Black-necked Stilt. (Himantopus mexicanus.) Long pink legs and black and white plumages. Shallow water in marshes, rice-fields, etc. Seen in summer, arriving in March.

Becasse (Creole). Woodcock. (Philohela minor.) Swift rising and falling flight, long bill, peculiar position of the eyes. Bogs and swamps. Common in midwinter, but a few remain to breed. The severer the winter the more plentiful they are.

Becassine (Creole); Jack Snipe. Wilson's Snipe. (Gallinago delicata.) Erratic flight, rasping note and long bill. Wet fields and marshes. The bulk arrive in September, the extent of the numbers remaining in winter probably depending on the condition of their feeding grounds where they arrive in the fall. North-bound migrants are abundant in the latter part of March.

Dormeur (Creole). Eed-breasted Snipe. (Macrorhampus scolopaceus.) Similar to common snipe in form, but has a reddish breast. Flies in flocks and not so swiftly as the Jack Snipe. Seashore or wet places inland. Fairly common in some localities in spring and fall. Breeds north of the United States.

Cherook (especially applied to thi«; species, but also applicable to all its closer allies). Pectoral Sandpiper; Grass Snipe. (Tringa maculata.) Rapid, rolling, nearly chattering notes; compactness and strange manceuvers of flocks in

, flight. Ponds, wet fields and pastures when occurring inland. Present at New Orleans, sometimes from the first week of March until May. Returns from the North by the middle of July, remaining until late in the fall.

Least Sandpiper. (Tringa minutilla.) Very small size. Coasts and pond-borders inland. Sometimes observed with the previous species during the migrations. Also winters sparingly.

Semipalmated Sandpiper. (Ereunetes pusillus.) Greatly resembles the previous species; slightly heavier and warier. Often occurs with preceding species.

Sanderling. (Calidris arenaria.) Extent of white and light gray in plumage. Seashore. As this bird is common in August and September on the coast of Mississippi, its occurrence on the beaches of Lake Pontchartrain is always probable.

Big Clook-clook. Tell-tale; Greater Yellow-legs. (Totanus melanoleucus.) Long, yellow legs and loud, but melodious double note. Marshes and other wet places. Common in spring and fall in the remoter localities. Some winter. Arrives from the South in March and return from the North in July, some wintering. Nests in Northern States and northward.

Clook-clook. Lesser Tell-tale; Yellow-legs. (Totanus flavipes.) Hardly distinguishable from the former except by its smaller size. Marshes and other wet places. Common in spring and fall in the remoter localities, and a little more common, perhaps, than the preceding. Nests as the preceding.

Swee-sweet. Solitary Tattler. (Totanus solitarius.) Shrill note and purely white under parts. Ponds. Arrives early in March and is abundant for over six weeks; returns from the North in July. Breeds in the Northern States and northward.

Papabotte. Bartamian Sandpiper; Field Plover. (Bartramia longicauda.) Soft, liquid notes, something like "quit-quit" of "whip-a-whip." Fields and pastures. Passes north in great numbers in the later part of March, and is present through April, at least. Returns from the North in July. Breeds northward from the Middle States.

Chevalier de Batture. Spotted Sandpiper. (Actitis macularius.) Wary and fond of shores and small streams, progressing by curved flights from point to point. Chiefly a migrant in April and after the middle of July in fall. A few remain to breed.

Long-billed Curlew. (Numenius longirostris.) Sickle-shaped bill, large size and dark plumage.

Golden Plover. (Charadrius dominieus.) Migrant in spring and fall. Breeds in the far North.

Killdee. Killdeer. (Aegialitis voeifera.) Shrill call, from which the name is taken. Fields, pastures, etc. Most abundant from November 1 to March 1. Breeds in all parts of the United States.

Semipalmated Plover. (Aegialitis semipalmata.) Eesembles the former, but smaller, and has bright yellow legs. Edges of ponds when found inland. Migrant in April and in the fall after the first half of July.

Turnstone. (Arenaria interpres.) Variegation of the white, black and chestnut plumage. Seashore, and wanders inland. Near New Orleans occasionally.

Partridge. Bob White. (Colinus virginianus.) Fairly common on sugar plantations near New Orleans. March-August.

Wild Turkey. (Meleagris gallopavo.) Not uncommon within reasonable distance of New Orleans.

Passenger Pigeon. (Ectopistes migratorius.) In very cold weather a few of these birds have been driven southward to localities near New Orleans.

Dove. Mourning Dove. (Zenaidura macroura.) Doves always become more plentiful in the latitude of New Orleans about October 1.

Ground Dove. (Columbigallina passerina.) Small size and bright chestnut color on the under surface of the wings. Eather a rare bird, coming to Louisiana in summer.

Buzzard. Turkey Buzzard; Turkey Vulture. (Cathartes aura.) Numbers do not change throughout the year. Nesting begins in January.

Buzzard. Black Vulture; Carrion Crow. (Catharista atrata.) Wings without the pointed appearance and graceful curves seen in the preceding species, and having whitish spaces at their tips; flapping of the wings more frequent than in the Turkey Buzzard. Numbers do not change throughout the year.

Swallow-tailed Kite. (Elanoides forficatus.) Black and white plumage and long, deeply-forked tail. Soars over low woods, fields or marshy places. A summer bird, coming by April.

Mississippi Kite. (Ictinia mississippiensis.) Deep slaty and blackish plumage and shrill whistle. Open parts of the woods. A summer bird, coming by April.

Chocolatier (Creole). Marsh Hawk. (Circus hudsonius.) Conspicuous white spot on rump, contrasting with the slaty blue of the adult birds, and the reddish or chocolate brown of the younger ones. Fields, marshes and other open places. September-March.

Sharp-skinned Hawk. (Accipiter velox.) Eather small size, medium wings and moderately long tail. Known at New Orleans chiefly or wholly as a winter bird.

Blue Darter. Cooper's Hawk. (Accipiter eooperi.) Eesembles the preceding, but larger. Known chiefly or wholly as a winter resident at New Orleans.

Chicken Hawk. Red-tailed Hawk. (Buteo borealis.) Bright reddish upper surface of tail in mature birds. Tree-dotted fields in winter. October-March, commonest in mid-winter.

Harlan's Hawk. (Buteo borealis harlani.) Blackish plumage, the bird being a dark sub-species of the preceding.

Chicken Hawk. Eed-shouldered Hawk. (Buteo lineatus.) Loud, screaming call, like "kee-air-kee-air," and rich reddish tan color of the under parts in mature birds. Tree-dotted fields. Commonest in winter, but found sparingly in summer. Mating begins in January or earlier.

Broad-winged Hawk. (Buteo latissimus.) Woodland. Not found nearer New Orleans than in the neighboring pine belts.

White-headed Eagle; Bald Eagle. (Haliaeetus leucocephalus.) Dark plumage, large size, and white head and tail in adults. Regularly resident, but not common.

Pigeon Hawk. (Falco columbarius.) General resemblance to Sparrow Hawk in form, but plumage darker and without red on tail. Fields and other open places with occasional trees. Arrives from the North in September and remains until March. Breeds north of the United States.

Cleek-cleek. American Sparrow Hawk. (Falco sparverius.) Noisy notes, small size, and reddish tail, the back blue in the male. Fields and edges of the woods. Common from September until the middle or latter part of March. Breeds rarely or never in the latitude of New Orleans, but slightly to the northward.

Fish Hawk; Osprey. (Pandion haliaetus carolinensis.) Large size; whitish breast. Large bodies of water. May be observed in the vicinity of New Orleans occasionally.

Barn Owl. (Strix pratincola.) Light, almost whitish plumage. Old buildings and sugar houses in the country about New Orleans. Resident and not particularly common.

Field Owl. Short-eared Owl. (Asio accipitrinus.) Diurnal habits and fondness for grassy or slightly marshy fields. Rather common, October-March. Nests chieflv in the North.

Hoot Owl. Florida Barred Owl. (Syrnium nebulosum alleni.) Strange, wild notes, heard mostly at night; cross barring of the breast and lengthwise streaking of the belly. Swamps and groves. Eesident and common.

Florida Screech Owl. (Megascops asio floridanus.) Small; high-pitched, trilling notes, heard at night. Trees in fields, often near houses. Eesident; rather uncommon.

Great Horned Owl. (Bubo virginianus.) Great size and conspicuous ear tufts. Swamps and woods. Resident, and only fairly common.

Eain Crow. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. (Coceyzus americanus.) Slender form and rapid call of croaking notes. Groves, woodland and swamps. Abundant summer resident; common from April 20 to October 10; extreme dates of migration, April 6 and November 1. Breeds May-July.

Black-billed Cuckoo. (Coceyzus erythrophthalmus.) Found only in migration; rare.

Belted Kingfisher. (Ceryle aleyon.) Blue and white plumage, heavy crest, rattling notes. Ponds, streams, lakes, etc. Eesident and common.

Southern Hairy Woodpecker. (Dryobates villosus audubonii.) Black and white streaked back. Swamps and woodland. Eesident; not very common.

Downy Woodpecker. (Dryobates pubescens.) Similar to preceding, but smaller. Woods and groves. Resident; common.

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. (Sphyrapicus varius.) Yellow under parts, with black and crimson throat-patch. Woodland and groves. Winters plentifully from October 15 to March 15. Breeds in the North.

Log Cock; Pileated Woodpecker. (Ceophloeus pileatus.) Large size, chiefly black plumage, red crest, loud rattling cry. Heavy swamps and woods (usually). Eesident and rather common.

Red-headed Woodpecker. (Melanerpes erythrocephalus.) Tri-colored plumage, the head being scarlet. Groves and edges of the woods about cultivated fields. Eesident; in recent years well established at Audubon Park, and better represented there than anywhere else about New Orleans. April-July.

Red-bellied Woodpecker. (Melanerpes carolinus.) The vermilion crown patch and otherwise plain, barred plumage. Swamps and groves. Resident; commonest in winter usually.

Yellow Hammer. Flicker; Yellow-shafted Woodpecker. (Colaptes auratus.) Yellow feathers in wings; somewhat pigeon-like in shape. Open woods. Commonest in fall, but resident.

Chuck-wiU's-widow. (Antrostomus carolinensis.) Evening cry resembling the words "chuck-wiirs-widovv." Great gape of bill. Low growth of the woods. Found very rarely in such a country as lies about Xew Orleans. Arrives late in spring and leaves late in fall.

