Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-07-04
THE GULF METROPOLIS,
First Impressions of New Orleans.
lBy Professor j, u. Butler.

first thing that catches the eve of Q
stranger. They are well nigh as lofty as
the houses, and almost ornamental. Gov.
crod Mt the top with canopy rising in q
pinnacle, and festoohed below, MS well as
gayly painted, they have some rcsem-
blance to oriental kiosks or pagodas. In
fact they arc such necessity that they
might naturally be venerated with relig-
ious homage. The Mississippi, polluted
by the oifscourings of a hundred cities, is
so unfit to drink that horror of whiskey
is driven out by greater horror Of water.
Cisterns cannot be subterranean lest the
poisonous water which saturates the soil
should leak through them.
In every point of view. water in New
Orleans is curiosity. Walking out on
my first morning there, asked (which
way is the river" The answer was
Look at the water in the cutters. 1t
always flows away from the river" The
Mississippi current permeates the levee
and pushes countless streamlets through
it. These waters cut through the city to
Lake Ponchartrain, aud sometimes glide
as swiftly as those in German Freiburg
or Salt Lake City, for their starting point
is ten feet above the sea-level. But on
arriving at the lake they are lower than
Its surface, and would form the infinite
Slough of Despond and disease, were
they not pumped up by steam engines
and thrown over the dixie into salt wa
ter.
Unfortunately the contents in many
cutters are stagnant and hence become
mothers OF malaria, fatal to everything
but mules and molattoes. 1t is still re-
membered to the credit of General Butler
that to all such places he sent men with
wheelbarrows of lime for disinfection, a
sanitary step not often taken now.
"Boston Ice" survival from old
times, is not uncommon on signs, but
the home made article is much superior.
single factory daily turns out hun
dred tons in winter, and half MS many in
summer, which lis retailed at forty cents
a hundred. 1t is manufactured from dis
titled water IN Jumps four feet long and
one broad. No glass is clearer. Frozen
III one of these masses was a bouQuet-a
red rose with four yellow ones round it
wreath of violets. All were as clearly
seen as if within French crystal.
The rush and span of the river when
at its fullest convince every beholder
who has read incredulouslv that its vol
ume equals the out put of all the rivers
i'll Europe. But the levee, slight as a
railroad grading, low and faced with thin
boards half of them rotten, seems to a
stranger ready to yield to the assault of
the waves, and begging some almighty
power to say "Hitberto shall We come but
no further" He also looks to the man.
moth steamers moved along the shore as
arks in which he may be glad to take re.
fuge from general deluge. With reason
are all houses of the old type raisel on
stills or posts ten feet above the ground.
But if earth works appear frail. those
of stone do not. 1t would be hard to
mention more massive buildings any
where than the custom house, and the
ST. Charles Hotel. No pavements are
of more ponderous blocks. In this re-
glon where no stone bigger than an
orange was native, the better building
stuff was largely brought as ballast by
ships from Boston coming for cotton
and sugar After all the per ceutage of
wooden houses with balloon frames is
enormous, probably as great as in Chi
cago before the fire when it was still
nicknamed ''Shanty-tow and greater
than it could be here did not the houses
stand so far apart that fire cannot easily
spread.
Ear apart indeed are the houses of
the Crescent City. No city of its size |
think covers so much space. The dis
tance would be considered doubly mag
nificent but for an elegant system of
street cars, many of which run between
double lines of overarching trees.
The front yards of New Orleans are
its crowning charm. For many a mile
along Prytania, st. Charles and other
avenues, every man does his utmost to
surpass his neighbor i'll the outside show
OF flowers, shrubbery and simi-tropical
trees. The result is that the pilgrim who
has left foot of snow in Wisconsin here
rides for hours where he seems in the
midst OF conservatory like Alexander
Mitchell's magnitied a million times. The
houses are painted as bright MS the flow
ers, those without pillard porches in
every story, suggestive of life IN the open
AIR, are the exceptions, and the palings
whether OF wood or iron are open lattces
which do not obstruct the view. MANY
have been adopted in order that the set
tiers, dwelling IN social compactness.
might enjoy mass every morning and
then dance every night.
Crossing with single oarsman the
ilNci, llllc WlClt ana more
than a hundred feet deep, at the suburb
OF Carrolton, visited the orangery of
Major Rountree. Its frontage is about
seven hundred feet its depth mile and
a nall. The trees are seven thousand
two hundred. The sour orange, as more
handy is planted and on that stock all
desired varieties are engrafted. After
many experiments and observations the
n 10 T..
than any other orange. During nv own
travels in Spain, Sicily, Italy and Pales
tine L nowhere saw such oranges as in
JANA. Wheat there grew between the
trees, but Major RS, intermediate crops
are cabbages and cucumbers. His boss,
who has served him eight years, is black,
and so are all his hands.
Fourteen good school houses have been
built out of the bequest of McDonough.
and great hopes are entertained from the
bounty Of Tulane. Yet | see conclusive
proofs that people who can i'll afford to
Pay tuition prefer private schools to pub
lie. In the StraiyM University, delight.
fully situated on the spacious and shady
ESpldnade | see more than three hun
dred colored scholars, and am told I
should see n hundred more out of Lent
Seventeen Of them have made fair pro-
gress in the dH0b 0sis. No other uni
versity as | think admits stu Tents at SO
early an age, for | meet some here who
are Just entering their fifth year of life.
Among suburban retreats. Spanish
Fort and West End, on the lake, are
charming and easily reached by dummy
cars. Within the heart of the city, be-
fore the cathedral, and in other places
parks, each one block in extent, are not
wanting. In one of these, Lafayette
square, there is noble statue of Frank
lin leaning on an oak riven by lightning.
1t seemed doubly lfe.like as saw it the
other evening illuminated by electric
light, waking as il were to newness of