The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-27

NeW OEieaus, Dec. Zo.-FTouaDiy Luo quaintest building in the United States Is the old French Market in New orleans. It is. in truth much moro than mere building--an institution, unique among the market places of America. In it, accord ing to popular opinion, are found great CT variety of products than can be noted in any other place in this countryI and it Is unquestionably true that nowhere else within such a small compass can one dis cover so great a variety of nationalities. languages and quaint customs The flower girls. the old crones. the French villagers, the swarthy sons of Gascony and Sicily--all are there, framed in a stage setting that suggests a blending of the sets in the "Chimes of Normandy" Carmen" and the "Cavaleria Rusti- cana"
 A Kaleidoscope of sights and a Babel of sounds it all is. to be sure! In this age of realistic effects, an everlasting fortune awaits the manager who succeeds In re- producing 1t. As e study in animation, in ''color." and in groupings. the French market Is unique. English. French, span ish and Italian languages in all degrees of purity and impurity mix with the va rious 'lingoes'' of the Gulf Coast folk to make a confusion of sounds that IS de- moralizing to unaccustomed ears. Here IS truly surprising mixture of nationaii- ties. Within few steps of where one stands are stalls presided over by Ger mans, Frenchmen. Chinamen, Hindoos, Jews, Englishmen, Irishmne. Maiays, Spaniards, American Indians. Moors, Ital- ians, Mexicans, Cubans, Creoles, as well as Africans of all shades and blends, from the simon pure negro, black as ebony. down to the nearly white quadroon and the octoroon.
 If you would see the French Market at it's best you should visit 1t Sunday morn- ing, the earlier the better Sunday is the great shopping day of New Orleans as rgareds the buying of market supplies. Hours before sunrise the owners of the various stalls rush to the Market and set their wares in readiness for the early trade, which is always the heaviest. By 6 o'clock the people began to pour in and the hagglins and shouting of wares be- gins and lasts until Il o'clock, when the Market is closed for the day. No visit to New Orleans is ever considered to be com plete without trip to s'the Market" and the residents themselves apparently never tire of inspecting their show place. On Sunday mornings the street cars are usu- ally crowded with fashionabiy dressed people from the uptown section on their way to the Market for cup of the fa- nous Creole coffee, which is popularly supposed to taste better ther than else where in the city.
 But not to see the sights alone do the fashionabies go to the French Market. 1t is a feature of New Orleans's social life, that the best people" in the city still patronize the old Market, which Is now remote from the better residential dis tricts. When 1t was built, in 1S1S, 1t was but a few moments walk from the most fashionable homes in town, but with the city's growth all that has changed. The Market is now in the French Quarter, we'll down toward the river; and tho French Quarter. once the centre of the Crescent City's social life, has become hopelessly commonplace.
 The American invasion first affected the outskirts of the city, and in the course of time the better Creole families follow ed the Americans, leaving the neighb1I- hood in which the Market is situated to new corners from Europe. But when thaJ went they carried their allegiance to tile old Market with them, and gradually the Americans themselves learned that 1t was only at the French Market, squaiiG enough though its surroundings were, that the best and daintiest edibles were to be procured.
 Meantime. as the city increased in size. the street car systems grew apace: but there were many of them and the Oid market found itself handicapped through lack of transfer facilities in competing for the uptown trade. A year or two ago, however, all lines were merged into one and transfers were issued from all parts of the city to that section of the French Quarter containing the Market. As an immediate result business at the old stand at once began to pick up, though the improvement was not due to the is- suance of free transfers alone. The con- solidation of the various lines had brought the fashionable quarter found that they