Whip-poor-will. (Antrostomus vocifenis.) The cry from which the bird is named. The lower parts of the woods. Known only as a migrant; rare.

Bull-bat. N'ighthawk. (Chordeiles virginianus.) Ease of flight, length of wings, large white mark on outer part of wing. Open places. Arrives by April 10, becoming common later in the month; most disappear early in May. Return in August, and a few remain until November 1.

Chimney Swallow. Chimney Swift. (C'haetura pelagica.) Crescent-shaped outline, blackish plumage. Sometimes arrives March 14, becoming common from the last week of March. Leaves at the end of October. Abundant. Mating begins by April 1.

Euby-throated Hummingbird. (Trochilus colubris.) Spots where flowers are blooming. The majority arrive after March 20; most leave before October 15, the last migrants disappearing by Xovember 1. Winters very rarely. Breeds April-July.

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. (Milvulus forficatus.) Long, forked tail and gray, whitish and pink or scarlet plumage. Fields near the edges of the woods. Has been found locally on sugar plantations near New Orleans, especially at the Fairfield plantation, Jefferson Parish, on the west bank of the Mississippi. It is common only as far as eastern Texas.

Black or Big Grasset (Creole). Kingbird; Bee Martin. (Tyrannus tyrannus.) Blackish upper parts, white under parts. Edges of woods, orchards, etc. Arrives after March 20 and remains until October 1. Commonest in August and September, rarely seen at New Orleans in the nesting season.

Croque (Creole). Crested Flycatcher. (Myiarchus crinitus.) Woods and groves. Arrives about March 25-28 and is common until fall.

Phcebe-bird. (Sayornis phoebe.) Large head, with slightly crested appearance. The emphatic note from which the name arises. Fields, thickets, fence-rows, etc. Common winter resident, arriving the first week in October and leaving by April 1-6.

Wood Pewee. (Contopus virens.) Plaintive note, like the word "pe-wee," much drawn out. Groves and edges of the woods. Common summer resident from April 1 to October 20, the last loitering until nearly November 1.

Green-crested Flycatcher. (Empidonax virescens.) Swamps and woodland. Arrives about April 6-8 and remains until the end of October. Common, but not conspicuous.

Traill's Flycatcher. (Empidonax traillii.) Thickets in fields and woodland. Has been noticed occasionally in spring and fall as a transient.

Least Flycatcher. (Empidonax minimus.) Somewhat open places. A transient spring and fall migrant, unaccountably rare.

Blue Jay. (Cyanocitta cristata.) Crested head, rather large size and blue feathers. Woods and groves. A common resident.

American Crow. (Corvus americanus.) Commonest in winter.

Tish Crow. (Corvus ossifragus.) Smaller than the common crow, skilled in picking small fish from the water; also feeds with vultures on animals not killed by itself, but not to be confused with the Black Vulture, or Carrion Crow. Rivers or the seashore.

Ortolan; Ricebird. Bobolink; Reedbird. (Dolichonyx oryzivorus.) Streaky yellowish plumage of birds seen in the fall. Marshes and rice-fields. Passes northward from the tropics in April and is present in great numbers in the latter part of September, but is not often common in the immediate neighborhood of New Orleans.

Cowbird. (Molothrus ater.) Nearly uniform black plumage of the male and grayish brown of the female, and stumpy bill. Wooded pastures and edges of the woods. Seen at New Orleans only in winter, especially during February.

Ricebird (see also Bobolink); Petit Choc. Red-winged Blackbird. (Agelaius phoeniceus.) Red-shoulder patches of the male, contrasting with black. Marshes in nesting season, swamps in winter and in early spring. Always present and abundant, but not stationary. Breeds April-July.

Caille Prairie (Creole); Field Lark. Meadow Lark. (Sturnella magna.) Brown-back, yellow breast and white feathers in tail. Fields and meadows. Commonest at New Orleans in the meadows of Audubon Park, where it has become resident. Mating begins in April.

Pape Prairie (Creole); Poplaree; Pop. Orchard Oriole. (Icterus spurius.) Chestnut and black plumage of male and bright, loud song. Groves, meadows and orchards. Arrives March 22-25 and remains in abundance until September 15 or 20. Nesting begins the middle of April.

Baltimore Oriole. (Icterus galbula.) Bright orange and black plumage. Groves and open woodland. Known only as a rare migrant in April, especially about the 25th.

Eusty Blackbird. (Scolecophagus carolinus.) Resembles the Red-winged Blackbird in size, but has no special markings. Females more gray than black. Open wet woods and thickets in fields. Abundant from the middle of November until the middle of April, the last leaving about May 1. Breeds north of the United States.

Choc; Choc de Bois (Creole). Florida Grackle; Crow Blackbird. (Quiscalus quis-cula agelaius.) Rather large; comparatively uniform black plumage. Swamps, groves and woodland. Resident and abundant. Nesting begins about April 1.

Choc de Prairie (Creole). Boat-tailed Grackle. (Quiscalus'major.) Large size, long tail in male; smaller size and grayish brown plumage in female. Marshes in mating season (beginning about April 1) and fields in winter. Resident and abundant.

Purple Finch. (Carpodacus pujpureus.) Impurely rosy red plumage, becoming crimson on crown. Edges of woods. Sometimes fairly common in winters with very cold spells; has been known to remain until March 23. Breeds in the North.

Wild Canary (also applied to other yellow birds). American Goldfinch. (Spinus tristis.) Yellow plumage, with black crown and wings, becoming flaxen-brownish and whitish in winter. Canary-like notes. Woodland, thickets and fields with shrubs or trees. Abundant from the middle or latter part of November until the latter part of March.

Pine Siskin; Pine Goldfinch. (Spinus pinus.) Rare at New Orleans. A flock has been observed in the middle of March on their way northward. Breeds from the Northern States northward.

Vesper Sparrow. (Poocaetes gramineus.) Plain gray plumage, white feathers in tail. Fond of grass fields, hence called Grass Finch also. A winter bird, but decidedly uncommon. Breeds chiefly in the Northern States.

Savanna Sparrow. (Ammodromus sandwichensis savanna.) Small and fond of grassy places. Abundant winter bird from October 1 to May 1. Breeds chiefly in the North.

Grasshopper Sparrow. (Ammodromus savannarum passerinus.) Faint, grasshopper-like song. Meadows and weedy fields. At New Orleans hardly ever occurring outside of Audubon Park, where it arrives early in April and remains until August.

Lark Sparrow. (Chondestes grammacus.) Wood-bordered fields or other open places. Never observed at New Orleans, but occurring occasionally in most sections of Louisiana.

STANDARD HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS.

White-crowned Sparrow. (Zonotrichia Icucophrys.) Conspicuous white patlis on the black background of the head. Woods and thickets. A rare bird in the fall, winter and spring at New Orleans; has been seen as late as May 1. Breeds chiefly north of the United States.

White-throated Sparrow. (Zonotrichia albicollis.) Sweet, modulated whistle and white chin. Woods and thickets. Abundant from the latter part of October to April 15, leaving by the 20th to the 25th.

Chipping Sparrow. (Spizella socialis.) Apparently never occurring at New Orleans.

Field Sparrow. (Spizella pusilla.) Pinkish-brown plumage; pink bill. More open places in the vicinity of the woods. Eather uncommon at Xew Orleans. Breeds mostly in the Northern States.

Snowbird; Slate-colored Junco. (Junco hiomalis.) Slaty and white plumage; pink bill. Woods, especially their edges. Kare at New Orleans, coming only with the coldest weather. Breeds in the North.

Song Sparrow. (Melospiza fasciata.) Fields and edges of woods. Almost unknown at New Orleans. Breeds chiefly in the North.

Swamp Sparrow, (ilelospiza georgiana.) Swamps, marshes and thickets. Abundant in winter from October 15 to 20 to April 15 to 20; a few remain until May 1.

Yox Sparrow. (Passerella iliaca.) Large size, rufous tail. Thickets and woods. A winter bird, usually uncommon and never present in great numbers. Breeds north of the United States.

Joree. Towhee: Che wink: Ground Eobin. (Pipilo erythrophthalmus.) Black upper parts, brown and white under parts. Its call sounds like "jo-ree," last syllable on a higher pitch and more accented. Woodland aiid thickets in the woods. Eesident and common.

Eedbird; Cardinal (with French accent). Cardinal. (Cardinalis cardinalis.) Bed plumage, high crest and black space on head; plumage of the female, brown, showing red in flight. Breeds from the early part of April to July.

Eose-breasted Grosbeak. (Habia ludoviciana.) Black and white plumage, with rosy breast-patch and wing lining on the male, replaced by tan on the female. Woodland. A rather uncommon fall and spring migrant. Breeds in the more Northern States.

Blue Grosbeak. (Guiraca coerulea.) Uniform blue of male and heavy beak. Fields and edges of woodland. Eather rare about New Orleans, being found in spring and fall.

Eveque (Creole) ; Blue Pop. Indigo Bunting. (Passerina eyanea.) Intensely and uniformly blue plumage on the males, the females being plain brown. Edges of the woods, thickets, etc. Arrives the last of March, increasing in the first week of April. Many migrants are present the latter part of September and through much of October, all being brown at tliat season.

Pape; Pop; Bed Pop. Painted Finch; Nonpareil. (Passerina ciris.) Variegated plumage of the male, red, blue, green and yellow appearing. Borders of the woods, orchards and high thickets. Arrives in numbers the first week in April, remaining until October. Breeds April to July.

Black-throated Bunting. (Spiza americana.) The quick song of bright, though somewhat wheezy notes. Fields or meadows, with bushes or low trees. Arrives about April 20 and is common for two weeks, after which very few are seen. Its movements in the fall are not obvioixs.

Scarlet Tanager. (Piranga erythromelas.) Black wings and tail and scarlet body, the red changing to yellow in autumn. Woods and groves. Sparingly common migrant in April and in September and October. Breeds chiefly to the nortli-ward.

Yellow Caille (tlie females and males in fall plumage). Summer Tanager. (Piranga rubra.) Completely red plumage, in males, W'ith no crest. Woods and groves. Arrives April 3 or 4 and is common all summer. The last leave the latter part of October.

Martin; Purple Martin. (Progne subis.) Unmistakable form of the Swallow and purplish black (in the male plumage). Arrives at the latest by the middle of February, becoming common early in March; is not conspicuous after September 15.

