New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-03-20
For the Creseent.
A Northerner's Impressions Of New Orleans.

IS b.
expected to see second edition of the Astor
House, bound in brick. Twas not therefore pre-
pared for the magnificent white marble building |
which met my enraptured gaze as / turned the |
corner of Common street, and stood, transfxea |
with delight, opposite the st. Charles Hotel, and
was nearly dumped into the gutter by a man |
carrying something Of large proportions, 4 know
mot what, on his shoulders. They say in the |
North that Southerners visit New ork to behold |
lmagnifcence which they have not in their own
region. That must be slight error Of self-es-
TEEN on our part, thought /, as / measured the
st. Charles with my eye. We have nothing like !
that in New York. There is the Astor House,
y cross between an Egyptian tomb and an
English workhouse; there is the Metropolitan,
a row Of brown stone stores; the New York, five
boarding houses knocked into one the Claren-
don, like slice of gingerbread set up on edge,
where you cannot get drink if you want il,
h and dozen others. Not one of them can come
within a thousand miles of the St. Chales no,
that's eyident-of course they cannot, literally.
use the expression fguratively, was agree
ably disappointed in the st. Charles. l was
also disappointed in the streets mans i'm
pressions of a new place are almost entirely
governed by his previous conceptions of it,
whether arising from imagination, reading, or
report; and all that varies from that conception
strikes him. Now, the picture / had painted in
my Imagination Of New Orleans, was founded
on accounts | had heard from those at the
North who had visited it / had been told that
one part was entirely devoted to the French
population, and was remarkable for the pietu-
rescue irregularity of its narrow streets etc.
etc. | accordingly imagined that when / ar
rived in New Orleans I should see gable ended
habitations with the upper stories projecting
| beyond the lower ones, here large and there
small, like those Of an inland French town. |
was, consequently, surprised to find the streets
I a,-rt&
| ings as the old ones in New York; the shops hand
some, and many of them apparently filled with
syaluable goods By the way, how is it there are
such an infinite number Of fancy stores! can
readily imagine, from the gayety of the popula-
tion and the number of visitors who come on plea
sure, that there may be a large demand for
fancy; but, judging from the number of stores
devoted to this kind of business, one is inclined
to believe that the people live upon fancy, that
they associate with the fancy, eat fancy, drink
fancy, sleep on fancy, suckle infancy, and are
buried in fancy. How, in the name of Plutus
and John Jacob Astor, do those people make
a living in whose stores one sees half a
dozen masks, few erucifxes, o secondhand
| dagger, and walking cane exposed for sale, !
Even supposing they cleared out the whole con
Germ every day and bought in fresh stock, the
profits would scarcely pay the rent. But they
don't do even that: there are the same masks,
crucihxes and canes in the same shop windows
day after day. No one goes into them or comes
out of them, save some member of the family or
the fat little chip Of negro girl when she
rushes out with her legs flying in all directions
like the regulator of a steam engine to recap.
ture the baby who has todded off into the
neighboring gutter. There is the same lady
, sitting in the middle of the store, surrounded
by children, attending to the most private do
mestc duties, with the same pretty cap. and
the same very loose dress. like unto colored
chemise de nuit, and one catches the same
glimpses of the head of the family in his shirt
sleeves partaking Of the same kind of meal in
the remote dimness of the back parlor I ask
again how do these people make living
Combing children's heads, though ever so be-
coming in a mother, cannot, conceive, lead to
any immediate pecuniary emolument neither
is washing the baby generally considered lu-
erative occupation, nor the whipping of Auguste
likely to meet with customer who will pay
However, there are some mysteries connected
with the way our fellow creatures live which WI
are not destined to fathom. dare say Auguste'
!, mamma wonders how editors earn a livelihood
they must appear to her, if she ever looked int
an editorial office, to do nothing but sit in ,
. douhled-up attitude in very dirty. disorderly
y room, and spit into a pile of old newspapers
Y as for us Artists, doubt not she concludes
that we do not make living at all, since sucl
has been the popular error from time immemo
rial. But let that pass s make no deep scru
tiny
should like to ask another question To whom
y do all the dogs belong Are there no epide
: mics amongst dogs' Nohydrophobia to thin thei
rankss fthereis such disease in the South ,Hea
] ven defend you good people of New Orleans il
the dog days. In the whole course of my life
!. never saw such collection of canine quadro
I, peds as are to be seen in these streets, an
some of them the most rowdy looking dogs
q, ever beheld, they appear to have nothing to d
OF but loaf al out the streets and drink at all tn
: cutters. i do not know whether the sewerag
in our street is considered Of a particular
ss fine brand, but we certainly seemed to be fa
"a yored with the company of more dogs than an
street in the city: big dogs, little dogs, dogs wit
:" long tails, dogs with short tails, and dogs wit
"a no tails at al the latter the work of art, pre-
e sumo, but then who is it that takes the troubl
q to cut the tails of such ugly ours, and havin
v, taken that trouble why abandon them to wa1
en- and the,streets, for many of them appear to
mp in the greatest poverty or do some people col
slider it an amusement to cut off dogs tails, an
: are only enabled to practice it on the mo
q worthless; or were said dogs promising puppie
N and had their tails cut when they were hanc
= some, but growing up ugly have been discarded
: or have they taken to disreputable compaI
and fallen in bad ways, neglected their duty
their masters and become dissolute, idle dog
or again, have their masters died intestate al
Ieft them destitute. AL THESE TeHcCUl0uS pa
through my mind as contemplate the unhapE
brutes from my windows, not that they are a
unhappy by any means, many are exceeding
= cheerful, and well TO do in the world; but tb
class chiefly only make short excursions fro
the port cachers ofthe neighboring houses. Th,
are, however, very affable, and associate free
with every dog that comes along, which is est
mable on their parts. There is only one THU
which diminishes my esteem for them, the ind
criminate nature oftheir gallantries My Ian
J. lady has two dogs. Shsis very much attach
y to both of them. One is q black, kind Of mo
grel which, she informs me. is very faithful b
insane; the other is fuzzy little fellow who
mind is imbued with the idea that the purst
of rats is the object of existence, that the fiji
thing to be done on entering room is to exami
all the corners and underneath all the larg
articles Of furniture, which having been du
tested, and found devoid of rats, leaves him
liberty to 90 through variety of spasmot
|. eyoutions expressive Of delight, when address
es. by any one present. This dog, my landla
informs me, has entirely cleared the house
= vermin, which overran it when he first arriy,
ale Many of the rats. she says, were long com,
eis ca, and she measures off SO very much of
us arm that am compelled to doubt the exact c.
:; rectness of her statement. However, let tt
aie pass will not calf the good lady to account
- her poetical manner of expressing herself So
u people will speak hguratively 1t may
e thought that the fact of nv landiadyss posse