The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-11-12
MARGARET OF 0RLEAN 81
Sketch of a Woman Whose Life and
Deeds Blessed a Whole City.
a wonder if it idealizes herr"

We stand beside the statue of this ia
nous woman, Margaret of New Orleans,
and, after the manner of strangers, con-
lecture on what we for the first time see.
"Not at ALL" a voice answers in the
soft southern tongue. '.It looks just like
her"
"Ah, thank you. You live hereY'
81 was born here; this is my home"
"You were here during the war and
yellow fever and everything? and was
Ben Butler so dreadful? and have you
seen Cable?"
A nod answers each n of my young
companions impetuous queries.
How delightful concludes my
friend, but the lady shakes her head and
taps her fan lightly on the girls soft
seem as il l would live through it, but /
have, and now comes one who calls my
trials delightful How cruel"
"Ah, pardon! But / was thinking of
that charming man who wrote the de-
licious Mime. Delphine.' l was think
ing how perfectly lovely it must be to
live here and know him-and then to
live in a city that has had such a history
it is s. romantic. And can you tell US
anything about Margaret"
"This little space-'Margaret place.
1t is called-it is a pleasant spot to rest
in"
With this invitation, given more in
looks than in words, we seated ourselves
near our new acquaintance on the settees
in the little park. The perfume of March
roses overhang the city; we forget in its
d~eliciousness the signs of decay that in
portions of that quaint oldtown imparts
a pensive melancholy to its beauty. Near
by us in the green grass is a pool set about
with a low border of cactus; a mimic
fort, with all its bristling thorn guns out,
and its blossom floating from the ram
parts, which are guarding from such
-fierceness only a lazy fleet of water lilies,
under the shade OF which there is a whirl
of goldfish. A stone footbridge crosses
the pool and spans the river of ~cactuses.
1t is a very odd and tasteful device, this
pool; and the little park in which it is
placed is unique in its way. There is
nothing o%verdone, neither neglected. 1t
is a well kept, refreshing, simple setting
for the statue itself.
'She was a working woman-a sew
ant here. When l first remember her
/ was living near here, and she was TAX
ing care of the COWS in a stable that
stood almost On the very spot where her
statue stands now. She was working
then for the sisters of the asylum. She
fed and MIXED their cows and sold milk
=, o,-4 about fha oifr Che u,oc n
strange looking person-remarkable in
her appearance. I think now as l recall
her she had a broad forehead, serious
eyes, a pleasant, broad smile, Q rather
short, stout figure. l do not suppose she
ever in her life wore any dress better
than a Guinea blue calico; she always
wore heavy shoes and a black straw
bonnet trimmed with a neat band Of
black over the top. From my residence
l could see her many times a day while
she was at her stable work OF coming
back and forth with her milk ans
"Wha was her name? Her name was
Margaret Hauggery; she had been mar
ried, and at that time was a widow.
Her husband and little child died just
after she came to New Orleans; so we
learned after she became famous. She
was alone and poorin a strange country,
and went to work in the stables for a
living. Somehow, everybody liked
Margaret; her smile was sweet and her
words shrewd. The children called her
Margaret, and she knew their names
and answered their salutations along
the street as she drove by in the milk
cart.
"After some years Margaret had saved
enough to buy a bit of ground that had
on it a small bakery. The place was
sold for a trif1e, but now Margaret was
in royal trina landowner and a man
f~acturer; for she opened the shop and
began bread and pie making for the
n~eighbors. Presently there was a large
bakery built; soon bread carts were run
ming over the city bearing the words,
sMargaret's Bakery 1t became the
fashion to buy at Margaret's place. Dur
ing war, pestilence and disaster Mar
garet's fires were never out, and the de-
licious rolls kept up their weight and
quality, no matter what else in life failed.
Then she began running her free bread
carts during the fever panic. No one
went hungry who was within sound of
her cart wheels. From that time on no
one need go hungry in New Orleans
those too poor to buy were given a loaf
fresh and white a. the best, and it was
given heartily, with a God bring thee
better times There was no distinction
in Margaret's favors. She gave to white
and black, of any church, or none. ARE
you hungry that is all that was neces-
sary. Here is bread; take it with Gods
blessing There have been in this city
dread days, which seemed as if God and
everybody had failed us but Margaret;
days when she almost literally fed the
city. During the yellow fever panic
Margaret began her noble work of taking
the children from the homes of death
and putting them into a house under
good care, supporting them herself in
every particular. Soon the n asylum
grew into many; the dozens of her little
charges were numbered by hundreds
and at the time of her death thousands.
At the gate of every orphan asylum in
the city Margaret's bread cart, with it's
smoking rolls, was seen daily; at every
charitable institution whatsoever she
took the privilege of giving her bread