The Opelousas courier., 1892-08-20
SaIutatory
Real Estate Journal

intention to give widespread clrcnia
tion to a monthly paper that will ad
vertise the advantages of and bring t.
ISShe notice of those in search Of home
in a genial climate and fertile countr.
a section upon which nature has Law
ished her richest charms, and accord
ed to man for his habitatiop a Ian
where he has as little contention will
the rude forces of the clements, as
perhaps exists in any other portion o
the habitable globe. A place where
man with meagre effort can at leas
earn a livelihood and where energy
and capital properly directed are re
warded with the richest returns. 4
climate in which cyclonic disturbance
are rarely experienced and where
billiards and frosts are never so sewers
as to interfere with the ordinary voca
tons of life: where the intensity ant
su~ltriness of summers heat is evel
famed by the invigoratiDg breezes
from the Mexican gulf, rendering the
season less oppressive than in less IA
yored sections, reducing the occurrence
of sunstrokes to a minimum and en-
| abling the denizens of this land to labor
at any and all seasons of the year.
A soil which, with fair treatment
readily responds to the demands of the
agriculturist and horticulturist and
yields to them in its diversified pro.
ducts a large return for the efforts OK
pended in their production. A sky
that rivals in it's azure beauty the ar.
tistic conceptions of Italy's c~erulean
arches under whose broad canopy mar
finds a home of peace, contentment
and plenty. This is a portion of the
land rendered famous in song by Long
fellows beautiful and pathetic portray
al of the Wanderings Of Evangeline in
her long and arduous search for her
exiled lover; and which, if surrounded
with the proper and methodic rela
tions of ORGANISED society would be a
veritable Eden, the garden spot of the
Continent. The productions of our
soil are as diversified as perhaps those
of the most favored sections, embrac-
ing cotton, corn, oats, sugar and rice
as staple crops, and vegetables and
fruits of all classes and kinds peculiar
to a. Southern country, and includes
within its confines vast forests of such
woods as the manufacturing demands
of the world must soon make reqnisi-
ton for in the list are embraced cy-
press, pine, oak of different varieties,
gum, maple, poplar, beech, magnolia.
sycamore, elm, linn, hickory and
many other varieties. These forests,
comparatively speaking, are still vir-
gin in many quarters, and can be pur
chased at almost nominal prices. With
all these advantages, it may be asked
why such a favored country had not
already come nor to the front and
ere now attracted the attention of the
great hord of homeseekers and invest
ors. The question is suscepti BILE of
several solutions +: First our social con-
ditions may be assigned as one of the
causes second, until recently and
even now inadequate. transportation
facilities, and last but not least, a want
of enterprise, energy and snap
among the people who inhabit this
country. The original population be-
gan life az a pastoral people, living in
contentment and ease from the pro
ceeds of the immense herds of cattle
which formerly roamed over our broad
prairies. Then came the era of slave
labor i'm agriculture which had its ton
dency toparalyzet the energies and keep
latent the spirit of go-aheadativness
found in other communities where
everyone is thrown on his own re-
sources in the great struggle of life.
nn~IskSarr EaSfn1 - ~
those attributes of push, inventiveness
and business expeditiyeness character
izing the people of less favored sections,
and presents a forcible illustration of
that maxim of sociology which says
that where nature does the mostforman
he does the least for himself. But as
the physical conditions of the country
are being changed we may expect a
corresponding modification of the so
cial and intellectual conditions of the
people who inhabit that country. The
vast cattle ranges are rapidly being
fenced up, the slave has been freed,
and men are now forced to rely. on
their individual efforts to secure d liv.
lihood, and become prosperous citizens.
and the effect of this change of condi.
lions is each year becoming more
marked.
The vast and broad expanses of prai-
RE which heretofore only grew d
for the herds to feed on, are being
transformed into farms, and to-day, in
many places, where but d few years
ago nothing could be seen bnt the
wild steer and his co-inhabitant of the
plain, the creole pony, and the tall
grass which provided them their NOR
sci of food, are to be found waving
fields of rice and cotton and sugar cane
and corn, titled with improved machi-
merry and bringing especially to the
rice and ane grower a handsome re-
turn for his labor and investments.
So, to all parties who desire to secure a
home in the fairest land on the Ameri-
can Continent, ne present the section
known al Southwestern Louisiana,
and especially that portion known as
the Parish of st. Landry. We invite
them TO come among ne and see what
have in the way of lands and other
opportunities for the investment Of
and do when they come, we
promise to extend to them q hearty
welcome and acordial hospitality.