THE HESPERIAN,
9
The Crescent city still contains many of the peculiarities
derived from the French. Canal street, the main business
5 treet, divides the city into two portions, the old or French
portion, and the new or American portion. The latter is in
general very nearly like other American cities. At the
French market in the old portion of the city one can see
more of the peculiarities of the people than at any other
place. Here is a long, low, open shed, under which are hun
dreds of little stalls, where is exposed for sale almost every
thing you can think of in the lines of small merchandise,
meats, poultry, fish, vegetables, and fruits. At daybreak
the venders of the various articles come bringing with them
their little stocks in trade. When I approached I was almost
deafened by the cries of the coffee men. They call "cafe
noir, ou cafe au lait". Together with this you may have
bread, onions, garlic, all kinds of broiled or fried meats,
cakes, etc. Here is the fiugal French housewife taking her
cup or "cafe noir" preparatory to the arduous duty of mark
eting for the day. Kow she goes to the meat stalls and after
much bargaining with the owner secures the joint for her
soup. By the way, soup is the omnipresent dish with these
people. They have soup for dinner always, no matter how
much or how little else there may be. Then she goes for her
vegetables. A few pot.itocs, a cairot, a turnip or two, an
onion, a little cabbage, some parsley, parsnips, etc., go to
make up the whole. Thrsc people do not keep any of these
things at home, but buy every day what they need for the
day. There arc a great many sellcis of the same things and
a great many buvcrs, ind as they are composed of all nations'
and are mostly from the lower classes, there is a grca
uproar of voices. Add to this the rattle of the numerous
carts on the rough stone paving of the street and you have
a good sired young pandemonium. Broken English, French,
German, Italian, and Spanish are mingled in almost unin
telligible jargon. Besides all kinds of eatables, I found con
siderable stocks of dry goods, small hardware, notions, all
sorts of curiosities, and in fact everything that was easily
portable. The marketing is nearly all done in the early
part of the forenoon, and in the afternoon most of the ven
ders take their stocks and go home.
On leaving the market I went out into the old French
town. Near Ly is the French cathedral built some hundreds
of years ago. It is very richly decorated and is finished
inside largely with various kinds of marble. In this part of
the city the streets are exceedingly narrow, being scarcely
more than alleys. They are all paved with large square
stones and the sidewalks are of stone. The houses are usu
ally built close up to the walk so that there is no front yard.
At one side is a covered stone walk leading to the rear of the
house where there is a cool, shady, little inner court. Here
are orange and fig trees with other tropical fruits and flowers
so that it is a pleasant place on a warm sunny day. Here
the indolent Creoles love to lie and dream the day away. In
the less crowded parts of the city the houses are set back
from the street. Most of them are low and quite surrounded
by a porch supported on Corinthian columns. At the rear
is seen the universal cistern which holds the water for domes
tic use. This is a tall wooden tank, which collects all the
rainwater that falls on the house. You must remember that
there are no wells so that the only source of good water is
in the clouds.
Passing along the street 1 approached a high brick wall
extending some distance. At last I came to an iron gate
and entered. Inside is a curious assemblage of what has some
resemb ance to tombstones. This is the cemetery of Saint
Roche. In the middle is the quaint little church. There are
no graves so the dead are put in coffins and plated in vaults
above ground. Beautiful trees, shrubs, and flowers make
this a delightful place. One is scarcely at all reminded of a
graveyard, except by the inscriptions upon the vaults.
These are n few of the peculiarities of New Orleans.
There nrc many more but I fear I have already taken too
much space, so you will have to call on me in person for
them. I'. L. HlttliARD.
90 H. J. Weber was not long ago asked to deliver an
address before a medical association at St. Louis. It has
been published in the April number of the American Natur
alist. '91 Harry Reese has been forced to lei ve his studies at
Ann Arbor on account of his health. After spending some
time in Lincoln he will return to graduate in June.
'90 C. E. Tinglcy has an article on "Bond Subsidies to
Rai. roads in Nebraska" in the April number of the Quarterly
your nal of Economics."
'85 Professor Conway McMillan of the university of Min-'
uesota, has been having a series of articles in the Botanical
Gazette.
'89 -Jarcd Smith has about finished his work on the large
number of ferns that he brought back from Mexico.
90 J. W. McCrosky took a very prominent interest in
the organization of the university debating club.
'go Mr. and Mrs. Ansley are going to Europe this sum
mcr on account of Mrs. Anslcy's health.
Miss Nettie Forehand spent a fjw days in Lincoln while
on her way to the Normal at Fremont.
Miss Barr is going to Washington to visit Mrs. Doanc.
formerly Ethel Marslaud.
89 T. A. Williams is woiking on Mr. Smith's collection
of lichens.
'87G. B. Frankforter will come back to Lincoln nex
fall.
'91 Miss Ida Bonnell is the Chicago correspondent fo
the Courier.
'91 Miss Jessie Wolfe is teaching at Orleans, Neb.
'90 Russell recently spent some time in Lincoln.
'90 Edwin Farmer is teaching at Albion.
ATHLETICS.
Bub Hall Notes.
The bad weather has prevented practice by the ball nine,
but the few days which have been fair have been utilized.
The game played on the 161I1 showed clearly that the best
players in the school had found their way into the first nine..
The second nine could not get a man : cross home plate oft
of Barnes' or Blout's delivery. Heald's playing at first base
gives general satisfaction. Dowling in center field puts up a
strong game and is sure at bat. The players, as a rule, are
poor batters, but this is due largely to lack of practice on the
field. J. Robeits, a special student of the university, may
play third base. He is a splendid base runner and batter
and will strengthen the club. It is very difficult to scheduu
any games for the club as Cotner and Doane have no nine
this seavn and Wes eyan will not give our club much prac
tice except wnile our boys are at bat. The Kansas uni
versity has refused to come to any reasonable terms so we
will not meet them this year. The Lincoln state league club
lias games scheduled with other clubs so that we can get no
practice with them. It is difficult to say who we will meet
this season. The club has been reduced to fifteen men and
EEuXsl