Cliff Swallow. (Petrochelidon lunifrons.) Eather close resemblance to the Barn Swallow, except in there being a shorter tail and a light frontal bar on the head. Eare in the immediate vicinity of New Orleans, appearing in the localities where it occurs commonly chiefly in September.

Barn Swallow. (Chelidon erythrogaster.) Steel-blue back; reddish brown under parts; long forked tail; graceful flight. Arrives in great numbers, for the first time, about April 20, decreasing by May 1; none present in June or most of July, reappearing the last of that month and remaining until November 1, but only locally.

Tree Swallow. (Tachycineta bicolor.) Green upper parts, white under parts. Common at various times of the year excepting June; most abundant in April and October.

Bank Swallow. (Clivicola riparia.) Brown upper parts, wliite under parts. Seen at various times in the spring and fall, and in late summer. Not very common.

Kough-winged Swallow. (Stelgidopteryx serripennis.) Colors same as in preceding species, but throat and chin being continuously light grayish brown, instead of there being only a collar on the throat. Abundant in spring, late in summer and autumn.

Cirier (Creole). Cedar-bird; Cedar Waxwing. (Ampelis cedroruni.) Conspicuous crest; disposition to keep in flocks. Groves and sometimes woodland. An erratic winter visitor, usually appearing in February and often remaining through most of April.

French Mocking-bird. Loggerhead Shrike. (Lanius ludovicianus.) Heavy body; plumage resembles that of Mocking-bird. Fields with trees or buslies. Only a winter bird at New Orleans, arriving the last of August and leaving in March.

Green Grasset. Eed-cycd Greenlet. (Vireo olivaceus.) Small size, green back, gray cap, white under parts. Woodland and groves. Arrives about March 20 and remains until the latter part of October; especially common in August and in September. Nesting begins April 15.

Philadelphia Greenlet. (Vireo philadelphus.) Strips of low woodland and low groves. A rather rare migrant, observed in the fall. Breeds only to the northward.

Warbling Greenlet. (Vireo gilvus.) Groves. Arrives by the end of March and remains noticeable from its song until August.

Yellow-throated Greenlet. (Vireo flavifrons.) Woodland and thickets. Commonest in the early part of April as a migrant; seen again in the fall.

Blue-headed Greenlet. (Vireo solitarus.) Bluish-gray cap, and w-hite line curling about the eye. Woodland. A winter resident. Kathcr common from December to March.

White-eyed Greenlet. (Vireo noveboracensis.) The short, pleasing, emphatic song, heard everywhere in the woods and thickets in summer. Swamps, wet thickets and other shrubbery. Abundant summer resident from March 15 to October 20; a few winter. Breeds from April 10 to June.

Black and White Warbler. (Mniotilta varia.) Finely variegated black and white plumage. Woodland. In spring it is seen occasionally late in March and in April; passes northward and returns late in July, remaining until October.

Prothonotary Warbler. (Protonotaria citrea.) Slaty blue, bright yellow and white plumage. Swamps. Arrives March 15-20; is common in summer; transients are passing southward in the latter part of July and in August, forsaking the swamps then for more open country. Nesting begins about April 15.

Swainson's Warbler. (Helinaia swainsonii.) Lower growths of deep, damp woodland. Extremely local near New Orleans and decidedly rare, arriving in one spot by April 6-8; probably breeds there.

Worm-eating Warbler. (Helmitherus vermivorus.) Swamps and woodland. Found as a migrant in spring and late in summer and fall. Uncommon.

Baehman's Warbler. (Helminthophila bachmani.) Swamps and woodland. Has been discovered near Lake Pontchartrain late in March. A very rare bird everywhere.

Blue-winged Yellow Warbler. (Helminthophila pinus.) General resemblance to the Prothonotary Warbler, but is smaller and has a black line through the eye. Woods and thickets. An uncommon transient in spring and fall.

Golden-winged Warbler. (Helminthophila chrysoptera.) Woods and thickets. A transient at New Orleans, noted in the fall migration about September 20. Kare.

Orange-crowned Warbler. (Helminthophila celata.) Woods and thickets. A common mid-winter bird. Breeds north of the United States.

Tennessee Warbler. (Helminthophila peregrina.) Borders of the woods and bushy or weedy fields. Abundant autumn migrant from September 20 to October 20, the last leaving by November 1. Pare or unknown in spring.

Parula Warbler. (Compsothlypis americana.) Odd, buzzing song, blue back with golden spot in the center. Woods, thickets and groves. Arrives regularly the first week of March, becoming common at once; may remain all summer; all leaving by the end of October. Nesting begins the last of March.

Yellow Warbler. (Dendroica aestiva.) Completely golden plumage. Orchards, groves and thickets. Arrives by April 3 or 4, but does not stop to rest. Thousands return in the last half of July from further north. All leave in October.

Black-throated Blue Warbler. (Dendroica coerulescens.) Woods and thickets. A rare migrant in spring. Breeds mostly north of the United States.

Myrtle Warbler. (Dendroica coronata.) Yellow spot on rump. Most places indifferently. Arrives sparingly by October 15-20, becoming very abundant in the early part of November; most have gone north by April 20-25.

Magnolia Warbler. (Dendroica maculosa.) Black and yellow or graj- and yellow-plumage. Woods and hedges. Arrives about September 20 and is abundant until November 1, when all leave; is very rare as a spring migrant, being usually seen about May 1. Breeds chiefly north of the United States.

Cerulean Warbler. (Dendroica coerulea.) Azure blue and white plumage, with no other colors. Woodland and thickets. Observed as a rather rare migrant, in the earlier part of April; does not remain in summer and is rare in the fall.

Chestnut-sided Warbler. (Dendroica pennsylvanica.) Woodland and thickets. Never observed in the spring, but is sometimes fairly common in the fall for a few days, arriving September 20 or earlier. Nests in the Northern States.

Bay-breasted Warbler. (Dendroica castanea.) Woodland and thickets. On rather rare occasions fairly common for a few days in the fall migration; rarer still in the spring, but migrating late, even up to May 5. Nests in the North.

Black-poll Warbler. (Dendroica striata.) The perfect plumage is grayish, black and white. Woodland and thickets. Bare in the fall and spring migrations. Nests north of the United States.

Blackburnian Warbler. (Dendroica blackburniae.) The patches of black and white and the orange throat are the most marked features of this bird. Woodland and thickets. Eather rare, in spring and fall migrations, occurring chiefly at the end of April and in the last of September and part of October.

Sycamore Warbler. (Dendroica dominica albilora.) Yellow throat, slaty back and black-streaked white sides. Swamps and woodland. Arrives by March 1 and is soon common, remaining all summer.

Black-throated Green Warbler. (Dendroica vircns.) Woodland and thickets. Seldom appears at New Orleans in spring; is occasional in the fall migration. Breeds' in the Northern States.

Pine Warbler. (Dendroica vigorsii.) In breeding season, pine woods; in winter, mixed woods and in thickets. Usually found from December to March about New Orleans, but at no other times of the year. Breeds in pine woods North and South.

Palm Warbler. (Dendroica palmarum.) Eeddish cap, yellow under parts, and its ground living habits. Wood-bound fields and roadsides. Common in winter from November until April 1; a few remain a week or so later. Breeds north of the United States.

Oven-bird. (Seiurus aurocapillus.) Green upper parts, specked, white under parts, and has a characteristic walking gait. Fairly common as a spring and fall

migrant throughout April and between September 15-20 and October 15. Breeds in the North.

Water Thrush. (Seiurus noveboraeensis.) Has a peculiar walking gait. Ponds, sloughs or ditches in the woods or fields. Present throughout April and from the early part or middle of August to the first week in October. Breeds in the Northern States.

Louisiana Water Thrush. (Seiurus motacilla.) Closely resembles the last, from which it can scarcely be distinguished in life. Frequents clearer water than the preceding. Present at New Orleans as a transient in spring and fall, never stopping here to breed. Rather rare.

Kentucky Warbler. (Geothlypis formosa.) Lower growths in the woods. Arrives by the last of March; becomes inconspicuous in the fall. Common summer resident.

Mourning Warbler. (Geothlypis Philadelphia.) A very rare transient. Breeds mostly north of the United States.

Maryland Yellow-throat. (Geothlypis trichas.) Black and yellow throat. Thickets, copses or wet, bushy places. Common and resident. Nesting begins the latter part of March.

Yellow-breasted Chat. (Icteria vircns.) Large for a warbler, and has bright green, yellow and white plumage. Has several very odd notes. Thickets and borders of woods. Arrives April 12-15; common summer resident. Nesting begins early in May.

Hooded Warbler. (Sylvania mitrata.) Partial black hood, green back and golden_ under parts. Swamps and woodland. Arrives March 10-15. Common summer resident, leaving by the end of October. Breeds April 15-July.

American Redstart. (Setophaga ruticilla.) The male is black, with a salmon-splotched plumage; quick in movement in pursuing insects. Woodland and groves. Very rare in spring; returns from farther north July 20-25; common all fall, leaving by the end of October.

American Pipit. (Anthus pennsylvanicus.) Brown; characteristic walking gait; feeds in flocks on the ground. Fields and other open places. Arrives from the north October 22-25; very abundant all winter, some lingering until Jlay 1. Breeds in the far North.

Sprague's Pipit. (Anthus spraguei.) Resembles in the more marked habits the common Pipit, except that it does not live in flocks and mounts very high in flight. Weedy or grassy pastures, fields and wastes. Of limited distribution.

from November to March; sometimes foiuid in the pastures at Harvey's canal; wanders to Louisiana from the ISTorthwest and West. Breeds in Dakota and northward.

Moqueur (Creole). Mocking-bird. (Mimus polyglottus.) Imitative powers of song. Neighborhood of dwellings. Resident and common. Breeds from late March to August.

Black Caille (Creole) ; Caille Laurier (Creole). Catbird. (Galeoscoptes carolinen-sis.) Nearly black plumage and strange, cat-like cry. Copses, briers and woodland thickets. Eather common throughout April; abundant from September 22-25 to November 1. A few winter, but none breed.

French Mocking-bird (see also Loggerhead Shrike); Moqueur de Canne (Creole).

