Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-08-20
MARKET NEW ORLEANS.
It's Glories Passing Away with the Dying
Out of the CreoleG
Philadelphia Pressl

iPDiadelpnla fTess'J
The qlories of the French market in
New Orleans have been told for two gen.
eratlons. The tlme has seemingly come
when It's requiem is to be sung. Tho
French market is there III oil Its pecu-
liaritv Of shape and stall offerings. There
are the same golden heaps OF oranges from
the Indian river, lemons from Messlna
and California, tropical grapes with their
purple color so ricn IN them that nothing
imperial ca sar ever wore could vie WIN
their beauty. Pyramids OF yellow
sauashes from the Louisiana lowlands and
beans and beets and berries In endless
profusion and confusion.
There is the same noisy chatter OF Tor.
elgn tongues, there Is no dimlnutlon OF
the crowds who dicker and chaner
around the wooden stalls, but the glory
of the market, the old creoles, the beau.
teous maidens with a stout nanny
and a chunky negro boy, basKet-ladehed'
Tagging after them a slender, wlry, ner-
vous man with gray-haired coloTed man
trudglng along at his side with basket
filed with good things of the earth-all
are gone, and the French market Is french
now IN nothing but name.
Another tongue IS fast supplantlng tho
liquid tones OF tho language OF old France.
The Italians, dark-hued, Sowing men.
with fierce NeapolItan and COrslcan oaths
III their boards stout women of swarthy
race. heavy features. bare arms, and pom
derous Cirth, stand and call their goods
and wares to the passorby. These are the
people known by the discriminating sailors
and careless Americans as " dagoeS," ana
they almost rule the market.
10 those who have never seen the
French market IN It's glory, 1t may be SAID
that II is simply succession of roofs, up
held by great, square, squattv pillars OF
brlckwOrk beyond Jackson Square, and
within a stones throw of the yellow Mis-
sissippl. It's proximity TO the old french
quarter OF New Orleans; the fact that IN
ITS beginning and at ITS zenith II was tho
grand Lazaar of the creoles OF ante-belium
and post. bellum days, and that even now
In It's decadence the flavor of Its former
prestige IN the market OF the world still
clings to It in the strange and fascinating
tongue of the emlgres, makes II place
worth visiting.
There was O timo when these great
yaulted arcades were peopled with men
and women-black and white, rich ana
poOr-all OF whom spoke the pdt0iS THAT
George ". Gable has enshrlned IN Ola
Creole DAYS" Then were tho times when
the Maschandes were picturesque figures
in the midst of the wealth OF color that
stood out In glaring masses from every
known edible product 81 the vegetable
world against the black background OF the
old buildings themselves. Those were
DAYS worth recalling.
Those were the times when the mighty
racers Of the Misslssippi-the Lee ana
katcaez- vomited volumes OF black smoke
from smoke stack alt o yes, while down be-
low q dozen darkies were passing coal.
and, as the 10. end goes, smashing mp
tierces OF hams 10 feed the flames.
with lIO.pound roustabout roosting
on the safety-valve. II was in this pc
Rod that the French market was at its
best. but tho racers will race no more as
in the old days. aud the beauteous maldens
and handsome mon and gentle matrons
OF the creole days are sleeping IN the old
Bayou cemetery.