The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1905-06-16
CREOLE DAYS m HONDURAS
Colony OF Louisiana Natives Trsna-
plant Customs of olden Time
70 Adopted Country.

NO more remarkable colony OF
American exiles can be found any,
whore than Toledo settlement. in Brit
ish Honduras. said r. +. Jackson.
OF New Orleans, to a Washington star
reporter a day or two ago. IT IA a
DIT o; Louisiana in tropic settlement
preserved 10 show us what the good
old creole days were like.
There the stately and punictlious
lie o. the vanquished southern aris-
tocracy Is still found with its cere-
monious hospitality. its dne-spun
sticking for the point of honor. its
pride OF ancestry and It's patriarchal
relations between master and servant.
For more than 40 years time has stood
sun, leaving the exiles untouched by
modern progressive ideas and making
their home to-day the truest picture
TO be found anywhere Of life and man
ners Ia the old south 'befo' the wah.'
The close of the civil war found
many Of the planters OF the cotton
states in sore straits Their slaves
mad been set free, their crops and
I'VE stock seized by friend or foe,
their homes burned or despoiled. ana
their plantations turned into a battle
ground for contending armies. AS a
result a considerable number OF the
most prominent families of the south
gathered together such OF their port
able property as had yet escaped the
general wreck and emigrated.
some OF these went to Argentina.
settling near Buenos Ayres. where
the survivors and their descendants
are to-day objects of charity. Mis-
fortune followed them u their new
home, and they are now poorer than
the poorest of the despised white
Trash OF the states they abandoned.
others went TO Canada, considerable
number 10 Cuba, and Others TO the
West Indies. a few to Mexico and Bra
ri. and IA families to British Hon
duras.
"Of these IA families all were from
the hoighborhood of New Orleans. All
belonged to the old creole aristocracy
the proudest and most exclusive in
the land-dating their titles TO their
estates back 10 the early DAYS of
French and Spanish occupation and
boating thar they had kept their
blood pure through all changes OF
government and all yicissitudes OF
fortune. Each family took along such
OF It's former slaves as preferred To
follow the fortunes of their old mas.
ters rather than accept their freedom
and try the uncertain and hazardous
experiment of making their own way
in the world.
The Immigrants arrived in Belize
IN the summer of 1866, and were cor.
daily welcomed by the colonial au.
thorit.es, They were given 600 acres
each Of crown lands and Were exempt.
ed from taxation for ten years. The
new settlement was called Toledo.
The example OF the aristocratic
southerners in carving out for them.
selves new homes in the tropic Jungle
has rarely been emulated. They had
been reared in the lap of luxury. A
host VI slaves had always been ready
TO obey or anticipate their slightest
wish. Yet they set to work with ak
and machete toiling in the woods
alongside their former chattels 10
provide temporary shelters from the
elements and to plant crops for their |
future necessities. and ere long a
Louisiana arose where the 4
lordly palm had held undisputed sway. I
Most of the houses are patterned
after the oldNcolonial mansions of the
south. The blacks are free. OF course. /
but the relations between master and 4
servant are practically the same as
those that existed in the cotton states 4
half century ago. The old black 4
nanny IS still the household tyrant \
and the childrens defender. jast "a
She was in the days OF Uncle Tom.
Tie same open-handed hospitality /
that has always characterized the
sunny south rules in Toledo to-day,
and the tourist or trader who IL drawn
thither on pleasure or business will I
never regret the chance one topic
)f conversation however. is strictly
.aboecd. That is the civil war. The
lost cause is still regarded as holy
and the unregenerated republic is
looked upon as an alien and a foreign
and