Brown Thrasher. (Harporhynchus rufus.) Bright reddish brown; slim form; long tail. Borders of the woods, thickets, briers, etc. A winter resident, but most abundant in the latter part of September and throughout October and in the last part of March and first part of April. Breeds in the neighboring pine sections.

House Wren. Carolina Wren. (Thryothorus ludovicianus.) Loud, cheerful whistle, familiarity, rusty brown plumage. The neighborhood of houses and the woods indifferently. Resident and common. Nesting begins early in March.

Bewick's Wren. (Thryothorus bewickii.) Deep brown upper parts, ashy under parts and long, heavily barred tail. Bushy places, brush piles, etc. Occurs at most times of the year, excepting the nesting season. Never common.

House Wren. (Troglodytes aedon.) Plain in all its markings, color contrasts being absent. Weedy or bushy places and briers. Found only as a winter resident, from October 1 to the first week of April.

Winter Wren. (Troglodytes hiemalis.) Very small; short tail, but resembles the preceding species considerably. Low thickets and various compact or clustered growths. Chiefly in mid-winter and not very common. Breeds chiefly north of the United States.

Short-billed Marsh Wren. (Cistothorus stellaris.) Black, white and brown variegation of the back. ^Marshes or wet, weedy fields. A winter visitant; usually uncommon.

Long-billed Marsh Wren. (Cistothorus palustris.) Liquid, gurgling song. Fresh or salt marshes. Resident, but commonest in summer.

Brown Creeper. (Certhia familiaris anaericana.) Habit of ascending tree trunks in a creeping manner. Woodland. Uncommon winter visitor.

Tufted Titmouse. (Parus bicolor.) Decided crest and notes resembling "peter, peter; peter, peter." Woodland, groves and thickets. Eesident and common.

Carolina Chickadee. (Parus carolinensis.) Small size, generally gray plumage, black and white head. Woodland, groves and thickets. Eesident and common. Nesting begins by April 1 at least.

Golden-crowned Kinglet. (Regulus satrapa.) Greenish plumage, small size, variegated bright crown-patch. Woodland, groves and thickets. Commonly present from the last of October until March 15. Breeds in the North.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet. (Regulus calendula.) Close resemblance in life to the former, distinguished by the crown patch, which is simply vermilion or scarlet. Woodland, groves and thickets. Present from October 15-20 to April 1-G. Breeds in the North.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. (Polioptila coerulea.) Small size; long black and white tail; inconsequent notes. Hedges, woodland borders and thickets. Arrives about March 15, becoming common March 21-25 or earlier; a few winter; most disappear early in the fall. Nesting begins almost by April 1. ^

Speckled Caille (Creole). Wood Thrush. (Turdus mustelinus.) Clear brown upper parts, black-streaked, satiny-white under parts; great musical powers. Woodland. Arrives by March 25-28, and is common until October 15, being especially abundant about October 1; leaves by the end of October.

Wilson's Thrush. (Turdus fuscesens.) Light brown upper parts, pale streaking of breast. Woodland and low groves. Known as a migrant, especially in the latter part of April and after the middle of September. Not common. Breeds in the North.

Gray-cheeked Thrush. (Turdus aliciae.) Grayish or brownish-olive upper parts and purely white or gray throat and cheeks. Woodland and thickets. A transient migrant, sometimes very common late in April, and less common in the fall. Breeds in the North.

Olive-backed Thrush. (Turdus ustulatus swainsonii.) Closely resembles the preceding; has tawny touches about the cheeks and throat. Woodland and thickets. Most regular in the fall after September 20 and until October 10-15; sometimes common late in April. Breeds in the North.

Hermit Thrush. (Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii.) Tail bright rufous, otherwise resembling the last mentioned considerablv. Woodland and thickets. A win-ter resident, coming after the middle of October and sometimes remaining until April 12.

Grive (Creole); Eobin. American Robin. (Merula migratoria.) Medium size; gray upper parts and reddish or russet breast. Becomes very common by November 15; numbers decreasing after March 1. Breeds from 35 degrees north northward. Bhiebird. (Sialia sialis.) Blue back and chestnut-colored breast. Borders of woodland, fences and telegraph lines. Seen sometimes in winter about New Orleans, but never in summer.

The Terns, called also Sea Swallows, are known chiefly in the vicinity of New Orleans through their occurrence on Lake Pontchartrain, on the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf coasts, and in the marshes of the extreme lower part of Louisiana. The usual species are the Royal Tern (Sterna maxima), the Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri), the Least Tern (Sterna antillarum), and the Black Tern (Hydrochelidon nigra surinamensis).

Cormorants are represented on the various bodies of water near New Orleans by three species; the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax dilophus), the Florida Cormorant (P. diloplnis floridanus), and the Mexican Cormorant (P. mexi-canus); the first of these is observed only in winter, the others having a more southerly range.

The Ducks of lower Louisiana have given it a reputation as a hunting ground surpassed in few parts of the country. Besides the continually present Wood or Summer Duck (Aix sponsa), there are in fall, more restrictedly in mid-winter and again in early spring, hosts of ducks belonging to a majority of the species found in North America. Important flights reach the latitude of New Orleans about October 1, a few Blue-Winged Teals having arrived shortly before that. Mallards and Green-winged Teals come together, sometimes being found feeding in the same spots, but such an association appears never to take place between the Mallard and the Blue-winged Teal. Of the other ducks best known and most prized among the hunters, the Widgeon, the Gray Duck, and the Pin-tail appear at very nearly the same time; the Scaups—Dos-gris, the Creoles call them—are in company with these birds, but they are indifferent table ducks. Midwinter produces a lull in the Duck season, many individuals having migrated much farther south, but Mallards, Pin-tails, Widgeons, Gray Ducks, Green-winged Teals, Dos-gris and Redheads remain in considerable numbers. Beginning in February, at least, these Ducks head northward, and nygration among them is well under way in a short time. About the last of these Ducks are leaving when those birds that have wintered south of the T'nited States begin to pass this latitude in large numbers. The

passage of great numbers of the transients continues until April. Teals and Pintails are the principal species in this spring movement. The Blue-winged Teal remains in small numbers until the first part of May.

Of the species which are plentifully represented among the sets of individuals that go no further south than Louisiana, the Mallard and the Pin-tail are the first to leave after the earliest beginnings of spring.

DUCKS OCCURRING ABOUT NEW ORLEANS.

American Merganser. (Merganser americanus.)

Red-breasted Merganser. (Merganser serrator.)

Bec-scie. Hooded Merganser. (Lophodytes cucullatus.) Black and white plumage and conspicuous crest.

French Duck. Mallard. (Anas boschus.)" Large size and green head (in the drake).

Black Duck. Black Mallard. (Not the bird called "Black Duck" at New Orleans). (Anas obscura.) Eesembles Mallard in size, but is of a general dark color.

Canard Gris. Violon. Gadwall. (Anas strepera.)

Zinzin. American Widgeon. (Anas americana.)

Sarcelle d'Hiver. Green-winged Teal. (Anas carolinensis.)

Sarcelle Printanniere; Sarcelle Automniere. Blue-winged Teal. (Anas discors.)

Cinnamon Teal (very rare in Louisiana). (Anas cyanoptera.) General rich-reddish brown color and bright-blue specula on the wings.

Micoine; Spoonbill. Shoveler. (Spatula clypeata.) Paddle-shaped bill.

Paille-en-queu. Pin-tail. (Dafila acuta.) Greatly lengthened tail feathers and fine gray plumage.

Brancheur. Wood Duck. (Aix sponsa.) Great beauty of plumage and the habit of perching in trees.

Dos Gris (Audubon). Red-head. (Aythya americana.)

Canard Cheval. Canvas-back (not very common). (Aythya vallisneria.)

Dos Gris. Scaup; Blue-bill. (Aythya marila nearctica.)

Dos Gris. Lesser Scaup. (Aythya affinis.)

Black Duck. Ring-necked Duck. (Aythya eollaris.) Generally black plumage, with white chin and brown ring about the neck.

Golden-eye. (Glaucionetta clangula americana.)

Marrionette. Buffle-head; Butter-ball. (Charitonetta albeola.)

Old Squaw (very rare winter visitor). (Clangula hiemalis.) Largely white plumage, and long tail.

Goddam. Ruddy Duck. (Erismatura rubida.)

The Geese found in southern Louisiana in winter, and which arc consequently likely to occur at Xew Orleans at any time, are the Blue Goose (Chen caerulescens), the Lesser Snow Goose (Chen hyperborea), the White-fronted Goose (Anser albi-frons gambeli), the Canada Goose (Branta canadensis), and its variety, Hutchins's Goose (B. canadensis hutchinsii).

Two Swans, the Whistling (Olor columbianus), and the Trumpeter (Olor buccinator), winter on the Gulf, and are of possible occurrence very near New Orleans.

Besides the Sandpipers named in the list, the White-rumped, the Baird's, and the Eed-backed are of possible, but uncertain, occurrence near New Orleans.

On the nearest seacoast the Willet (Symphcmia semipalmata), a large tattler, is found.

The Oyster-catcher (Haematopus palliatus) is found on the Gulf Coast, but probably comes no nearer to New Orleans.

The Duck Hawk (Falco peregrinus anatum) follows the ducks to their best feeding grounds in winter, there preying upon them.

The curious Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia hypogaca), found on the western prairies, is observed very rarely in southeastern Louisiana.

The country about New Orleans, like many other southern localities, was formerly the home of the Carolina Parrakeet (Conurus carolinensis), but the bird has not been observed for many years.

The now rare Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis) is not known to occur within short distances of New Orleans.

CHAPTER XV.

LITERATURE AND ART. By a. G. Durno.

LITERATURE is ever a plant of slow growth in new soils, and notwithstanding the fact that there were among the early inhabitants of New Orleans many men and women of elegant culture and brilliant intellect, no one of them appears to have felt any ambition to conquer new territory for the realm of letters. There were, indeed, in those early days, few incentives to authorship. Not only would the hard conditions of life in the colony, contrasted as they were with homesick memories of "la Patrie'' so dear to the French heart, tend to repress any native impulse toward composition, but the total absence of facilities for publication ("Le Moniteur," the first newspaper, was not founded until 1791) added an element of impossibility to any sort of literary undertaking before which the most robust inspiration must have died. Reports of officers and engineers, however able and accurate, can hardly be classed as literature, yet, with one exception, these are the only fruits yielded to the most painstaking search among the remains of the first century.

