Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-12-07
LOVE AND RAPIERS.
A TRUE STORY OF OLD SOUTHERN
DAYS.
BY MAURICE THOMPSON.
New York Ledgcr.l

| the only nOnOrhDle why vi eettuuB pci-
sonal grievances. Those days are past,
and now there is not o more peaceful
and certainly not o more beautiful town
in all the picturesque coast country.
If ever you shall be going to New Or
leans by way of the railroad from Mo-
bile you will find it well worth while to
stop and spend few days at this lovely
summer resort. Just before you reach
the town you cross bridge three miles
long spanning the placid bay. Look
ing out OF the car-windows southwark
Won see the Gulf of Mexico rolling
green to the horizon under a
| SKY as soft and blue as that Of Italy.
Northward the bay narrows rapidly and
receives two fine, strong rlvers-the
Wolf and the Jordon. just above the
mouths Of these streams rise the black
clouds OF smoke made by immense steam
saw mills. Everywhere on the water sail
the fishing and lumber crafts, pleasure
boats, and the skiffs and pirogues Of
sportsmen. Westward, dotting the shore
OF the bay for nine miles, appear the
cottages Of the town. nesting amid their
orange orchards, their scuppernong
vines, their gnared old fig-trees, their
moss hung live-oaks, and their hedges OF
Cherokee roses and oleander.
Behind the town, stretching back for
miles to the bayous and marshes, rise
| dark forests of pine, oak, gum, and mag
nolia, against which in fine prospective.
are sketched the steeples of churches !,
one of these churches is an old Catholic
cathedral fanked by college and con-
vent. In front, between the buildings
and the sea runs a smooth, chalk-white
shell road along the edge of the bluff
the whole length of the town.
If you will take carriage and driver
who knows the place, you may spend o
day or two delightfully."- in exploring the
ms and outs, by highway and byway, of
a settlement that dates back to the time
when the Spaniards and the French
we're playing battledoor and shuttle
cock with all our rich and salubrious
gulf-coast country. Even now in the
streets and picturesque little shops
of Bay st. Louis you hear the soft
accents of Spain and the polite intona-
tons of Paris. TO one unaccustomed
10 it there is something strangely fasci-
mating and elusiyely suggestive OF the re-
motto and romantic in hearing an old,
picturesquely ragged negro salute an
other on the street with:
&" Bon jour, m'sieR. u fa' 10 bean
temp, c. mafin"-African French for
Good mo'nin', sab. It's mighty fine
wedder dis mo'nin'."
And what weather it is almost all
the year round A balmy breeze from
the Caribbean sea upon which one can al
most detect the fragrance Of pineapple
and banana blows all day and all night.
You hear hooking birds singing in shade
and in sheen, by sunlight, by moon
light, by starlight, and the roses
bloom every day. There is broad,
slumberous smashing OF tide and
and surf as the warm waves roll in
against the white sand-bluhs. The people
have soft voices and gentle manners,
and it is hard to imagine, much harder
to believe, that it was ever true OF them
that they stood ready, on the strength Of
the slightest insult, to fight to the death
as a matter Of honor but so it was.
There are men living now who saw many
duels in the days Of the "code." Ono
charming old gentleman informed the
present writer that no had witnessed
twenty hostile meetings with sword or
pistol.
Before the DAYS Of the railroad, which
now makes Bay st. Louis but one hour
and thirty minutes from New Orleans,
the only approach was by water, save
from the interior OF Mississippi; this
rendered the place one of the most Sc
cluded hooks in America, and, as a mat
ter OF course, considerable number OF
fugitiyes from justices or from misfor-
tune or tyranny lied thither; but tho
larger part of tho population was highly
respectable {; some Of 1t was made up,
especially in summer, of the wealthiest
and best French families of New Orleans,
who came by steamboat to spend tho
hot season in elegant cottages on the
breezy bluffs.
Nearly all the duels ever fought at
Bay ST. Louis took place in one or an
other secluded spot in the lonely woods
behind the town. These woods are now
dotted with Creole and negro cottages,
the homes of poor people. who find an
easy if not very luxurious life where the
fish in the bayous and the fruits on
the trees are to be mad with but
the smallest outlay Of labor. Ever
since the place was first settled, and
even before, these woods have been a
maze OF crossed and tangled roads,
paths. and trails first made by the In
dams. You can ride or drive every
where aud in every direction, and yet
the growth is thick, often obstructing
the sight on all sides. Now and again
you come upon little natural glades or
openings set in wild grass and surround
ed with wall Of trees. These are the
spots that were chosen for the dreadful
work OF the duellists.
THE OLD, OLD STORY.
About the year 1924 two young men
OF New Orleans were lovers of a beautl-
full girl by the name OF Marie de Noyant,
whose father had a summer place at Bay
st Louis. OF course Marie could not
accept the attentions of both if she
loved either, and as Honore Chauvin
had captured her heart there was no.
thing for Pierre Nation to do but to
challenge his successful rival to mortal
combat
The three famiIies-Noyants, Chau-
wins, and Matons-were OF the best in
New Orleans and had always been on
the most intimate terms socially. Hon
ore and Pierre had known Marie from
her childhood up; they had been her
playmates, her friends, and now they
were her lovers. Both were handsome,
rich, and honorable, as honor was under
stood at the time and place. If Marie
hesitated to choose between them, it was
not because ofany doubt in her heart. She
knew that she loved Honore. and quite
rs we'll she was aware that under no cir
cumstances could she ever love Pierre.
Still it was very hard for her when
Pierre came to her home on the bay and
asked her TO be his wife-it was hard to
break in on his passionate appeal with
the truth that must crush him. She
begged for time to consider, and thus