The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1935-07-11
High|ights Of An
Auto Tour
BY THE EDITOR
FIFTH INSTALLMENT
More OF New Orleans.

One OF the tnlnBS IN the COuln Indl
attracts the interested attention of the
visitor from the North is the massive
oak trees The oak trees are old and
huge and gnarled They stand with
dignity and strength. They rise to re-
spectible heights and their huge limbs
jut out in all directions, often to a dis
lance of SO to rs feet. We saw many OF
them with limbs extending the entire
width Of a street.
And all those oak trees are clothed
in masses of Spanish moss The gray
moss hangs from every branch in long
festoons and sheets. In many instances
the moss is so dense on tree that the
tree itself is almost hidden from view.
At first Northern visitor is attracted
by this moss in the live oaks but I
will confess that | soon wearied Of it
and much preferred to see the trees
without this dressing of gray
Not Native to America.
Many of such oaks are to be seen in
New Orleans. They were pointed out
to us by our tour guide. He said the
moss was not native to America but
that it had been introduced here by
Ponce de Leon who brought some of
it from Spain. hence its name, Spanish
moss. We do not know whether that is
a true explanation of its introduction
but be that as it may, the moss is GER
tainly much in evidence now in the
southern section Of the country. Some
one asked the guide why the trees
were called live oaks" His answer was
that the moss did not live on dead trees
and the practice had grown up of re-
ferring to the Spanish moss on live oaks
and from that grew the common cx-
preston live oaks.
The tour included a visit through
beautiful Audubon park This is a
wonderfully beautiful city park named
for Audubon, the great ornithologist,
who lived in New Orleans for many
years, In that park are some excellent
specimens of live oaks, a short avenue
of them, with a walk beneath, and with
their gnarled and hoary branches
reaching out in a great canopy over
ones head; an ideal lovers lane Here.
we were also shown the dueling oaks
Under those magnificent trees many
a brave and reckless fellow has lost
his life In the early days, dueling was
common practice. Men fought for the
merest trifle or for nothing. 1t is said
the city had number of expert fenc-
ing masters, and at that time every
young gentleman must become skilled
in fencing, as a matter of course An
other story is to the effect that one
congressman fought IS duels under
those oaks during an intermission of
congress. One United States senator.
walked out there early one morning to
his death, A bit of history says that on
one Sunday 10 duels were fought there
Elsewhere we were shown suicide
oak forget how many people the
guide said had shuffled off. the mortal
coil under that oak, having become
tired Of it all"
The live oaks are distinct feature
of the South, because Of their age,
their huge size, their clothing Of Span-
ish moss, their general beauty They
apparently grow everywhere, but with
special size and beauty in New Orleans.
Cardinal Birds Beautiful.
We saw a few cardinal birds while
in the South. While in Audubon park
we noticed splotch of fire red hang
ing high in the foliage of tree. In
curry elected the information that it
was cardinal bird 1t was too distant
for good view, but it appeared to
be merely ball of beautiful red sub
stance. Fire red" is not a good term,
for the color-against the green foliage
was much richer, much more red
than is fire. A beautiful sight
We were also interested in the mock
ing birds. We saw hundreds Of these
lively little birds-about the size and
somewhat the same color as the cat
bird of the North. All of us have
probably heard since childhood that
popular ballad, Listen to the Mocking
Bird" with the performer initiating at
intervals the song Of the bird. ! hoped
to hear the real song of the bird and
see what it was really like But / met
with disappointment in that respect I
heard many of the hooking birds
chirping and making short little forays
into song but that was all. They did
not favor me with any sustained or
continued singing. was told the birds