Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-08-28
Copyright, 1888 7

Secrets, Of which nsturalIsts have not
dreamed, lurk In the great dark swamps of the
South. Mystery IL always fascinating and
never more SO than when Ii il hedged with
physical barriers. De Soto and Ponce De Leon
were not the 1rst men to feel the strange influ-
ence of those gloomy vine-tangled and moss
matted forests whose trees stand ankle-deep in
stagnant water and whose very sounds are like
audible expressions Of silence. The red men
had their legends, from the remotest sources,
connecting the swamps with the most pictur-
ssque creations Of their fancy and imagination.
Tn tact 1t il doubtful if any person who has
spent much tive in the Loy-country Of the
South has quite escaped a very definite impress
sion of the weird influence exerted by the
gloom. the solem nifty, the silence and the tan
gled intrcacy of those plashy and dismal jun
giles. of live-oak, magnolia, cypress, cane and
spanish moss. The effect on the Imagination
IL not elevating, Is II, exactly speaking. de-
pressing. At first one Is repeiled by the fat,
heavy monotony, then follows q recognition OF
the awful sketch Of mystery outlined in the
shadows. the bewildering tangles and the fune-
real depths Of those moss-hung aisles, and
finally, ones Imagination begins TO ind the
stuff OF which strange dreams are made, mate
rial as insubstantial and airy as the blue film
on the mountain. but as gloomy and dismal as
the swsmps themselves.
have found II very interesting to study with
minute care the effect this swamp influence has
had upon persons who have been born and
reared within the shadows Of those junsles.
There Is arked difference between the
Cracker of the pine woods and the man of the
swamps. The latter shows I'm his hollow cheeks,
In his sIlo,v, withered skin and in his patheti-
caly melancholy eyes the strain OF "A lifelong
fear. the worry of u gloomy anticipation. aIp
quite sure, however. that the swamp-denizen Is
but obscurely conscious, IL conscious at All, In
most cases, of this torture OF a constantly inn
pending dread; and yet even the children.
playing In cotton-slipped freedom on me
traces OF the HEREDITARY swamp gloom In their
bloodless faces.
old regime that those scowling and maleficent
swamp-jungles wrought their most peculiar
effects, and the so-called creole negroes were
the especial victims of "a superstition which,
like some subtle malaria, crept by night out of
those damp and almost penetrable meshes of
trees. vines. moss, water-weeds and suEocating
cane-brHkes, to hover about the plantation
cabins. Ii Is true enough 10 say that those
negroes were sunny -natured and merry-hearted;
but IL Is quite as true to- record the prevailing
and persistent dusk mess and deSolateness. SO to
speak, of their superstition. Their songs were
light, their laughter as gay As il was unre-
strained; but song and laughter died on the
edge OF the swamp. The quillblower. that Pan
OF the African race, was upon every low-eountry
plantation, and his quilts, as the cane-joints
were called, came from the brakes along the
sluggish swamp-rivers; but the crude syrinx
was never able 10 quite whistle away the tear of
the Jungle by night, Notwithstanding the mad
Iove-of music, OF even that simple sort, burning
In the half-savage breasts of the slaves. This
classical touch To negro life. Ii was, too, q
sinxuIarly constant element where every other
quantity was variable. The same melody
sketches were ftuted from Bayou Teche TO tue
bottoms OF the Savannah; but each pianta-
ton HAD its separate and sacred swamp super
stition, If within the great swamp belt OF the
coast, and especially had each creole plantation
its legend Gin pdtOis uSieal and picturesque of
some local preternatura. PHENOMENON con-
swamp; and, To my mind at least, this patois.
along with the touch of French realism il
always bears suggests a charming departure
from the broader and coarse: negro nature.
