Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-12
L0UISIANA'S GL0RIES.
THE BEAUTIES OF THE STATE AS
SEEN BY ONE OF ITS RESIDENTS.

Scenery That stirs the Soul of the Poet. |
Romantic Spots by Lake and River. |
The Odd and Interesting People One
May See.
In New Orleans we bury in ovens above
ground to escape the waters on which
our city floats; in ST. Martinsville there
are dungeons of underground cellars;
and in one parish the SHOWS are orange
blossoms. and in another they fall from
heaven itself In the Atadian country,
when ball is to be, courier carries
flag and rides over all the country shout
ing out like town crier in the olden
days the summons to the fete. In Gre
oledom young girl dead is horne to her
grave by white veiled death maidens,"
and in Acadia the very horses wear ANU
let's to charm away the ''gri-gri." There
are out of the way little inns in Louisiana
where the cooking is as good as at Del
mouico's-nay, better. Who would not
go a-swamping if only the way was
shown him? How many tourists would
be proof against a day at Spanish lake,
or a nights alligator hunt on the Atcha-
falaya? What Floridian scenery can
equal our Tchefuncta? There is street
| in Dublin only few books long said to
be the finest street in the world; and
| there is river in Louisiana only navi-
| gable for little way that for beauty, for
color of environment, Is more finely
| picturesque and lovely than miles of the
| Thames, the Rhine, the Arkansas or the
| Hudson.
NATURE APPEALS TO THE ARTIST.
| Nature in Louisiana appeals to the art
| ist, to the poet, to the photographer, to
| the tourist, who is none of these in prac-
| tice, yet all and more in love with the
beautiful. There is an indescribable
charm in the softness of our lakes, the
serene, deep beauty of our bayous, the
splendor of our forests, the gayety and
grace and lively life of our plantations.
Every village has its inn, its traditions,
its accessible gossip, its peculiar local
customs, too pronounced to escape the
interested locker on. Here you will find
the big plantation, the fine house over.
run with pickaninnies, the royal wei.
come, the never failing hospitality.
1iitlS NOu III itIlu tIiC duott iluh, Niit
squalid tamaleS maker Here you will find
the voudou witch working charms; there
you will find ma belle creole making 6
novena before her saint and praying fol
husband. There you will meet pa
tient, farm iaboring friar or heal
the dirgelike chant of the entombeC
Carmellite nuns. One day you may
! stand under an orange tree freightet
, with 10000 golden globes of fruit; an
: other day you may climb up ladde
into the perch of the swamper or down ;
shaft into a salt mine far below the sur
face.
Ours is pastoral country, as pastora
as England. All is gentle and seren
and matured and full of soft repose
The flowers and even fields, the still foT
ests, the waveless hayous, the rich crop
and the lowing kline all appeal to tn
home side of nature. The grass is gree
everywhere, innumerable flocks of gees
waddle over the green levees and nj
grass in the orange orchards.
l. THE TTINERANT SNOWMAN.
!, Out in the woods and by the river
K brim, the cheap circus people, travelin
e in caravans or in gay painted bargt
b drawn by tiny tugs. erect their tent
q peddlers plod about in heavy blue hack
I'll gypsy fortune teller, her baby swun
it on her back, stealthily creeps up an
'. Il whispers n wish to have her hand croese
with silver; an evil Arab sinks by undt
the Cherokee rose hedge leading
i. dancing hear. He gets out of the wa
for the gentleman planter trotting by
his dog cart. Under the pent roof in Il
Teche country, in the tiny hut made {
the gulf islands of wrecked ships timber
in the fine old country mansion, palat
in the old days, there burns the inexti
glishable torch of genial hospitalit
Like the Spanish the house owner gree
the new conner with that gracio,
warmth and gives him not only the be
he has but all he has.-Catharine Co
in New Orleans Picayune.