Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1938-01-13
MORE GOOD LETTERS FROM
DIR. III. I'll. SCOTT


Under date of Jan. 1, 1898, DR.. !
III. HI. Scott, who with his wife Is OH
an extensive southern and western
trip, writes:
A Tale of Glamour and Romance
/ admit this is tale of glamour
and romance. We have been driy,
ing all afternoon along Bayou
Teche, celebrated by LongfellOw in
"Evangeline. 1t is an enhancing
scene. The banks of this beautiful
water is lined on both sides with
negro m shacks Ks, whose whose windows lows SWING nging
needed. Between the huts and the
water are green gardens. sloping
down to the banks, green in De-
cember. This is called the ''sugar
bowl" Of Louisiana. There is cane
everywhere, and negroes are strip
ping it, loading and transporting it
to the mills. The mills we visited:
The syrup and the sugar tasted
good, and we had a sweet time.
home of the Acadians, Christmas
eve. French names abound on all
buildings. All is quaint, unusual.
weird We attended midnight mass
A tableau was shown, representing
the Holy Babe, the Shepherds and
the Royal Family. The peasants
sang carols, in French and English.
The music was familiar, but the.
voices had a foreign sound, and
The large colored population took
the left side of the church. Here a
grotto was completed by one of
their own number, an octoroon.
Both white and black partook of the
Eucharist, the priest placing wafer
on the tip of the tongue of each
one. 1t was impressive, to see the
reverence of the people young and
old alike, going to and from the al.
We may have much to learn about
devotion from them. There was
something very pure and good IN
their faces
We stopped at "Hotel Teche."
Nine. Motere is the proprietor. She
was once Stella Durande. We had
often heard of the famous Galley of
Pines" 1t was planted by slaves
100 years ago, and was the scene o.
the following story told us by Nine.
Durande. Her grandfather was
Charles Durande, a planter, who
owned thousands of acres and hum
dreds of slaves. Two daughters
were married on the same day. They
| marched up this aisle Of pines to
the altar. A cargo of huge spiders
| were brought from China, to spin
webs across these trees. Dust OF
gold and silver was sprinkled on
the webs to form mantle above
the heads of the 1000 guests. II
was most amazing ceremony, this
double .-adding at Bayou 1eche.
Food and wine for the guests were
spread on tables on each side of the
way, and carpets for their feet. At
| the end of the mile was the altar,
before the plantation mansion. The
ceremony lasted for several days.
Now the descendants are poor.
| tbs. Civil war. The mansion was
raided. The slaves were scattered.
| Crops were ruined, carriages splin~
tered, and the fine horses taken
away. Durande died soon after the
war. His estate crumbled, the
sugar mills were destroyed, has
| wealth dissipated. He lies buried
by the Teche down which he ship
ped his sugar 100 years ago. Gone
are the last signs of his grandeur.
| The guests departed 100 years ago
| But the great trees live on, and this
! tale of Acadia, "the home of the
| happy" as Longfellow expresses it,
! lives on too, to be told and retOld
| through the years.
Where the West Begins
A big sign along the way says:
| Scott, Louisiana, where the west
| begins" We found it so. For here
we left behind, the cypress swamps,
bayous and bridges, and came into
| Texas, vast treeless level, with the
| land cultivated, the soil black and
| fertile. Here is an agricultural EN-
pire, where could be moved all the
| hill billies of Appalachila, and the
! immense acreage would scarcely be
diminished. And why not? The
government soon discovered the an
swer. Mountain habits are too
strong, the people will not leave the
little hill farms.
| For three weeks Texas has had
almost steady rains, and flooded
areas, and we carried about lot Of
honest Texas mud. AS we came in
to the state we passed Spindle Top
oil field, with countless tanks and
derricks. Humpbacked Brahman
were grazing in the fields, for the
lone star state is the biggest natural
COW pasture in the country, if not in
the world. Herefords everywhere
have supplanted the picturesque
longhorns. Here too the Mexicaa
| picks one third the worlds supply
of cotton.
We drove our car without stop
right up to the door of the Alamo,
it until told. We entered History
tells us that in March, 1886, 1S3
Americans, including Captain VIM.
J Travis, James Bowie. who gave
name to a wicked looking knife,
David Crockett, and 180 others were
put to death by Santa Anna. No
wonder the republic of Texas be-
came independent at San Jacinto, n
few months later, and Mexico was
, nation that was Texas came into
the union, with Sam Huston, the
hero, it's first governor. The first
| little street urchin we accOsted, gave
his name as Sam Huston and added
! the Mexican name Serrata, as his
last name.
The most interesting part Of the
city is Little Mexico. We visited it's
stores and markets, tortilla and a
romantic, leisurely section is unlike
any other city. We saw the funeral
of little baby, girls dressed in pure
white marching before the white
casket, into the old church. These
people are rich Aztec brown, and
their young people are exceedingly
bright, kindly, appreciative and win.
some. charming climate and peo-
pie.
New Years eve found us in the
streets, with the merry-makers, in
the old city of romance and gaiety.
All the south celebrates the holidays
with fireworks. On sale everywhere,
used freely by everybody, they be-
gan three weeks ago, and long be-
fore midnight bedlam broke loose.
Police had big job to control autos
and crowds. Bells pealing added to
the cheer, and softened the noise