Still, ON the other hand, II Is true that the
creole low-coUntry negro 10 In many ways the
interior OF the up-coCntry one. He Is less
civilized more savage In his appetifeS, possessed
OF coarser passions, more easily Influenced by
external things. Perhaps it was the influence
of the swanps that wrous mt this difference De-
tween the up-couptry negro and his cousin OF the
low country. This must have been the case, Tor
ali the slaves INT into the south at last came
to the level. either In themselves or in their
offspring. The shadows OF the swainps got into
their inIaginations. Phe masters, especially
those of proyencal origin, were touched with
the same faint oI superstition. Indeed, the
slaves may have caught 1t from their owners, i'll
a certain degree, or the reverse may have been
the case for even the speech of the negro had
begun to perceptlbly affect the purify Oh that of
Ibis master. before the advent of freedom.
mention pruveucaI planters, because there were
"A few of them ali around the gull coast and
peciaIIy WAS their number noticeable in the
northeastern angie OF tue Mississippi in the
palIniesI days OIL slavery, or about the time
when the Ieud between the COupcourts and tine
DE- Bieus, two old and mighty families, was at
It's highest pitch OF bitterness and deadllness.
Since the close of tine war many OF the Old
Plantations in that great swamp region have
been wholly deserted and nothing remains To
tell where they once were save u young growth
O close-set trees and the scattered ruinso man
siOns and Eesro-q Iarters. The De bileu and
COuFcvurt feud ended in The year looo, just as
the great storm of war had at last ceased III the
ul-country. II ended very strangely and, as
bentied the predicalnent with a singuiarly
dramatic coup de main in the very Eeart OF the
swamp known the 1erTe AttI LOups- GdrOus.
III.
1t does not matter, so far as this story goes,
when oF why how the C0upeourt-De Biieu
feud began suffice IL TO say that during the
decade immediately preceding tine one crisis
that l about 10 describe no year passed
without more fatal meetings between
members of the warning families. At last the
only male representatives lett above earth To
settle the Itud were two young men, ToGime
De B!ieu and jacques Coupcourt, both OF whom
were ia Erstuce IA >cnOo " hen their respective
fathers, al ready grown old, met fought and
killed each other with due dignity and nerve.
Ofeourse Touline and jacques upon receipt OF
a detailed account ri tliis parental conflict and
It's tra-I ending nastcncd bacA To- Mississippi
with hctrts burning lor revenge. ToulIne would
Kali Jacques and jacques would Kill TOulme,
which would end the feud. say that botn
fastened back, but, In tact, Jacques failed to
reach his destination. was shipwrecked and car
Ii~d 10 western South America, had d long Ill
hess and many other hlndranceS, 50 that II was
the Old-tiIle Sc;lT aud day before he appeared
weary ami tr;lvel-worn Oul still Iui OF hight, at
bis dear old plantation home, and began 10 look
aDOut iOdIIuc lie Blieu. oi course IOulme
WI, not hard TO md, IOr sooner was II said that
jacques COuPcuurt had returned than the last
o. the male DE Bilious was In an ecstacy. very
Rapture .. inuruerous emotion. Pistols were
examined and knives put in good slashing aud
stAUbing order.
This ivud between the DE Biieu and the Coup
court families bad, as n matter OF course, eX-
tended ~ their slaves; but In the latter tie
lights had usually been very noisy out quite
biObdlvS>- One instance, however, had varied
the nionotOuy. Far back, In 1857, perhaps, n
DE- Si.SU negro by tue name OF Ioussaf4t had
killed u COupcourt negro by the nl.Ine Of Louue
kdrUu. he night had taken place IN the swamp
under peculiar circumstances aud pine knots
were the weapons used Tue two conlbatan,s
To avoid much merited punishment the
hands vi the oyerseer. They met In the very
middle OF the swamp. bste-dsabP de Coup
COURT '-ChieH dc teayeT!'
Tney spoke, as nearly a. possible each in the
accent and with the manner oI his master,
Carefully selected Tor another purpose-the re-
pellius Of observation-disclosures lared u tn is ebony
lace opponent.
That "a vigorous IL nota graceful duel
The parryInY WAS awkward, but the blows were
heavy and resonant "'THud-tnuO. 1nuu-
went echoing abroad through the shadowy
silence OF the swamp. Tine owls awohe aad
hooted, Tue Dig woodpeckerS quit their drum.
m!hs 10 listen 20 that heavier pounding.
lie TWO black men uttered lew exciaIlationS.
IN Terrible earnest, but with "a strange snow Of
pine knots There was Little danger of any ill.,
reference tGey had tho entire jungle $ a fight
Ing ground nnd the resi- Of their lives TO f1gnt IL
out IN, and 80 they went on. ''Thud-lhud,
tAud-thud, thud-tnud! mauliug each other
with rhy IhniCal regularity of strokes and with