The single exception is an epic poem—no less—which, whatever its defects, has the merit of having been inspired by an incident of colonial life. The author was a Frenchman, and the hero whose martial deeds he celebrates, the Spanish Governor of a Spanish colony, circumstances which render his patriotic fervor all the more creditable.

JULIEN POYDRAS, the first poet of Louisiana, was a native of Nantes, born about the year 1740. As a youth he served in the French navy, but being taken prisoner by the English in 1760, and carried to England, he appears to have accepted captivity as a discharge from further naval service. Escaping from durance, he hid himself on board a West Indian merchant vessel, and so reached San Domingo, whence he passed over to New Orleans, arriving, as is supposed, in the fateful year 17C8—memorable for the daring but ineffectual effort of the French colonists to snatch their adopted land from the clutches of Spain. Poydras

(lid not remain as a permanent resident of New Orleans, but he was a constant visitor to the little city, and appears to have taken a warm interest in its affairs, as is evinced by his generous donations to her charitable institutions. It is not probable that Poydras brought much money with him to the colony, but he had the instinct for business which quickly recognizes opportunity, and the energy and address which as quickly seizes upon it. He was soon engaged in commercial affairs which constantly increased in magnitude and importance, and to which ho added the avocations of planter and banker, but in the midst of his multifarious occupations he found time to inscribe his name upon the roll of fame as author of the first poetical work printed in New Orleans. It celebrates the victory of Galvez over the English at Baton Rouge, and is entitled:

LA PRISE DU MORNE DU BATON ROUGE. Par Monseigneur De Galvez. Chevalier pensionne de TOrdre Royal distingue de Charles Trois, Brigadier des Armees de Sa Majestic, Intendant, Inspecteur et Gouverneur General de la Province de la Louisiane, etc.

A La Nouvelle Orleans, Chez Antoine Boudousquie, Imprimeur du Roi, et du Cabildo.

MDCCLXXIX.

Professor Alcee Fortier, who has restored the poem to the world after a century of oblivion, does not claim for it any great literary merit, but reminds his readers that in 1779 coldness and pomposity were characteristics of French verse. "The poetic inspiration of the seventeenth century," he adds, "was dying out and was only kept up by a few graceful and elegant writers. * * * Poets like Voltaire, like Gres.set, like Andre Chenier, were rare in France in the eighteenth century. Why should we expect to find them in Louisiana? Let us be satisfied with Poydras' work and let us be thankful to him for having given us a poem in 1779."

Thirty-five years elapsed before another book was added to the literary roster of New Orleans. During that time Louisiana had undergone several political changes, having been again for a short time a French province, then a territory of the United States, and finally a sovereign State. Two years after this last event there was issued from the press of the Courrier de la Louisiane a small volume of 58 pages duodecimo, bearing the title of "Poucha Houmma."

LE BLANC de VILLENEUFVE, the author of "Poucha Houmma," was

an ex-officer of the French army wlio had been employed by the government from 1753 to 1758 among the Tchaetas. While thus engaged he heard the story of a Honmma chief who gave himself up to the avenger of blood to save his son. This instance of self-devotion so impressed M. de Villeneufve that more than fifty years afterwards, at the great age of seventy-eight, he made it the subject of a five act tragedy, cast in the regular classical mould, in order to prove to the world that the Indians were not, as had been charged, destitute of all human feeling.

THOMAS WHAETON COLLENS, a native of New Orleans, born June 23, 1812, was the author of one of the earliest dramas published in New Orleans. Mr. Collens was educated for the bar and rose to high position in his profession, being District Attorney of the District of Orleans at the age of twenty-eight, and at various times Judge of the City Court of New Orleans, Judge of the First District Court of the same city, and Judge of the Seventh District Court of the Parish of Orleans. While still a mere youth he wrote a five-act tragedy, based upon the revolt against Spanish rule in 1768, and the real tragedy which followed it. The play is called: "The Martyr Patriots or Louisiana in 1769," and was successfully performed at the old St. Charles Theatre a short time after its publication. Judge Collens was a fluent writer on serious subjects, and the author of two philosophical works, "Humanics," and "The Eden of Labor," published respectively in 1860 and 1876.

In connection with the tragedy above alluded to, it may be mentioned as a coincidence—by no means a surprising one—that in 1839 A. Lussan published in Donaldsonville a tragedy in five acts based upon the same historical incident, and entitled "Les Martyrs de la Louisiane." The play would seem to have been put upon the stage, though there is no record of its having been performed in New Orleans. A diiference is observed in the dramatis personae of the two plays, O'Keilly not appearing in that of Judge Collens, where Lafreniere fills the leading role, and Aubry, the former French Governor, that of chief villain. M. Lussan makes O'Eeilly the persecutor of the patriots, which is historically correct, and gives the principal role to Joseph Villere.

CHARLES GAYARRE is one of the most distinguished names connected with New Orleans literature. Born only two years after Louisiana had passed into the possession of the United States, and connected through both parents with families closely identified with afl'airs of the colonial era, his attention, at an early age, was drawn to the romantic history of his native citv and State. Judofe Francois-

Xavier Martin's "History of Louisiana," published in 1827, was the first connected history of the then newly-made State, but aside from the fact that its severely condensed style made no appeal to the imagination, it was written in English, a language little understood among the Creoles of that day. Recognizing the importance to them of a history of their State written in their own tongue, and inspired, without doubt by a genuine enthusiasm for his subject, Mr. Gayarre published, in 1830, his "Essai Historique sur la Louisiane," a work of 144 duodecimo pages. About the same date, Mr. Gayarre, who had studied law in Philadelphia under William Rawle, author of a work on the Constitution of the United States, and had been admitted to the bar both of Pennsylvania and Louisiana, was elected to represent New Orleans in the State Legislature. He subsequently occupied the position of Presiding Judge of the City Court of New Orleans, and three years later was honored by being chosen to represent the interests of his district in the United States Senate. Failing health prevented him from taking his seat, and sent him across the sea in search of medical advice and remedial agencies. He remained eight years in France, devoting much of the time to historical research, the pursuit always of paramount interest with him. On his return he was again elected to the State Legislature for two successive terms, but gave up his seat to accept the State secretaryship ofEered him by the Governor. In 1846-47 appeared his "Histoire de la Louisiane," in two volumes 8vo. In this work he followed the plan so successfully adopted by the author of the "Dues de Bourgogne," and still much in vogue among historical writers, of using contemporaneous records of the events narrated, whether personal letters and memoirs or official reports and documents. This method certainly makes very interesting reading, but it is criticised by Professor Fortier as failing to give "the philosophy of history." This initial work covered only the period of French domination. It was followed by a series of historiettes, beginning with a volume entitled "Romance of the History of Louisiana," in which the author has preserved the legends of the State, and ending with the "History of the Spanish Domination," published in 1854. All these works were revised in 1866 and included in three volumes, and in 1879 were again re-written in English, and expanded into four volumes as the "History of Louisiana." In addition to his History of Louisiana, which is everywhere recognized as a standard work, Mr. Gayarre wrote Philip II of Spain, which, says Professor Fortier, "is not in reality a history of the gloomy and cruel tyrant of the Escurial, but a series of striking and forcible tableaux which remind us of Carlyle's 'French Revolution;' 'Fernando de Lemos,' a novel; 'Aubert Dubayet,' a sequel to the

above; and a drama and a comedy, entitled, respectively, 'The School for Polities' and 'Dr. Bluff.' " Mr. Gayarre, however, was essentially a historian, and his fiction is inevitably cast in the historic mould. Fernando de Lemos has more claim to be considered a work of imagination than the sequel, but the pen that wrote it lacks the flexibility, and the hand, the lightness essential to romantic composition. In Aubert Dubayet is commemorated the career of a Louisianian, "who," says Professor Fortier, "shared with Kleber the glory of defending Mayence, who was a general of division in the army of the Eepublic, and who died at thirty-eight minister plenipotentiary of France at Constantinople."

The long and honorable life of this eminent man, the last years of which were rendered painful by ill-health and pecuniary embarrassments, came to an end February 11, 1895, at New Orleans.

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON, though born in the vicinity of New Orleans, has no legitimate connection with its literature. None of his works were published here, and there is no certainty that any portion of them was even written during his brief sojourn within our gates. It was accident rather than choice that brought his mother to the little town of Madisonville, where her famous son first saw the light in May of 1780 or 1781, and he was soon removed to France, where he was educated. He was not a very diligent student of books, and at the age of nineteen or twenty, his father, who was an officer in the French navy, gave him a piece of land in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, and sent him to live on it. Here it was that he began that study of birds which was to occupy his life, and result in the two magnificent works of which every American is justly proud. He died in New York City in January, 1881.

ALEXANDEE DIMITEY is a name which stands for profound scholarship and splendid ability. Without having left any body of collected works under his own name, Mr. Dimitry has perhaps done more to foster the growth of literature in his native city than some writers who count their volumes by the dozen. Not only was he the founder of the free school system of Louisiana and the staunch advocate of education, but he was in his own person an ever-flowing fountain of information, from which all were free to draw, and where more than one young literary aspirant is said to have filled his little ewer. It is greatly to be regretted that no effort has been made to gather up some of his writings into a form which would render them accessible to present day readers.

ADEIEN EOUQUETTE—Father Rouquette, as he is more familiarly and affectionately called by a wide circle of friends and admirers—and Dominique

Eouquette, his brother, were united by closer ties than those of common parentage and early association. A passion for poetry distinguished their early youth, which, far from being dissipated by advancing years, became the ruling principle of their lives, leading them away from the crowded marts and artificial needs and pleasures of the town to dwell with Nature in her calm retreats and minister to the humble children whom she keeps ever near her heart. They enjoyed every advantage of education and travel, supplementing the course at the College de Nantes by ten years' wandering in Europe, yet they chose as their home a retired and lonely spot among the magnificent pine forests of their native State. About them dwelt "the remnants of the Chactas, the faithful allies of the French; and in the wigwams of the Indians the brothers used to sit to smoke the calumet with the chiefs, or to look at the silent squaws skilfully weaving the wicker baskets which they were to sell the next morning in the Marche Francais." Adrien, after a time, took the vows and assumed the cassock of a priest of the Roman Catholic Church, and devoted himself still more actively to missionary work among the Indians, though he never abandoned his first love, 'la Poesie." Dominique, who is accounted the greater poet, wrote only in French, but Adrien employed both French and English. His principal work is "Les Savanes," a volume of poems inspired by American scenes. He also wrote "Wild Flowers; Sacred Poetry,"' "La Thebaide en Amerique," "L'Antonaide ou la Solitude avec Dieu," "Poemes Patriotiques," and "Catherine Tegclikwitha." But the most beautiful of his poems was his own life, and that is written only in the hearts of those who knew him. It came to an end in July, 1887.

