gulfstreams all about
ad caught in their embraces hundreds of oranges
nd scores of watermelons, that went floating to-
Yards the swamp: The fruiterer was paralysed !; |
n Italian, too, and Monsieur Cabbey within tongue
nd fist distance! Notso the knot Of negro garcons
pposite. The knot quickly united and plunged in
OF pursuit of the escaping fruit and with strict
bservance of the laws Of political economy regu-
ting the division Of labor since no two seized the
lme melon or clutched the same orange. A group
boys on an upper corner also wished to share the
'ois and a struggle followed their arrival, with
probability of soon testing the swimming qualities
all the party. This aroused the owner of the
fast becoming in legal sense, lotsam
nd jetsam and the now enaged fruiterer rushed ]
ter the predatory bands. But they had two blocks
flooded causeway the start, and much of the !
oils was already appropriated. Thinking more
punishment than Of his property, he caught an .
ange At every step and hurled it at the retreating
leny, to the asfonishment of quiet lookers-on &
ON dnwing-5osm windows, until at last, what I
ith the captures and his own reckless expenditure
ammunition, he was bankrupt in melons and
anges .sa - l-.sse
The latter If there Is any value IN the old saying
garding stolen fruit, were sweet morses to many
palate in the Faubourgs that might. s
OF course, where such = swampy soil and so
UGH rain is found, that eighth plague to modern s
gyptians, the mosquito tribe Gnsect, and not In o
ans are to be discovered without great scrutiny
our mosquito is sad drawback in the sunny n
lys and pleasant nights of New Orleans exile g