New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-04-18

NUMBER FoRTY.THREE.

Every country and every climate mas its peeu''"i
characteristics which are indestrucuoie anu al pus
permanent notwithstanding the great a' e
in the mode or life of its inhabitants OF even 'no
still greater changes in the form OF moae oi gov
| eminent, Thus we find here, IN the lo"e1 eei'a
of Louisiana, that, although an ehtire ena.se VI
| government has brought about very great cnanee
in the social relations still some OF ehe sale oiu
dds ~ l;vng and habits of the former inhabit
ants, have been preserved "lthous any sarlauon
amonc the present generation Among these
former usages still preserved in the midst of our
,nodern society, we must range the reunions and
social parties during the pleasant winter season of
M year in all the centers Of the agricultural pop
Nations as well as the great metropolis of the
fsouth. Social reunions accompanied with dancing
festivities, often under the name of5s'bals de
Eroyante or balls Of kings. have been particular
institutions since the reotest time of the first colo
NAL regime. introduced in the first instance, no
doubt by the social habits of the French colonsts
whose simple country dances or "danses champe-
tre may have laid the foundation for the subsequent
royal balls these agreeable family festivities have
continued throughout the Spanish regime, and
been maintained to this present day, notwith-
standing quite different elements have been added,
by the influx of foreign immigration to the ancient
stock of the original colonial population.
These private parties or dancing circles, do not,
however, exclude from their participation people
outside of the chosen members on the contrary,
all the participants are exceedingly willing to
/ admit those not actually belonging to the
neighborhood reunions, and indeed strangers are
4 therein received with the greatest cordially and
4 intimacy. But it is peculiar trait Of these more
than family connections, including circles-yet
4 less than mere ticket admission entertainments
i that they should preserve what the society de-
4 mands its appropriate seectness or homogenity.
Very often these royalty balls started at some
family dinner upon the 9th of January, or
! the day of the three kings who came to adore
the infant savior. On that day generally
J cake is divided among the guests of the family,
Il containing a bean, an almond or q pecan,
and whoever is the finder Of that object becomes
OF right either king queen, as the case may De,
4 and has to chose her his mate, for the next
4 reunion which of course it is understood will be
an evening or dancing and supper party. Ihls
starts the series of balls of royalty, which will
be continued if in the country parishes, from
l one plantation to another, if there should not
| happen to be some convenient locality for their
1 private parties in the central neighborhood of
| the settlement; or if these balls are kept
| in the city of New Orleans, the same
private saloon or residence is selected and
| there these social festivities are carried
! on generally throughout the carnival with often
an assignment or agreement after lent to take up
| again their same friendly, social parties in the
| spring season of the year. In this latter case,
their reunions are then converted into fishing or
4 crayfish catching expeditions, when whole COM
panies of joyous people will be seen eubarking
X upon some popuhr vehicles and turning out into
the yerdant plains around the envrons of our great
n city, and be fouhh fishing, dancing, eating and
4 drinking, ga la mode champetre,'' under some
deserted shanty, or old brick-making withstand
\ making the air vocal with laughter, singing and
music, such as Southern sun, in thatearly season
Of the year will inspire the Louisianians with.
Now we must inform the reader that these rural
parties or g fetes champetre," in the vicinity Of
our city, have necessarily been disturbed since the
last five years to very considerable degree; we
know it is true that picnic parties are occasion
ally formed under the fine liveoak trees of the city
garden park, but these are not precisely the
family reunions of which we are now treating
1 they may have their particular merits, but being
mostly made up by some popular society or asso-
ciations, they no longer partake Of the character
/ of that intimate, private socability, which only
close neighborly relations will admit of, and Of
Such reunions, when one is admitted to them
which in former times all the old creole families
would be eager to extend to all well-behayed
young strangers-offer the advantage of forming
4 valuable intimate connections such as will benefit
the honored individual, by being considered worthy
to form part ofhonorable though often not wealthy
families; for to the merit and praise of the ancient
!. population of our country, it must be said that
they still know how to distinguish between those
/ that have, by their conduct deserved the esteem
of their fellow citizens, and those whom material
i wealth alone has procured the advantages which
4 fortune nsures its possessor-that is to say, the
mere outward conventional Difference for the men
|2of the money bags.i Nay, what the social convu
sion has than thing else placed in fair
light is the universally admitted principle that
4 the capacity Of man alone makes his own position
Merit and deserved station distinction do but arise
from every ones own labors and efforts fortune and
! outward protection; under the prevailing regime,
actually must be won by dnt Of incessant effort,
n and not otherwise. Under these auspices, may
confidently expect that our city will arise from the
u still lingering prostraton in our environs, as
giant after terrible combat; nay, itseenas to us
that new spirit will be infused in the whole of
our ancient as we'll as modern population for it
cannot be gainsaid that the ancient white colonial
II people must have preserved or transmitted a
stamina in their descendants capable of demon
stratng that equally in peace as well as war, they
are not inferior to those who, in the origin of the
country had to surnount most formidable obsta-
eles and yet finally triumphed in fertizing the
fields and plains of their rescued lowland from the
81 watery submersion .#sg5 SFs ' tstr
We have given in the foregoing some Of the
| amusement parties, such as the country and eli
mate have taught the people to be appropriate
and conducive to health; now we shall state an
instance in which we, new arrivers in this
Southern latitude thought to impose upon these
party-pleasure excursions, and when we found
out that every country has its customs and its
usages, while, if you infringe upon them you will
benade sensible of their non-observance. 1t was
in the month of June, 1877, that, on fine Sunday,
' party of North Europeans-Danes, swedes,
Germans, etc,-being all in the commercial ,pur-
= suits of New Orleans business thought they
h would initiate some of their summer water excur-
b sons in this southern lake attitudes So this
party, composed of some seven or eight, all more
!, or less familiar with nautical instruments, and
we'll provided with whole days stock of cold
victpals, wines, etc., set sail from the Old Basin,
/, to so down the Bayou st. John to the lighthouse