The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-01-10

street; there are memories Of Hayre and
Marseilles to be obtained from the Old
French Quarters there are buildings in
jackson Square which remind one OF
Spanish American travel. fancy that
1.-THE power of fascination which New Or.
LEANS exercises upon foreigners is due no
less to this peculiar characteristic than
to the tropical beauty of the city itself.
Whencesoeyer the traveller may have
come, he may find in the Crescent City
| some memory of his home-sOme recol-
Election | of his Fatherland-some remem-
brance of something he loves.
New Orleans is especially city OF
yerandas, piazzas, porches and balconies;
and the stranger is liable to be impressed
with this fact Immediately upon leaving
the leyee. ALL the streets in the business
portion Of the city are shaded with broad
piazzas of wood and. iron, which cover
| the whole sidewalk; and on the main
streets, such as Canal, side awnings OF
canvas are used, SO that during the hot,
test portion Of the day the sun cannot
cause, discomfort to pedestrians from any
possible direction. The front and also
the back windows of most private houses
have balconies at every story up to the
roof; and in the old French quarter
these are often multiplied and superim-
posed in the most picturesque way; you
see them right under the angle of gable.
ends, jutting out from queer corners, in q
fashion half medieval. They are often
hung with large pieces of cloth or carpet,
| or stufs brightly dyed, especially above
the French dry goods stores; and thus
draped the effect is quite odd and pleas
ing. I find much to crafty an artists
eye in this quaint, curious, crooked
French quarter, with its narrow streets
and its houses painted in light tints OF
yellow, green, and sometimes even IN
blue. Neutral tints are common; but
There are great many buildings that
cannot have been. painted for years, and
(which look neglected and dilapidated as
well as antiquated. Solid wooden shut.
Tiers, painted bright grass-green, and
Iirelieyed by walls painted chocolate color,
Tor tinted yellow have pretty effect, and
suggest many memories of old France.
Few houses in the quarter are without
them.
| A stranger cannot avoid being>also inn.
pressed with the solid character of the.
Streets here throughout the business por-
| ton of the city. They are raised like
causeways, and are usually either level
with the sidewalks or above them, being
separated from the curb by cutters of
great depth and breadth. The street
pavement consists mostly of square
blocks of stone set diamond wise; and
| this pavement is almost everlasting. 1t
is'yery handsome and clean looking, and
| I am told that no other pavement can
I.resist. the wear and tear of the cotton
TRAFFIC or.the undermining effect of the
rains which loosen s.bowlders and roll
them from their beds.
Most of the Gner public buildings must,
have been erected alta time when ex-
pense Was the least consideration in the
construction of an edifce. They are
generously and beautifully built; yet it
IS sad 70 zee that many of them are fall
! ing into decay. Especially is this the
case in regard to the old st. Louis Hotel
now the State House-with its splen-
did dome, frescoed by Casanova, and its
grand halls. Torepair it would now re-
auire an outlay of hundreds Of thousands.
It has been outraged in manner worthy
| of Vandals; soldiers have been barrack-
ed in it; mold and damp have written
prophecies of ruin within It. Hither it
was that the great planters Of the South
duelt in the old days when they visited
New Orleans, and under their rich pat
ronage the hotel prospeled well, till the
war swept away their wealth, and for q
time at least ruined New Orleans.
doubt if any of the great hotels here are
now doing we'll.
The st. Charles, with its noble Greek
facade. is the handsomest of these. From
the entrance of the rotunda looking out
ward and upward at the vast Corinthian
columns, with their snowy futed shafts
and rich capitals, their antique linesof
beauty, their harmonious relation to
each other, the sight is magnificent. I
find q number of noble Greek facades in
the city; the City Hall, the Methodist
Church, on Carondelet street, and other
structures T might name, are beautiful,
and seem to illumine the streets with;
their white splendor. This elegant, gra-
cious architecture appears adapted to
this sky and this sunny cline; and, in
T deed it was under almost such sky and
such q sun that. the Greek architecture
was born.
But, after all, the glory of the city is
in her Southern homes and gardens. I
cannot do justice to their beauty. The
streets broaden there; the side-paths1 are
bordered with verdant sod as soft and
thick as velvet, and overshadowed with
magnolias; the houses, mostly built in
Renaissance style, are embowered in
fruit-bearing trees and evergreen gardens,
where statues and fountains gleam
through thick shrubbery, cunningly
trimmed into fantastic forms. Orange
and fig trees bananas and palms; msg-
nolias and myrtles; expresses and ce-
dars broad leaved, monstrous-dowering
plants in antique nrns; herbs with leaves
shaped like ancient Greek sword-blades,
and edged with yellow; shrubs exotically
luxuriant, bearing blossoms of curious
forms and equatorial brilliancy of color;
and flowers so rich of hue, 30 sweet, so
fragrant, that they vary the varied green
with thousand tints, and make the
tepid air odorous with drowsy perfume.
And you can walk through this paradise
Aour after hour, mile after mile; and the
air only becomes yet more fragrant and
the orange trees more heavily freighted
with golden fruit, and the gardens more
and more beautiful as you proceed south
wardly.
Color and light and bright contrasts
those warmly picturesque effects which
artists seek to study in. tropical climes-
may be studied in perfection at the
French Market. The markets Of London
are less brightly clean and neatly ar
ranged. the markets of Paris are less
picturesque. It consists of a succession
of hinge buildings. extending for nearly