The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1888-08-17
louisiana Ontings.
noatharIno ooloD in n. Q. PIaaynne.

''Catharine Cole" in N. O. Picayune.
am beginning to find cut, as many
another Columbus before me, that
Louisiana is the wonderstate Of the
nation. It is the home of the most
picturesque people in America; 1t has
inspired some great romances and
one of the loyeliest poems; its history
reads like a romance, and its mex
pressibly lovely scenery has made tho
fortunes of many an artist. On its
sand dunes and desolate shores that
seem to dribble off into tho sea, the
sea gull makes her nest and lays her
eggs and the white crane with it's
priceless plumage hunts among the
hollow reeds. In its deep-bollied bays
and lakes the finest fish swim into the
fisherman's net, In its jungle Of
swamps grow the rarest, best and
most beautiful trees, their great
boughs like the Christmas trees Of
some constant, benefCGnt Saint Mich
oIas forever yielding moss that is as
good as current coin, On the black
waters the alligators lurk away from
the torch aud the spear and the bullet
of the hunter, for the beautiful EN-
bossed skin of this monster is worth
much money. The gray old planta-
hon homes are shaded by nut trees
whose yearly yield is a little fortune
within itself, and out on the fat past
uFe lands mushrooms grow plontifully
and pungent water dresses are tangled
over the clear streams, and in the Or
chards and fruit gardens is a harvest
of the fruits of all countries. 1t is
the state for cotton mills and sugar
rolineries, for saw mills and wooden.
ware mills, and tor the canning faeto-
Fies of fruit, fish and fowl and vege-
tables. 1t is the home of deer and
haunt of the delicate birds so dear TO
the stomach of the epicure, aud as
yet no man can guess at the undis-
covered treasures of oil and orc and
mineral that lie buried under its fair
breast.
This morning when it was yet very
early, went walking over this one
little town, and saw growing in its
gardens and near by in its fields snch
crops and such "garden sass" as
would turn the head of an Ohio or
Minnesota farmer, Rich fields of
cane promising the proyerbial and an
nuaIly realized fabulous yield, melons,
oranges. Along the fences leaned
the shading fig trees all pink and
purple with fruit, A white aowered
guaOn made sweet the air, and the
sun polished its nut-liko globes of
fruit, Over the arbors grew vines
heavy with clusters of one of the best
of wine-produoing grapes, Pome-
gTapatos, plums and peaches were the
shade trees, and the very morning IT.
self was roseate with the glow of the
myrtle blooms, while here and there
a white myrtle flung its crumpIed,
cFape-like flowers floating abroad like
some low-lying cloud.
In the gardens were all manner of
vegetables, and the house porChes
were deep in tho leafy shade of Mar
shal Neil roses. Up in the magnolia
tops the mockiRg birds sang, and pur.
pie passion flowers made rich curtains
at the windows, and the air was spicy
with the smell of the many-celled
may-pop. The air was dellciously
cool and wholesome and dewy.
If we're q young man, with all the
world and my fortune before me, |
think | should get me an ak and a
spade and package Of garden seeds
and get out into the dewy, lovely rich
wonderland Of the Louisiana country.