New-York tribune., 1920-02-08

were Wine and Song.
But Wine is dead, and Song is
dead. Wine died at the hands of the
Eighteenth Amendment; Song per
ished in the flames that DESTROYED
the home OF opera, for which New
Orleans was famous for sixty years.
And so there is little left of the Joy
Of Life in the Vieux Carre, the old
French quarter of the Crescent City,
Without Wine and without Song
what is there to maintain for New
Orleans its reputation as one Of the
three cities in America with an in
dividuality?
And so, the Vieux Carre is Ian
gushing to-day, dying slowly of in
anition, of thirst, of the lack of sun
shine such as radiates from the
countenances Of happy tourists. of
want Of food Of that sort hitherto
bought bountifully upon the occasion
Of visits by free-handed sightseers.
1t is pitiful tableau to contemplate.
A Two-Souled City
It might be we'll to touch on a
little local geography at this point,
To begin with, New Orleans is, or
rather was, twin city-two-souled
to the core. To quote the somewhat
oratorical j. Kemp Ridgely, for
many years the custodian Of Louis
vile & Nashville interests south
Of Birmingham, "old man Jean-Bap-
tiste Bienville, who founded the town
way back in 171s, must have laid
out the old burg under the Sign of
Gemini.' The idea is sufficiently
fanciful to be worth repeating at the
risk Of historical and astronomical
inaccuracy.
Stand in the middle Of Canal
Street, the widest thoroughfare in
America" says the oracular Mr..
Ridgely. "and you can feel the two
hearts Of New Orleans beating-one
on each side Of you"
In this he is not fanciful; the as
sertion is Literally true.
To the north lies the Vieux Care.
the old Creole city, where the
streets are too narrow for double
streetcar lines and each block yies
with the next in haunted houses and
buildings with a past, and until re-
Gently with buvettes and tables
d'hotes FRANCHISES ct espagnoles,
each ready to back for any amount
Of money it's respective chef in a
sauce-mixing duel, or the contents
OF Its wine cellars in an old-age
match.
In this Latin quarter Of the city
was all there was of interest to the
tourist. The use Of the past tense
IS involuntary. The area is not
large; one might easily traverse on
foot every worth while street Of the
Vleux Carre in the period of two
hours. The south boundary is Canal
Street, the north Esplanade Avenue,
probably a dozen blocks o. a little
more; the west boundary is North
Rampant Street and the east is the
river front, probably eight blocks.
The section was, is and always will
be the habitat Of the foreign ele-
ment Of New Orleans. The tourist
Of twenty, fifteen, ten or five years
ago, returning to New Orleans to-
day will find comparatively little
change, physically, in the Vieux
Carre. Mainly, the distinctive build
ing which he will miss will be the
noted French Opera House, built in
1853 at cost of s11s,00O, after
architects and builders had gone to
france especially to study the most
approved designs. 1t was the first
temple OF amusement erected in the
United States to be dedicated ex-
clusively to grand opera. Many Of
the most noted singers the world has
ever heard sang in this opera house;
among them the incompatible Patti,
who was once member Of the per-
manent company which musical New
Orleans supported nearly three-quar-
tcrs of century ago.
A fire, the origin Of which has
rot been determined, destroyed this
historical structure early in the
morning of December a last. AS
becomes any event in the old quar-
Ter, it was a most spectacular fire,
With full warrant to be spoken of
respectfully as a confiagration. With
the venerable "Frenchtown" bliss
fully sleeping, about $3.50 o'clock,
its cafes sealed up several hours
before under the dry laws, there
came sudden blast that woke all
the slumberers in Bourbon Street
between Bienville and Toulouse
streets.