ALFRED MERCIER is one of the best known and most prolific of the numerous French writers of New Orleans. He was born at McDonogh, a suburb of New Orleans, June 3, 1816. Educated in France, as was customary with the Creole youths of his day, he remained in Paris for many years after his studies were completed. It was in that city in 1842 that his first works were published, three volumes of poetry: "La Rose de Smyrne," "L'Ermite de Niagara," and "Erato." They were very favorably received, particularly the two first mentioned, and thus encouraged, the young author resolved to try his hand at a prose romance. Arrangements had been completed for its publication in a literary journal, l)ut the morning the first installment was to appear the oftice was raided by the commune, and the forms "pied." Discouraged from further literary efforts by the disorders of the times, he now decided to study medicine, and returning to New Orleans after his graduation, he there took up the practice of his profession, but

the virus was in his blood, and he seems to have been unable to resist the fascination of pen and ink.

Koturning again to romance, lie published in 1873, a novelette, "Le Fou de Palerme," which was followed four years later by "La Fille du Pretre," an attack upon the celibacy of priests, which created much commotion among the Catholics. "L'Habitation St. Ybars," published in 1881, is a story of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation in ante-bellum days. Professor Fortier says of it: "Although the work is of great interest as a novel, it is of still greater importance for the study of philology. Dr. Mercier, who is a master of the Creole patois, uses it freely in his book and keeps thus an admirable eouleur locale. * * * It is a pity that 'L'Habitation St. Ybars' has not been translated into English, for it is a much more correct picture of Louisiana life than is to be found in many other works better known outside our State."

In addition to the works already named Dr. Mercier published in 1881 "Lidia," an idyl, portraying the "romantic love of two noble hearts," and in 1891, "Johnnelle," a philosophical tale directed against the crime of infanticide. He was also an industrious and valued contributor to "Les Comptes-Eendues de I'Athenee Louisianais," the journal of a society organized for the encouragement of the study of the French langiiage, continuing to write for it both prose and verse, and even a drama in five acts, until well past the Psalmist's limitary of threescore and ten. Apropos of a pretty little poem, "Message," quoted by him in his "Louisiana Studies," Professor Fortier says: "These charming verses, written by a man over seventy years of age, are a good proof that the atmosphere of Louisiana is not so stifling as it is sometimes said to be." Dr. Mercier died May 12, 1894, at the age of seventy-eight.

ALEXANDER WALKER is a name often referred to in New Orleans as that of a man of strong personality and wide and varied knowledge. A native of Fredericksburg, Virginia, Mr. Walker came to New Orleans in 1840 and entered ujjon the practice of law, which, however, he soon abandoned for journalism. He was at various times editor of one or another of the newspapers of the city, notably of the Delta, which he conducted twelve years. His published works are: "Life of Andrew Jackson; Jackson and New Orleans," "History of the Battle of Shiloh," and "Butler at New Orleans." Judge Walker, as he became by virtue of his presidency over the City Court of New Orleans, was the possessor of a lucid style, at once graphic and dignified. Fond of color and of decorative phrases, he was yet too judicious to overload his descriptions with ornament, while his conscientious

ST.wnMni iiisroin- of .\r:\v oin.i'JANS.

ri'jiiinl I'cir iiiiuill ilrliiils wan nol iicrmil Inl Id ilcf^fiici'iilc inlo |ir(ili\ilv. .Iiulgc W'lllKri- (lic'il .liiiiiiiii'V 'v''l, IHil.'l, mI llir iij^'i' of s('\(iil V-1 luce.

(II'IOIJCI', W . CAIIM'; was li.ii-ii in New (»rlcims in llic vrar ISI I. Mis fallicr liMvili);; iliril wliilr (iiMii'i;!' WHS ulill a iricrr lad, it'iivin^ lull sli'mlcr means \\<y ilic sn|i|i(irl of 111!' raniily. tlic sun .s|('|i|iril rnnn liic scliool-nKiin into liir arena (if (■oiiinii'ri'iMl life, riilcrini', Ilic iisis a^'iiiiisl |ii)\i'rlv in lirliall' of niollirr anil sislcrs, Caiir.lil iiy llu' inlo of |iali-iolir fcrliiiL; Ihai swo|il llii'oui;li Iho Soulli in IS('i()-(ll, Mr, ('ill ill' 11111 r aw av lo I lie war m I lie ranks of I lie l''ourtli M ississi|i|ii ( 'avalrv. On his rrliirn lir I'csiiini'il ins iilarr in Ilir liusincss udrlil, Iml his native iient tounrd lilenitui'e he^im In deehire itself, and he for a lime tilled a eolnmn of the Siindav I'ieMyune wilh a series of lii;llt sKetehes under the tille of "I >ro|i-Slui|." Some lime dnrini; the seventies he niiide II sileeessful dash for a hroader lleld. .\ storv SPIlt to a Northern ma;',"-'!"'' ""^ aeeepted, and was followed hy a half do/en others, with the liUe resnil. This series of seven tales was later eolleeled into hook form nnder the j;eneral title o( "()ld ('reole |la\s,'" and formed the eoriier stone of the author's fame for ;;oml and for had, ijeeeived wilh deli;;lit and apiihlliso by ,Nortlu'ni readers, and hv a lai';;e poiiion of ihe ".\ineriean" iio|iidalion of New Orleans, tho Creoles fnnnd in I hem hiiter eauM' of otVense, and seoi'iifully reiuidiated as eari-eatures Ihe |neluies of themselves whieh to others a|i|)eared so eharminu', Withmil wislnii.", to deliirh ihe peaee wliieh has at last ha|i|uly fallen upon the elamoronsly eolllosted lield, the privsenl writer \eiilures to assert U|ioii |iersonal knowledue Ih.il tlu're are Creoles who have re.id Mr, ('aide's hooks with pleusuro, and who reeoj;ilizo his portrailure as nol lieiiit; eniiiely unfaithful. 'I'wo eases in ]H)int may bo eiled the tirsi of a lady a "Creole of the Creoles," as tlu' sayinu: goes, wlio said to ihe writer iii ihe iini>erfeil i'!n!;U>li whieli she only learned to speak after lier ihildren were;;rown: "I am reading' the tlriiiulissiiiiis of Ml'. C.'ihle. 1 enjoy that hook \eiy iiiiieh, I lind there all my friends." 'I'lu' other ease is that of a eenlle-miiu, Mr. l\ — , a Creole of edueation and i;ood standing;, who made some sliglitiiij;

remark nbont Mr. ('aide's wi'iiings in the presenee id' Mr. (i -, an ".Vmeriean"

jjenllenuiii. and a fi'iend of the author, .'^aul Mr. (i : "Mr. 15 , liave yon

ever I'ead any of Mr. ('aide's stories?" "No." was the reply, "hut 1 am told so

luul so." "liiil." returned Mr. li , "it seems to me unfair to eondemu a m;in

\ou have nol read. Mr. Ciihle is (o read this evenine- fron\ his own works, suppose vou ,i;o and hear him, ^ on will then he ahle to form an opinion of yiuir own."

'I'he proiioMiion seemed mi reasomihh' liiat Mr, 1>- ■ promised lo aet upon it.

The t'ollowinj; day. luippeninj;- to meet Mr. (1 —, lu' said to him: "Mr. li ,

STANDAh'l) lllSToh'V OF NEW ORLEANS. ^Chj

I iiiusl Ihiiiik \i>\\ for iiit niiliii'in;; me lo Mi', ('iil)li'. I liciii'd him rcMil hisl iiii,'lit, 1111(1 1 liilxc linck nil Unit I liMvc ever siiid iifiiiiiist his wriliiij^s. 1 iim ;j;<iin,i; iif;'i;iii lliis ('Veiling', 1111(1 take nil my raiiiily willi me. Mdrcdvcf I hiivc lidughl his hunks 1111(1 inlcnd t(i rciid llicm nil iiiid liinc my I'limily rend I hem. As for .lilies SI. .\ngo," ho concluded in n hurst of eiitliusiiism, "1 kiinw ii dd/.eii of him !"" (I'ossoil .loiU", it niiiy he prdper tn exphiin. lind heeii diie (d' the mimhers (in the ovcninfi's ])ro-graninic.)

Tlicsp (wo instiinees which have the iiidis|iiitahle i|uiility (if hard facts, would seem t(i indicate that (here is aiKither side to ('rcolc (i|)ini(iii as (o (he (i(i(dity to life of Mr. Cahle's |i(M't rail lire from that re|ircsciile(l liy |iiihlishe(l erilieism.

With regard to Mr. ('aide's c\|iressc(l views on sociiil and political (Hiostion.s il is hardly necessary (o point out thai however much i(, is to hv rogrc((eil that he sliould have forsaken for a lime the lield in which lie had wrouglii with such happy results for himself and others, his opinions on such mailers do no! in (he least impair the \aluc of his strictly litcrai'y work. ,\n(l since we are writin.ij; history, it is oidy jn-oper to add that whatever view is (aken of his (irs( literary work, whether il he received as a faithful rctlectioii of life, or eondcnmed as false and misleading, i( inns( he admdted (lia( (he appearance of his ('reole sketches inaugurated n new ora in (he IKerary activities (d' New Orleans, and openc(l the eyes of the Croolcs tliemselves to the value, as literary material, (d' the old-W(n'ld ways of thought and speech, and the piet iires(pie selling of their lives, slated to them hy li fedoiig custom, hut sirangelv alt rad ivc to "cfs A mrncdnis."

'V\w list of Mr. Cahle's works |)uhlislied since his Old Creole l>ays appeared in 1883 comprises '"J'lic Cirandissimes," "Madame Delphiiie," "Dr. Sevici'." "'riie Creoles of Louisiana," "The Silent S(ni(h," "nonavendira," "S(range True Stories of Louisiana," "The Negro (Jnosdon," "Life of William (JiliiKU'c Simms," ",?ohn March, Southerner," and "Strong llear(s."

