Evening star., 1911-06-11


unaided, had clothed and armed COM
panies, squadrons, battalions and sent
them to the Cumberland and the PO-
tomac. A good three-fourths of them had
sons on distant battlef1elds. some living.
some dead.
We boys saw nothing pathetic In this
array Of old men. To US there was only
rich enjoyment In the scene. II there
was anything solemn about it, why did
the band play polxas? Why was the
strain every day the same gay Ira la
la, ira la. la, ira la la la la? Away
down to the far end Of the line and back
again. the short. stout German drum
case by virtue Of his girth. not height
(as he had himself explained) d)-iourished
his big stick ma ajestically. bursting with
rage at us for casually reiterating at
short intervals In his hearing that .''he
kot 1t NIT his size"
In those beautiful spring afternoons
there was scarcely a man to be found
anywhere out Of uniform. Down on the
steamboat landing, our famous levee, a
superb body of creoles drilled and pa
raded In dark blue uniform. The orders
were given In French, the manual was
French. the movements were quick. short,
nervy. Their about march was four
sharp stamps of their neatly shod feet
un. deux, trois. quatre-that brought
them face about and sent them back,
tramp. tramp, tramp. over. the smooth
white pavement Of powdered oyster
shells. All, the nakedness of that once
crowded and roaring mart.
And there was foreign LEGION Or
course. the city had always been full of
foreigners: but now 1t was a subject of
see how many whom every one had sup
posed to be Americans or citizens OF
Louisiana" bioomed out as British, or
French. or Spanish subjects. But even
sentiment crowded them into the ranks
and forced them to make every show of
readiness to "hurl back the foe," as we
used to call It. And they really served
for much. Merely as a gendarmerie they
relieved just so many Confederate sol
diers of police duty in city under mar
t!al law and enabled them to man forts
and breastworks at short notice whenever
that call should come.
That call. the gray heads knew. was
coming. They confessed the conviction
softly to one another in the counting
room and idle store fronts when they
thought no one was listening. l used
to hear them-standing with my back
turned, pretending to be looking at some
thing down street, but with both ears
turned backward and stretched wide.
They said under their breaths that there
was not q single measure Of defense that
truly. In family councils new domestic
art began to be studied and Tncussed-
the art of hiding valuables.
4 \
There had come grea. silence upon
trade. Long ago the custom warehouses
had begun to show first a growing ROOM
mess, then emptiness. and then had re-
manned shut, and ihe iron bolts and
crossbars of their eIors were gray with
cobwebs. One of them, in which I had
earned my first wages as a self-support-
ing lad, had been turned into a sword
bayonet fact0y ", and / had been turned
out
For some time later the levee had kept
busy: but its stir and noise had gradual
ly decYaed. faltered. turned into the
commerce of war and the clatter of calk-
ers and shipcarpenters. and faded out.
Both receipts and orders from the in
terror country had shrunk and shrunk.
Ind the brave. steady fellows, who at
entry and shipping and cash account
desks could no longer keep a show OF
occupation, had laid down the pen, taken
up the sword and musket and followed
after the earlier and more eager volun-
teers.
There had been one new, tremendous
sport for moneyed men for a while. with
spoils to make 1t interesting The sea-
going towboats of New Orleans were
long, slender side-wheelers, all naked
power and speed. without either freight
or passenger room, each with a single
tall slim chimney and hurrying walking
beam, their low. taper hulls trailing be-
hind scarcely above the water, and per-
petually drenched with the yeast of the
wheels. Some merchants OF the more
audacious sort, restless under the strange
new quiet of Tchoupitoulas street. had
got letters OF marque and reprisai, and let
slip these sharp-nose deerhounds upon
the tardy. unsuspecting ships that came