The age-herald., 1901-04-27
LITERARY TREAT
 BY MR, DELEON
 | His Lecture Dealt With the
 Historic Creole AN INTERESTING STUDY MT. De Leon Explained the Origin of Mardi Gras and Told of the Gus toms of the creole-cause
 of the Civil War.
AN INTERESTING STUDY

and lecturer, gave his lecture on the Creole, and his surroundings, in the as- sembly hall of the Pollock Stephens In- stitute to a good sized and appreciative audience last night. The lecture was given under tho auspices of the Daughters of the Confederacy.
 MT. DeLeon was introduced by Rev. pr. John c. Murray. rector of the Church of the Advent. and after expressing his grat- itude for the privilege of once more ad- dressing an audience in his own State. said that he had recently been through the west delivering the lecture on the Creole. The people in tho west. he said. had a misconception of the character and type of the Creole. whom they believed to be of mixed blood: that Is part white and part negro. He gave 8 history of the or igin of the word as applied to the Creole element of the gulf coast population. He said the word. when literally translated. meant born here" The Creole. he said, is the child of foreign French parents born upon American soil
 MT DeLeon gave a brief history of the landing of the first French settlers at
 
 veloping the country tributary thereto. Mobile was the first capital of the Louis- jana province, long before New Orleans was ever thought of by the Europeans, who came over to this country to live. The French invariably sent their chill dren to Paris to be educated and the Creoles continued to follow this custom until the civil war
 The speaker said the Creoles would have nothing to do with the English speaking population around them, and refused to speak the English language, even though they understood it perfectly. He said the only thing in which the Gre ole of today differs from his ancestors is in the fact that he smokes cigarettes, whereas his early French settles did not.
 Creoles of New Orleans.
 Taking up the Creoles of New Orleans he said they lived in their own little quarters across Canal street. and until re- cent years mixed but little with the peo- pie of other nationalities. He said they are not workers and most of them are poor They are fond of colors and of having a good time. He said the Creole was the real cause of the war between the states, not through any overt act committed, but because there was in this broad country the Creole, the Puritan, the Chevalier and the Dutch Knickerbocker, peoples as dissimilar as two races. They were living under laws made for all, but not adapted to the different conditions. The Creoles of the Gulf coast and the Chevaliers of Virginia were cousins and their tastes were along the same lines, while the Plymouth Rock Puritans and the Dutch Knickerbockers had kindred interests. From the clashing of these in terests grew the war. It had to come. There were people living in the same country and under the same laws that could not fuse, but in the four years war waged by the states of the South on the one side and the states of the North on the other they did fuse.
 Mir. DeLeon attributed the wonderful progress of the South in the last two de- cades to the war He said the country would never have advanced materially or aesthetically had the people remained contented with their conditions as they were prior to the great conflict between the sections.
 Origin of Mardi Gras. He gave a history of the origin of the Mardi Gras carnival In this country, say ing 1t originated in Mobile seventy years ago. Michael Craft Of Mobile got drunk one New Years eve and he and a number of other convivial spirits conceived the idea of gathering up COW bells. tin pans and other implements of noise and seren- ading the mayor. The mayor invited them into his house and gave them drink They took the mayor as prisoner and went to serenade others. They had such a good time that they decided to repeat the performance the next year, and from that grew the carnival that is every veal | celebrated in Mobile and New Orleans. The Creoles took up the carnival because of their love for beauty and color and their longing to transplant their | European Paris to their American home. | They are intensely selfish, but loyal to their sw eethearts, and some of them to | their wives. They are tenacious peo- | pie and cling to customs and the tradi- tions of the old country and their an- | cestors
 The Creoles have in recent years made great progress. said the speaker, and now number of them occupy high places in literature and the arts. They give the best opera to be seen in America, and go down into their pockets to do it. The | French opera at New Orleans costs them | great sums of money, but they love 1t, | and count not the cost.
 1 New Orleans, he said, is the last Euro- l pean city in America. The laws of Lou isiana are the old French laws. the Code | of Napoleon.
 He alluded to the Cathedral and the | French Market at New Orleans as sur | vivals of the old customs. He said the