LAFCADIO IIEAIIN, (hough neither a native iku- a permanent citizen of New Orleans, helongs of right to her literary history, hecaiis(> here he lirst found conditions favorahle to the developmeiit (d' his genius. Mr. 1 learn was horn on nur. of the Ionian Islands in IS.Sd. His father was an lOnglish otlieer, his mother, a Greek. Deprived of his parents while still a mere infant, lie was hd't to the guar-dinnsliip of a paternal uncle. Much of his childhood was jiiissed on the Welsh Coast under the care of an idd iiiirsc, a native of the country, who fed his youthful imagination with endless fairy tales and willi the wild hgeiids id' the district. .\l (he age of (weiitv Mr. Ilearii came to this country, landing at New \nvk a friend-

less aud well-nigli penniless stranger. He found employment as proof-reader for a publishing house, an irksome occupation to one of his temperament, ilr. Hearn was never very communicative in regard to his personal affairs, but from his slight occasional references to this period of his life he appears to have looked back upon it as a sort of nightmare of distasteful drudgery and frigid weather. From New York Mr. Hearn drifted westward to Cincinnati, where he remained for some time, engaged in the hardly more congenial work of reporting for one of the daily papers. In 1877, in company with one of his fellow-reporters, he set out for a holiday excursion to Xew Orleans. It was in late winter, or early spring—a season, at all events, when frost and snow prevailed in the region they were leaving—and as they glided southward (they had chosen to make the journey by water) meeting the mild and milder breezes from the Gulf, and seeing wintry barrenness give way to verdure and bloom, it seemed to the warmth and beauty-loving Hearn that he was being transported to some one of the fabled gardens of his nurse's tales. When New Orleans was reached, and he found himself among orange groves (there were orange groves around New Orleans then) and rose-bowers, breathing an air redolent of violets and sweet olive, he felt that he had entered Paradise, and he said to his friend: "You may go back if you like, but I stay here." He secured a position as reporter on the Daily States, and the influence of his new environment was soon manifested by a series of fanciful little sketches that began to illuminate a column of the Sunday edition. The originality and fine literary quality of these bits of word-painting attracted the attention of Mr. Page M. Baker, editor of the Times-Democrat, who sought out their author aud offered him a position on the staff of his paper. His contributions to the paper consisted chiefly of translations from the French, a language in which he was perfectly at home, and adaptations of Oriental legends. These last were afterward collected and published in book form under the title of "Stray Leaves from Strange Literatures." In the Times-Democrat also appeared a number of the Chinese legends which form the contents of that delightful little volume, "Some Chinese Ghosts," but by this time the author's genius had gained him a wider audience, and several of the legends were published in oue of the Harper periodicals. "Chita: A Memory of Last Island," was the fruit of his annual summer trips to Grand Isle, where he met an old steamer captain, who told him the tragic tale of the great storm of '56, which Hearn has retold with a splendor and power unrivaled in the English language.

But now New Orleans had yielded to his curious and inquisitive mind all she held of interest for him. Always eager to penetrate beneath the surface of things.

he had made himself familiar with the strange composite foreign population that shelters itself in her slums and purlieus, he had haunted the markets and wharves, holding parley with Sicilian fruit vendors, "Dago" fishermen and sailors, Mongolian shopkeepers and laundrymen, from each of whom he gleaned some little fragmentary impression of that primitive under life which had for him so strong a fascination. Nor were these humble folk the only sources upon which he drew. Shy and recluse as he was by nature, knowledge drew him like a loadstone, and ho numbered among his friends some of the most scientifically learned men in the city, to one of whom he has dedicated "Chita." But these things no longer satisfied him, and he was eager to drink from deeper and fuller fountains. The brown races seem always to have exercised a strong attraction upon him, as if he suspected them- of being favorites of Nature, and holding secrets of hers not revealed to her white children. The Indies, West and East, beckoned him irresistibly, and he gladly embraced the opportunity offered by the Harpers to visit, in company with an artist, the Lesser Antilles and Guiana. His friends in New Orleans saw him go with regret, realizing that with him departed the most brilliant literary genius that had ever trod the streets of their quaint old town. "Two Years in the French West Indies," and "Youma," the story of a West Indian slave, both published by the Harpers in 1890, sum up the literary results of his voyage and of his sojourn in Martinique. Upon his return to the United States, Mr. Hearn set out almost immediately for Japan, where he has since resided. Three volumes, made up from papers contributed to the Atlantic Monthly, and published by Houghton, Mifflin & Co., show that his pen has not lost its cunning in the land of the Rising Sun. The books are: "Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan," "Out of the East," and "Kokoro." The title of this last would seem to indicate that this eager, questioning spirit had last found the object of its restless search, "the heart of things." A valuable contribution of Mr. Hearn to the literature of philology is found in his "Gombo Zhebes," a collection of Creole-negro proverbs from New Orleans, Martinique, French Guiana, Hayti and Mauritius.

WILLIAM PEESTON JOHNSTON, son of General Albert Sidney Johnston, was a native of Louisville, Kentucky. A graduate of Yale and of the Law School of the University of Louisville, the breaking out of the Civil War found him established in the practice of law in his native city. He served through the war as major and lieutenant-colonel of the First Kentucky Infantry, and as aid-decamp on the staff of Jefferson Davis. Shortly after the close of the war he assumed the chair of English Literature in Washington College, Lexington, Va. In

1880 he accepted the presidency of the Louisiana State University, continuing to hold the position when the State University was reconstituted as the Tulane University. President Johnston was a close student of Shakespeare, and his "Prototype of Hamlet and Other Shakespearean Problems" won cordial recognition from other Shakespearean scholars of the country. Mr. Johnston was also the author of an excellent biography of his distinguished father, and of three volumes of verse: "My Garden Walk,"' "The Patriarchs," and "Seekers After God."

President Johnston died at the home of his married daughter in Virginia, September, 1899.

WILLIAM H. HOLCOMBE was for many years a prominent figure in the most intellectual circles of New Orleans, where in 1864 he established himself in the practice of his profession—a physician of the Homeopathic school. Before removing to New Orleans he had embraced the mystic doctrines of Swedenborg, to which he continued to adhere to the day of his death. His published works are: "The Scientific Basis of Homeopathy," "Essays on the Spiritual Philosophy of African Slavery," "Poems," "Our Children in Heaven," "The Sexes Here and Hereafter," "In Both Worlds; a Romance," "The Other Life," "Southern Voices," "The Lost Truths of Christianity," "The End of the World," "The New Life," "Helps to Spiritual Growth," and "Mystery of New Orleans." This last work is a novel which attracted general attention and was favorably noticed both in our own country and England. A brochure entitled "The Truth About Homeopathy" was published after his death, which occurred in 1893.

ALCEE FORTIER is a Creole of Louisiana, son of a planter of St. James Parish, who, like most of the planters of Louisiana, was ruined by the Civil War. Thrown upon his own resources at an early age, Mr. Fortier, who had been educated in part at the University of Virginia, became at twenty-three professor of the French Language and Literature in the old University of Louisiana, a position he still fills in its successor, "Tulane." Like all educated Creoles, Prof. Fortier is passionately attached to his mother tongue, and he has devoted much time and effort to the task of fostering in the community a more intimate knowledge of it, and a deeper interest in its literature. As president of "FAthenee Louisianais" he has done much to encourage the growth of an indigenous literature in the French langiiage, while as a member and president of the Louisiana branch of the American Folk-Lore Society he has made a valuable collection of Louisiana folk-tales in French dialect and English translation. He has also published in French two volumes of historical lectures, "le Chateau de Chambord"

and "les Conquetes des Normandes;" two of literary lectures, "le Vieux Francais et la Litterature du Moyen Age" and "Sept Grande Auteurs du XIXe Siecle/' "Gabriel d'Ennerich,"' a historical novelette, and "Histoire de la Litterature Francais." In English, which Professor Fortier writes with great facility, and with only an occasional idiomatic slip, he has produced the very valuable and interesting work entitled, "Louisiana Studies," to which frequent reference has been made in this chapter.

JOHN R. FICKLEN, who contributes to this history the chapters on "Education in New Orleans" and "The Indians of Louisiana," has been for about eighteen years connected with the chief educational institution of New Orleans, first as professor of English in the High School of the University under the old regime, then as professor of History and Rhetoric in Tulane, and later as professor of History and Political Science, which position he still holds. Professor Fieklen is a Virginian, and an alumnus of the University of that State. After his graduation he taught for a year in the Louisiana -State University at Baton Rouge as assistant professor of Ancient Languages, then went abroad for the purpose of studying the modern languages at Paris and Berlin. In collaboration with Miss Grace King, Mr. Fieklen has written a history of Louisiana, which has been adopted as a text-book in the public schools. He is also the author of "The Civil Government of Louisiana," and "Outline History of Greece," published by the Werner Company of Chicago; the article on New Orleans in Johnson's Encyclopedia, and the "Historical Sketch of the Acadians," in Mrs. William P. Jolin-ston's "In Acadia."

PROFESSOR WILLIAM B. SMITH, who occupies the chair of Mathematics in Tulane L^niversity, is an important factor in the intellectual life of New Orleans. Professor Smith is a profound scholar, and a student of many things besides mathematics. His published works on the latter topic consist of "Coordinate Geometry," Ginn & Co.; "Introductory Modern Geometry," Macmillan; "Infinitesimal Analj'sis," (3 Vols.), Vol. I, Macmillan. He has also written much for the daily journals and for various periodicals and reviews on Economics and Biblical criticism. On the first named topic we may note a series of nine articles embodying a "Financial Catechism," contributed to the St. Joseph Daily News; another series of six articles reviewing Gov. Altgeld's Music Hall Address, and published in the Chicago Record; a brochure of fifty pages on "Tariff for Protection," and another of the same length on "Tariff Reform;" a series of seven articles published in the Unitarian Review under the title of "Studies in Paulinism," and three or

four other articles for the same publication, the New World, and the Non-Sectarian, are all that have yet been made public on Biblical criticism, but the Professor has been for some time engaged on a work which he regards as the most important one to which he has yet put his hand, and one volume of which is now ready for the press, but will be submitted to scholars in Holland before publication. The work will bear some such title as "Structure and Origin of the New Testament," and the first part will consist of two volumes entitled "To Eomans: Vol I., Argumenta Interna; Vol. II., Argumenta Externa."

