The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-07-25
MISS cOZART FINDS BEAUTY.
 PROSPERITY AND HISTORY AT BILOXI

proved by visit to the duatnt old cemetery. Here aic the history makers Of this part of -Old Louistana"--Haany of them humble fisher-folk. yet sfoutly aDd vaiiantiy holding the land against Indians and foreign trespassers. payfns due allegiance to the French Govern lnent until they were -basely betrayed by France into the hands of those bas Amercains." Then. accepting philo-. sophica1ly the inevitable. they became good Americana. loving. marrying. fish ing. trading and following the lead or their good priest as he taught them their duty to God and fnan
 The fDdivlJuar was strong in those days. and the yearning that every hu- man being sss ssa ttSsrthhss for thss slae qae es nas from Iockhart and relating siS in- lefiifpfE5ag and hardships. stsrylng the
 AS ore paces slowly and reSrd lntiy the narrow pathways. one can read such good and loyal French names as Lc- fevre Fourette. Courreur; all the m scripfions in quaint French phrases. while not far away Ewiss Bertrand joins these silent lowers of the Nfrsta land. Farther on ifss Norwegian sailor; near him a Swede; little way removed Is Canadian and last ir these historic ranks one finds a few enthu- siastjc New Eng1anders--forerun of the conquering nation that was to be. Great sarcepnagi hold the more pre- tentious dead, on whose entatlatures are cut in stately Spanish, names and dates A few Of the oldest are so temp est wcrn--for they are just of the beach, that the faint lettering can De seen but not read. One of these quaint and very handsome sarcophagi whose 1 Inscription can be read Is that of John F. Nixon and wife, bearing the dates il78s-1s4s; these were near relatives oi somc prominent citizens of Montgonn- cry bearing the same naE1e.
 But tbe ouaintest and most interest 1 ing of all the graves Is that of faith full Frenchman, 1t reads thus:
 "Froncfeus Bertrand. born in New Or leans I7Ss---died in Biloxi, July 1873; and his beloved wife Lizzie. born in the Island of San Domingo 17s5--died in
 Biloxi. 1886, aged 1o1 years. four I mouths"
 what . history is here. He. From
 eious. was, perhaps. a fiery youth of l IS when the New Orleanais shook their 1 fists in the faces of the first detach- l snent of American soldiers who shook cut the Stars and Stripes over their beloved city. thus giving indubitable l evidence that France had reiinquished her fair inheritance. This, while 'Iiz- Eie" was a little maiden of eight sum- iners, perhaps leading just the same sort of life in her West Indian horaE that had been the lot of tho Empress Josephine-
 Then happy fortune throws them to- gether: they become man and wife. l Perhaps, still in New Orleans. they suffer unutterabIe things during the civil wAr--the seize. the surrender oi the city, the humiliatiHg despotism oi 1 Butler. perhaps they could stand nc tmore. so. silently in Creole fashion, the, slipped away to peaceful Biloxi. There comes that dreadful summer of 1s7s- Montgomery's saddest expcrience--ant he succumbs to the grim destroyer. I What a iorg. lonely time stretches before heri How gsod 1t is she can Il not know how long. Then. when she tl
 old, oh, so old. s1ot years
 and four months" she lies dowr
 beside him for the last sleep
 Then, years after, a stranger farins
 that way opened the gate. goes in
 Icoks. reads. tries to understand, zoe
 reverently away. sits beneath a shad. tree on the beach and--writes them {
 second epitaph.
 Toceca Coxart