The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1886-04-17

is owing, doubtless, to the fact th;
Mr.. s. L. Cary, the pioneer of the ne,
era, was from Iowa, and Capt. J.
Merry, the Western Passenger Ager
of the Illinois Central r. R., who run
so many excursions to the South,
also an Iowa man. Iowa people
through these gentlemen, were th
first to learn of and improve the OF
portunities to obtain public land here
It is estimated that there are l5l
Northern families on this Jenning
prairie; the most of them being from
Howard county, Mr.. Cary's old home
and Delaware county, Capt. Merry
home: a still closer proof of their in
fuence in drawing settlers here
Among those from Howard county Of
whom we have met, we call to minG
as representing households, S. L. Cary,
| w. F. Daniels, Joel A. Daniels, T. p
Davis, Edw. Cook, Harlow White, W.
J. Dauhenbaugh, Geo. B. Spencer, Q,
| Gallup, M. MontaAya, Thos. p.
Thomas, Russell Stoddard, L. G. St.
John, W. B. St. John, Mrs. p. Griffin,
Mrs. Jos. Wildman, and George Morse,
formerly of Cresco, but more recently
of Minnesota. Patrick Griffin and Jos.
Wildman died after coming here, but
their families still remain on their
claims. David PATTERSON sold last
month, to good advantage, his land
adjoining Jennings and returned to
jamestown in Howard county, Iowa.
Besides the above, there are some
Howard county people who own land
here as non-residents. Judge Granger,
of Waukon, owns about section near
Jennings. So far as we can learn, all
have what they consider good claims;
in fact, about the only difference in
the natural value of the claims is in
relation to their proximity to Jen-
nings. Improvements vary here as
elsewhere, and fix relative values.
The natives of this region have
their farms or plantations in or near
the woods and by the side of the
streams. They are called Cadians
pronounced cajens), which is an ab-
breviation of the word Acadians. They
do not look very romantic, but halo
of romance surrounds the settlement
of their ancestors in Louisiana. Ac-
cording to the chronicles OF Louisiana
historians, the Acadian settlement at
Grand Pre-, Nova Scotia, was broken
up in 1855 by the English, and the
inhabitants, 1923 persons, were taken
prisoners and transported to different
States. Such of their property as was
not burned was confsceted to the
British Crown. These chronicles say
that $50 Acadians arrived In New Or |
leans, and from that town were sent
to form settlements in this immediate
region. Longfellow, in his ''Evauge-
line," which has charmed and thrilled
people of literary culture the world
over, sings of Gabriel and Evangeline;
of the chosen lover carried captive to
this sunny land where "no hungry
winter congeals the blood" and "the
grass grows more in a single night
than in whole Canadian summer"
how the devoted Evangeline. accom-
panied by her faithful priest, Father
telician, wandered the world over in
search of Gabriel; how they came to
his sunny land, passed through the
bayou Of Plaquemine to the Atchafa-
aya likes in this vicinity; how Gabriel
passed and saw not the boat concealed
n the willows, in which she slept; how
Basil welcomed Eyangeline and the
,riest to home where the "orange
yroyes are in blossom all the year
ound!" Many of the names are those
# the bayous and lakes in this region.
But as there is not q copy OF Longfel-
ow convenient for reference and quo
alton in the house where we are in
lulging in these fancies, we will ask
he reader who loves poetry and ro-
nance to read or re-read the beautiful {
tory for himself. In this dreamy
Innate, with so many idle hours in
iting the mind to reyeries, as we hear
hese poetic names and meet these
asy going people, this romance Of !
ur favorite poet fits through our '
memory.
As some modern historians have
,ritten down ID mytbs the delightful I
tories Of Romulus and Renus and 7
he wolf. and Of William Tell and the s
pple, John Smith and Pocahontas,
gorge Washington and his hatchet \
nd tie cherry tree, and similar stories Y
lat are dear to us from early impress y
ons so we may expect these ruth J
IS iconocIssts will try to rob these y
ouisiana 'Gadians Of the happy senti- Y Z
cnt Longfellow has sung into them = y
rough their connection with Eyange. y
Ne and Gabriel aud Father Felician. y
But let us return from fancy to re- v
ity. The iCadians have never On. v