The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1883-04-21

perfection Of the south, the sugar bowl oil
Louisiana" Here Is the region that Au
dry and the eXlied ArCadlaus traverscd
when they took their mournful way moTc
lhun hundred years ago, when the cruel
orGcr of The arrogant Englsh dispersed
them from their homes; through this sec
uon they went, ,reading the swamps and
wandering up the beautiful A,cha!aIaya
aud lis lake, where
Water lilies IN myrids rocked on the slight
uniulatious,
Made ny passing oars, ana resplcHu'h' III
beauty the lotus
Lifted her golden crown above the heads Of
the hOatmcn.
Fain, was the air with odOrous brcalhS Of
magnolia blossoms,
And with the heat Of noon; aud nGmherIcsS
sylvan islands,
Fragrant and thickly cmoowered with bios.
soming hedges Of roses,
Meath whose shores they glide along, IN
yited TO slumber."
Bat Longfclow's poetic genius has
touched the tender cords, and who can
read hls Evangelne without thro5 OF
sympathy or pleiy for the Arcadlans? The
banks Of the TGchc are t. day as Eyangc.
lIHe saw them,
"Oycrshado~ By oaks from whose bianch-
Garlands of Spanish moss and mystic mistie-
toe haunted"
Ind the entire region rs Basil, the black
smith, calls it
Here no hungry winter congeals the blood
ike the rivers,
Here no stony ground provokes the wrath OF
the farmer;
Smoothly the plOw runs through the SOIL
like kid through the water.
| All the year orange Groves are in blossom,
and grass grows
More In single night than In whole Cana
dian summer
No description that may pen could dc
Justice to the beaunty Of the country, nor
portray the lovely lawns with spreading
oaks, whose branches arc testooned with
strands of the silver grey moss; charming
villas peerIng from the midst of orange
are lovely gardens; the clustering village
like quarters Of the laborers; the great
sugar houses with their tall chimneys
shining in the sunlight, while the cane
and rice fields slope gently back until
bounded by cypress groves, or some en-
chanting vista Of forest glade,
Away beyond us stretches tue prairie,
covered with gicen verdulc and flowers,
dotted with ponds and creased with little
water courses called "conlles." Down TO
the southwark, on our left, IN the direction
Of the gulf, are seen the SavanDas, the
home of uncountcd cattle, and westerly
the unhounded prairles, smooth and level
as sleeping ocean, yet untouched by the
hand Of civilization aud bat little known.
Far to the north are seen the pale sugar
fields separated from the waving plains of
rice by hedges and forests, which seem a
hazy blue in the distance, and as we glide
on, crossing the open space, we see again
more of those elegant homes, fine planta
tions, trees testooned with strands of moss
and then the prairies, trimmed in with for
ests whose green verdure contrasts charm
ingly with the blue sky above. The lake
so strangely beautiful, and on moonlight
nights, with the silvery light scarcely pen
Grating the branches of the gigantic moss
draped cypress, standing like druids Of
old, gray, indistinct in the twilight" the
scene Is fantastic and impressive beyond
description, especially at that hour when
naught is heard but the sough of the wind
in the gloomy cypress, or the faint wash Of
lripples on the shore, or the cracking camp
fire, after the hunter has stretched himself
in the dancing light and dreams of the
weird beauty Of the moonlit lake.
This Is Gods country remarked d
Loulsianian as we sat together viewing the
country as the train flew along. This is
the Tcche country he continued, land
here nature discloses all her charms, amld
which you seem TO be gliding in sort o
lost Eden an earthly paradise, wher,
life Is good because OF the delicious invest
ing of 1t by nature with everything that Is
tarest."
II is now more than hundred year!
since the Arcadians came 10 this region
from Arcadia, settled along the Bayou
Teche, and began tic cultivation Of til,
ground. The corrupted French of these
Arcadians is the same that was spoken IL
the long. long ago. They marry ut al
early age, and it is stated that girls o
twelve years OF age and boys few year.
older become husband and wife, and tax,
charge of their own homes. To be sure
these people live In the United States, bu
as to being Americans that Is quite an
other thing' All these settlements reacl
far beyond the praires of Opelousas.
As we glide along listening to the rum
bic of the Pullman palace car wheels-fol
it has grown too dark TO zee the county
our mind wanders back over the pages o
history, and we think Of the changes IL
ono hundred and fifty years. New Orlean,
was then the capital Of an empire colony
thu, comprised territory of over 50(
miles along the Pacific LOO miles alCnC