The sea coast echo. [volume] (Bay Saint Louis, Miss.) 1892-current, 1904-10-22

, ""ous SWordsman, Pepe Lula,
cemetery Owner--A Shrine at which,
NO maiden's Prayer for a Husband
is Eyer Denied.
: New orleans, La, October ig.--AlI.
saints Day Ia one of which people In
many cities may have to be reminded.
because, whatever the delights OF Hall
lowe'en, the first day OF November cer-
''ohiy has no especial Significance in
most sections Of the. United States. In
new Orleans, however, it assumes great
Importance and certainly constitutes an
interesting reminder OF the-i.atin origin
Oh inc city. 1t is essentially the local
substitute Tor Decoration Day-the feast
Oh the sainted dead, the day on which
tne town drops all business cares. when
rich and poor, black and white, the aris-
tocratic landed proprietor and the hum
Die toiler on the levee, inspired alike by
the sentiment Of the day, meet ON com
mon ground to pay tribute to the loved
and lost.
New Orleans celebrates this festival
IN way that justiiies the epigrammatist
VINO gave 1t the title OF "the city of the
carnival, the Creole and the crab. or
ietes and festivals there Is no end in tho
Crescent City, and the celebration n,
An-Saints' Day is in its way hardly less
memorable than the better-known OBJ
servance Of Mardi Gras. Practically
all the old customs OF the dav. dating
back to the year 99s, when It was insti-
tuted by the Abbot of Cluny. are still
regarded.
The population attends mass in the
morning and tnen during the day repairs
70 the cemeteries, where floral wreaths
and other emblems OF love and affection
are laid on the tombs.
NOR Is this mournful occasion, for
you are greeted everywhere by profu-
sion OF gay flowers, and outside the
cemetery gates the street florists, cake
vendors, the refreshment dealers and
praiine women stand in line, not unlike
tne vendors at country fair, save that
there is no vociferous hawking OF wares
AS the decorators pass into the rural
grounds they are met by orphan chill
dren under the espionage of sisters.
TUNES and have a most picturesque APP
pearanc. Their importantly is some
thing you may not ignore, for not only
do they tap their metal contribution
plates with coins TO attract your atten-
tion, but II that ruse fails, they do not
hesitate to raise their voices in clamor-
GUS appeal in the cause of sweet charity.
We have spoken of decorating the
tombs. That is exactly what New Or
leans does on All-Saints' Day, for
graves, in our sense Of the word, do not
exist here. Perhaps nowhere else in
the world is the torn "city OF the dead"
so appropriate to cemetery as in the
quaint delta town. Here, since the
water oozes copiously when one digs
few feet beneath the surface, all bodies
have to be inferred in tombs rather than
in graves, those of the wealthy families
being often elaborate mausoleums, sur
mounted by statues and adorned with
bas-rellefs; those OF poorer people,
vaults of brick covered with stucco.
The sight Of New Orleans cemetery
on All-Saints' Day is not easily forgot
ten by the Northern visitor. The bril-
liant autumn sunlight falls upon a
cleaning city Of white, throwing into
sharp relief the delicate chiseling on
costly tombs; and as the stranger stands
beneath the arched gateway and looks
down the long streets shaded by the
yerdure OF semi tropical trees and
flanked by glorious displays OF flowers,
he gets an illusion of that other city of
stately splendor which sits "by the crys-
tai sea-. New Orleans, beneath its
gayety, is intensely religious and ten
derly reyerent toward the departed,
sparing no expense to make their resting
place one Of loyeliness.
Many stranger on All-Saints' Day
enjoys mousing in the Oldest cemetery
OF the city, ST. Louis No. i; for heres
among the tombs that are huddled to-
gether in confusion are interesting re-
miniscences OF the olden days. Thread
ones way through the tortuous alleys,
one not infrequently stumbles upon a
tomb bearing this inscription: snort
sur lie champ d'honneur". Indeed, at
the very gateway OF the cemetery, on
the left as one enters, stands weather.
beaten slab on which may be deciphered:
, sci git ]. Peut Bertin, Ne Bordeaux,
Mort victime de rhonneur, Age de II
ans". ("Here lies j. Peut Berten'
Born in Bordeaux. Died victim Of
honor. Age rs years. Not far away
IS another slab, which, in reference te
similar tragedy, says simply, "Pooi
Charlie, x. s." These tombs, and very
many others like them, recall the fact
! Chat New Orleans in the old days was
t under "the code" and that duelling wat
the disastrous passion of its high-borr
youth.
: Probably the quaintest OF the city'i
many burial places is the little cemetery
on Louisa street, known as the Pept
Lula. called after famous Spanish
I,al,st ~ that name. Pepe Lula, be-