Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1889-02-21
the FRENCH cREotEs.
oone - IL Poculiaritiss q IAls s1mpas-
Minded People.

Minded People.
The French Creoles Of the lower
class are . hand-to-mouth class Of peo-
pie. purchasing the stick Of wood To-
day and the handful of herbs that are
to cook and season their potage. filling
their small market baskets with in
Vulnerable pinches Of this. that and
the other, laying in q few sous Of
sugar and coffee at time. aDd-going
next day, for three hundred and sixty
five days in the year. and doing iden-
tically the same thing. in saecula
s@culorum. Dislike to the accumula-
ton of household goods. to well-storcd
cellars and pantries. to generous
abundance. to picturesque profusion,
to the essentials of a large-handed
hospitality even within the narrow
limits OF their neighborhood acquaint-
ances. an ant-like economy and alb
stemiousness, a curious juxtaposition
of eternal self-restraint and a passion
for sensations, colors, sounds, per-
fumes, fantastic sensualities, an in
stinct for microscopic money-getting
welded to an instinct that has filed
New Orleans with noble institutions
for the poor, tho blind, the sick. the
world weary; passion for novels and
for splendid churches. a fond en-
durance of rigors of cold and hunger
for the brilliant efflOrescence of care
meprenant and carnival, voluntary
exile from all laughter and joy that
their feet may twinkle night criwo
on the mirrOred floors OF the masque
balls down in Charities and Royal
streets; such are the fragments of
sweet and bitter herbs that go to
make up part of the paradox of Creole
character and communicate to it an
indefinable piquancy and strangeness
by their thick bars of light and
shadow.
The chief charm of the character is q
touching gentleness and benignity that
blends all other characteristics and per-
meates the whole constitution OF the
native Creole. There is something
elegiac. tender. dreamy about the
race, q remnant or recollection of
earlier and better days. an aroma of
exile coming from old colonial times.
when so many emigrated from the gay
fatherland to the trackless wilderness
of Louisiana. seeking their fortunes.
Disappointment seems to have inn
pressed itself as q trait of heredity on
their spiritual make up; br0oding
languor has spread from the luxurious
climate through the limbs and consti-
tuition Of the immigrants. the advent
urous spirit Of the marvellous brothers
Bienville, Iberville and Sauvalle, laid
under perpetual embargo by Chinese
wall of swamp. bayou and bOgue, has
sunk into curious psychological
numbness and content with surround
ings; geography. exploration. litera-
ture. research. travel (beyond the in
evitable transit to france once in q
lifetime) are unknown luxuries to these
lotus-eating folk. and in their way they
are as still in their sunny corner as the
sun-loving alligator that haunts their
streams.
The customs. games and sports of
these eXiles are full of "reminiscences
of the fatherland, mingled with odd
accretions and aftergrowths. a clinging
conservatism. a poetic susceptibility.
There are songs and Christmas customs
smacking of Gascony. Provence. Cham
fagne. San Domingo, Franche- Comte.
such az linger in Canada and form
touching links with the folk over the
sea-. A. Harrison, in Autrefois.