Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1886-12-11
A TALE OF QUEUE T0RTUE,

A TALE OF QUEUE TORTUE
In an out-of- the way section of wha
is known in Louisiana as the Attakapa
country lies the little prairie of Queu
Tortue, or Turtler's Tail. Its inhsbi
tants are the descendants Of the origina
Acadian settlers and for over a centur,
past they have kept almost entirely t
themselves, marrying and inter-marry
ing, 30 that every resident there is re
lated to everybody else in the prairie
They have decided distaste for any
thing that tends toward progress, AM
the habits and manners of their father
are followed as piously as are the in
structions Of their priest. Simple heart
ed, gay and imbued with all the esprit
of their French ancestors, they are prob
ably as contented people as can bt
found on either eide the Atlantic. Rails
ing cattle, tilling some cotton, and low
ing their families, they entertain but Lit.
tie regard for what is transporting in the
great world beyond the boundaries Of
Queue Tortue. Their wants are but
few, and with coffee, tobacco and corn
they live contentedly to ripe old age
Strong in their affections, familyties are
held in reverence, and a fourth cousin
receives as hearty welcome at their
simple homes as brother or near rela-
tive. They are, however, exceedingly
shy OF strangers, and it requires long
residence in that locality to secure even
the faintest approach Of intimacy with
hem.
Near the center OF the prairie, in a
olain cottage of four rooms, the Ponpon
family lived in that bucolic simplicity
which had given such longevity to their
ancestors. To the observer it would
seem that the same strings of red pep
pers we're hanging from the rafte1s that
were picked in the forties; and the same
little black coffee pot was resting beside
the hearth out Of which their grandsire,
Pierre Alcibiade Ponpon, had taken his
morning cup. There could be no ques-
ton about the furniture, for all of it,
save one modern bedstead purchased in
later times for the girls, was of so print
tive type it was even eloquent of it's
antiquity. At one end of the gallery
an antiquated handloom told where the
family cottonade came from, and a col
lection Of empty sardipe boxes under
the house suggested newly acquired
tastes, not entirely in keeping with the
primitive character OF the atoremention-
ed loom. -Four yellow haired dogs
dozed languidly in the afternoon sun
shine OIL the bare patch of earth in front
of the domicil, now and them muster
ing up sufficient energy to go through
sort Of banjo picking vibratory move
ment with the left hina leg, as they
sought to remove the predatory fea.
Beyond, the swells of the prairie went
rolling away in the distance like great
pillows of green, with here and there
knots of cattle Like bits of seaweed afloat
on the surface. Still beyond, sky and
grass met where it appeared the world
ended. Skirtings of cypress in some
directions told of meandering bayous,
and once in while a thin column of
smoke indicated the position of the near
est houses, some four or five miles away. |
It was bright October afternoon, and |
the air was fragrant with the odor of the
grasses and flowers of the prai-
ne. Great white clouds in broken cut
line lay along the horizon like mountain
ranges, the sides of which were riven by
gorges and canyons of shadow. A crew
Of nomsdic white cranes were pluming
themselves at water hole about
quarter of q mile away, while above,
seeking the shelter of the far off sea
marsh, wings OF blue winged teal were
scudding before the first north wind of
the autumn. Tied to china tree near
the Ponon dwelling. with dropping
head and eyes half closed, stood q small
Creole pony-as uncanny a looking
qusdruped as horseman could well
imagine. A rough saddle with heavy
wooden stirrups, rawhide bride with
q strong curb bit and q saddle blanket
made Of mose, were the only ornaments
of the little breast. Diminutive as was
the animal, it was evident from the
length Of the stirrup straps that his rider
was quite tall individual. Such sur
mise would have been at once corrobor-
ated by glance into the front room,
which served at once as psrlor, bed
and setting room. There, on a
low, strsigh-backed chair of rawhida
bottom, srt young man Of about Is,
bis face bronked by exposure and his
long boots despatched with mud.
in those same boots the wiry
cavalier would have measured something
ike six feet two inches. His features
showed that he was of Anglo Saxon
blood. He was known in the neighbor-
aood as 'M'sieu Hareese," slight vari-
Ition on his patronymic Harris. Some
eighteen months before the afternoon re- I
erred to he had purchased tract OF
and in the prairie, and on it had opened ,
stock farm on small scale. He was I
&c nal and frank, 80 that I
fter o period Of probation he was greet q