The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-13
FRANCE IN NEW ORLEANS.
Picturesque Quarter of Great
City-CreOIe Opinion of Cable.

picturesque Quarter of N Grent
City-CreoIe Opinion of Cable.
w. S. HARDWOOD in Ainslee's.
The city of New Orleans is divided
into two sections, the DID, or French
quarter; the new, or American quar-
ter. One lies to the right of the main
street, Canal, at the right end or point,
of the sickle, the French quarter the
other to the feft; the sea is between
them. The French quarter is, In gem
eral terms, a parallelogram running
back from the river perhaps two miles
and about mile in width. In this
quarter live the French people who
have kept in close and intimate touch
with French manners and customs $,
many of the other foreign population,
as the Italians, and the larger number
of that strangely interesting and COM
posite factor, the Creole population. If
you ask Creole if the belief prevail
ing in some parts of the North is
well founded, that a very attenuated
portion of Indian or negro blood may
be in the veins of a Creole, you will
run the risk of FORGETTING for all time
his confidence in your Judgment If
you ask him If he ever reads the
stirring mastery tales of Gable, he
viii look at you with eyes askance and.
mayhap, there will be a glitter in them
as he tells you that Gable and Creole
begin with the same letter, but that
this is as far as the friendship goes;
no, ne does not read Cable, Cable is
not popular in the French quarter; a
Creole. sir, may have Spanish and
French blood intermingled, but the
slightest trace of the other two races
-neveri
Il
IL seems constantly to hear this dis
tinction!-if you ask an American res
ident of New Orleans, as 1 did the
other day. II a Creole might have just
the faintest touch of Indian or Afri-
can blood in his veins coming down
through some distant ancestor, he may
respond, IL he is in the mood for it,
and is not to be quoted in person:
Certainly sir; a Creole doesn't have
such blood, as a rule; the word Gre
ole does not warrant It, but he may
have and still be a Creole"
And so I leave the matter where I
found ii. no better satisfied in my own
mind than before.
In the French quarter of the city are
many of the most interesting places
in this Southern capital, largely in an
excellent state of preservation as old
places go, and yet, to the eye of the
O0ASldNig HOA NdiuGu VI tdIGu IOT as
should be the case when one consid-
ers their historical and romantic inter
est. One may spend weeks knocking
about this quarter. constantly running
into new-old places, very many of
which not only have the curiosly in
teresting foreign flavor of to-day, but
are rich as well in the past The
streets are very narrow and paved,
for the most part, with blocks of stone
about a foot square. Rarely Is
house seen more than three stories in
hight; ! recall none more than four.
Everywhere are open sewers, where all
the surface water may flow away. The
gallery Is a New Orleans institution in
both the American and the French
quarter. On these galleries or balcon-
les many OF them made OF the most
delicate and interesting lronwork de-
signs, sou may see in the French quar-
ter In the golden sunlight OF a warm
March day the hutterlng family wash
or a couple OF comfortable gossips ex-
changing the latest domestic or for
elRn news across the slender street. or
you may see a snarl Of curiy-headed
children Cabling away In French. At