EGBERT SHARP is a Virginian, a graduate of Randolph Macon College, and of the University of Leipsic. Since the year 1880 he has filled the chair of Greek and English, first in the University of Louisiana, and sebsequently in its successor, Tulane University. A "Treatise on the Use of the Infinitive in Herodotus," written in Latin, and published in Leipsic, bears his name as author, and he has contributed numerous articles on various subjects to journals of education and newspapers. "Beowulf," the old English poem which, in collaboration with James A. Harrison, of Washington and Lee University, he edited and furnished with Glossary and Notes, has had a pronounced success, having passed through four editions.

REV. BEVERLY E. WARNER, M. A., D. D., has been a resident of New Orleans only since "93, at which time he assumed the rectorship of Trinity Church. He is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, and received his scholastic and theological training at Princeton and Trinity Colleges, and Berkeley Divinity School. Before his removal to the South Mr. Warner had lectured extensively for University Extension, and had established a reputation as a writer on economics and on literary subjects. He was also author of a novel, "Troubled Waters; a Problem of To-Day," treating of the "labor" problem. During the winter of 1893, Mr. Warner delivered a course of lectures on the study of history as illustrated in the plays of Shakespeare, which were afterwards collected into book form under the title of "English History in Shakespeare's Plays." These lectures deal with Shakespeare, the historian, wielding, as Heine has said, "not only the dagger of Melpomene, but the still sharper stylus of Clio,"' and enlightening "truth with song." It is gratifying, though not surprising, to learn that the volume is much used as a text-book, and is now in a second edition. A series of Lenten discourses on the rationalism of the Apostles' Creed was issued in 1897 under the title of "The Facts and the Faith." Mr. Warner has now "on the stocks" three or four books, mainly on Shakespearean subjects. With all his other occupations he finds time to serve as president of a scientific society, and as one of the Tulane Board of Administrators.

JOHN and CHAELES PATTON DIMITEY are the sons of Alexander Dimitry, to whom reference has already been made. They are both natives of Washington, D. C, but are connected with New Orleans by many ties. A portion of their boyhood was spent in that city, and they have both been connected with its press, John, the elder, having been for seven years dramatic and literary critic of the Times. He is the author of a "History and Geography of Louisiana," which was for a long time popular as a text-book in the public schools. A residence of two years at Barranquilla, United States of Colombia, supplied him with materials for a semi-historical novel—"Atahualpa's Curtain"—in which the customs of the people of Colombia are portrayed. He is also the author of a five-act historical drama: "The Queen's Letters." Charles has written several novels, among which "The House in Balfour Street" (1868) has been highly extolled. His latest work, "Louisiana Families," appeared serially in the New Orleans Times-Democrat, 1892-93.

ESPY W. H. WILLIAMS was born and educated in New Orleans, where he has been actively engaged in the insurance business since he was seventeen years of age. From early youth Mr. Williams' favorite reading seems to have been the works of the English dramatists, and his literary predilection is further emphasized by his first original work, "Prince Carlos." a tragedy in blank verse, written when he was twenty-one, and subsequently put on the stage by a local dramatic club. Other dramatic compositions are: "The Atheist," which is included in a volume of poems, "A Dream of Art, and Other Poems," published in 1892; "Eugene Aram," "The Last Witch," "Dante," and "Parrhasius; or Thriftless Ambition." This last has been made the basis of a tragedy, "Parrhasius," which Mr. Kobert Man-tell purchased and added to his repertory. "Eugene Aram" has also been recast for stage representation.

HENEY EIGHTOE is another native New Orleanian, who has adventured in the Thespian art. He has written two comedies, "The Military Maid" and "The Striped Petticoat," both of which have been produced upon the stage with encouraging results, and two one-act comedies, "Metaphysis" and "A Creole Cigarette," which are meeting with much success. In the last named piece the "Creole," as he lives and moves and has his being in New Orleans, is for the first time accurately portrayed upon the stage. Mr. Eightor is also the author of an extremely clever little volume of pithy sayings in prose and verse, contributed originally to Har-leqiiin, in which paper Mr. Eightor conducts a weekly column. The title of the column, "Harlequinade," is repeated as the title of the book.

ME. SCUDDAY RICHAEDSON has written, in addition to numerous poems and stories, exhibiting force and originality, a novel, "The Youth and First Love of Philip Eeynolds," which has attracted wide attention on account of the sincerity and simplicity of its treatment. Mr. Eichardson is a native of New Orleans and has had a varied experience in both the civil and military branches of the government service, as well as in metropolitan journalism.

The Civil War gave occasion for a number of historiettes, monographs, and biographical sketches, among which may be briefly mentioned the "Military Operations of Gen. Beauregard," by Col. Alfred Eoman, son of Governor Andre Bien-venu Eoman; and a prominent member of the New Orleans bar; Gen. Beauregard's own "Commentary on the Campaign and Battle of Manassas," and his "Summary of the Art of War;" Napier Bartlett's "A Soldier's Story of the War;" Col. Wm. M. Owen's "In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery;" and Mrs. Sarah A. Dorsey's "Eecollections of Henry Watkins Allen." '

Mrs. Dorsey was a novelist as well as a writer of biography, and stands credited ■with the authorship of "Lucia Dare," "Agnes Graham," "Atalie; or a Southern Villeggiatura," and ^Tanola; a Tale of Louisiana." A native of Natchez, Mississippi, Mrs. Dorsey is connected with New Orleans only by the fact that she resided in that city for a short time toward the close of her life, and died there in 1879. Her name, however, may serve as a passing note wherewith .to introduce some account of

THE WOMEN WRITERS OF NEW ORLEANS.

MAEY ASHLEY TOWNSEND is undoubtedly the most distinguished name among the pioneers of the feminine corps of the quill. Mrs. Townsend is a native of the Empire State, but has lived almost constantly in New Orleans since her marriage in 185G. Her first literary venture was in prose, "Brother Clerks; a Tale of New Orleans," published in 1859. She is chiefly known, however, by her poetical works, of which there'are now three volumes extant, viz.: "Xariffa's Poems," "Down the Bayou and Other Poems," and "DistaflE and Spindle." "The Captain's Story," a poem of between six and seven hundred lines, first published separately in 187-1, was in 1895 incorporated into the same volume that contains the new edition of "Down the Bayou," a long descriptive poem, full of the warmth, and color and fragrance of a sub-tropical summer morning. It is much the custom to cite "Creed" and "A Woman's Wish" as having laid the foundation of Mrs. Townsend's reputation. While it may well be that these two beautiful and womanly poems were the first to attract attention, those who have restricted their acquaintance with

STANDARD HISTORY OF NEW ORLEANS. m

Mrs. Townsend's work to them have but a very imperfect idea of the scope of her genius. Even among her earlier poems there are a number which, tried by the severer standards of literary excellence, are superior to them, but in the sixty-nine sonnets that form the contents of her latest volume, "Distaff and Spindle," we have the ripened, full-flavored fruit of which those others were but buds of promise. These sonnets, so strongly wrought, so nobly keyed, so steeped in love and prayer and praise, ought to set Mrs. Townsend's name among the foremost singers of the country.

M. E. M. DAVIS is a writer whose fame is steadily increasing. Mrs. Davis is the daughter of Dr. John Moore, and was born at Talladega, Ala., but her childhood and early youth were passed in Texas, where her father was engaged in the occupation of a planter. Mrs. Davis began to rhyme while still in short skirts, and her first book of poems, "Minding the Gap, and Other Poems," was published before she was out of her teens. In 1874 Miss (Mary Evelyn) Moore was married to Major Thomas E. Davis, associate editor of the Houston Post. Shortly afterward the Post changed hands, and Major Davis and his wife removed to New Orleans, where he became engaged on the staff of the Picayune. Mrs. Davis now began to write prose as well as verse, her first attempts in this new line being a series of local sktches published in the Sunday Picayune, under the catching title of the "Keren-happoch Papers." As her touch became surer, and the Northern public began to show an interest in pictures of Southern life painted by those best fitted to describe it, she found herself writing for the wider circle of readers opened up to her by the Harper periodicals, and since 1885-86 her name has graced the pages of all the leading magazines. "In War Times at La Kose Blanche" is a volume of sketches in which are set forth the author's recollections of the bitter strife between the States, and probably Mrs. Davis will never write anything that will strike so deep a chord of sympathy in the hearts of her readers. It has that poignant charm, half pain, half pleasure, which invests the experiences of childhood when seen through the softening vista of intervening years. In "An Elephant's Track, and Other Stories," and in her two novels, "Under the Man-Fig" and "The Wire Cutters," Mrs. Davis has utilized her knowledge of West Texas life. "A Masque of St. Roche, and Other Poems," contains, besides the poetic pageant, "Pere Dagobert" and "Throwing the Wanga," two of her most unique and widely known poems. Mrs. Davis' verse is always musical, and covers a wide range of thought, feeling and fancy. A new novel just from the press bears the attractive title of "The Queen's Garden." The scene is laid in New Orleans, with whose topography and social life the author is thoroughly familiar.

^ GEACE ELIZABETH KING is a writer whose talent New Orleans may claim as purely indigenous. Not only is she a native of the city, but it is there that she received her education and has so far passed her life. During her schooldays and earlier years her residence was in that region of the city kno^^Ti as the "Creole Quarter," and the intimate knowledge of Creole life and character shown in her short stories and novels is inwrought among the indelible impressions of childhood. Even the Creoles do not dispute the accuracy of her presentation, and one young lady of that race has been heard to declare that the pictures of convent school-life arc perfect, and to admit having "rolled on the floor" in spasms of laughter over the story of the girl who "lost her sins." Unsolicited testimony of this sort from one to the "manner born" is worth more than columns of formal criticism from persons who know nothing of the matter. For the last few years Miss King has been devoting herself to historical writing. In addition to the school "History of Louisiana," of which she is joint-author with Prof. Ficklen, she has written a "Life of Bienville," "New Orleans, the Place and the People," and "De Soto and His Men in the Land of Florida." Her works of fiction are: "Bon Maman," "Monsieur Motte," "Earthlings," "Tales of Time and Place," and "Balcony Stories."

EUTH McENEEY STUAET has obtained wide and rapid success as a writer of dialect stories. Mrs. Stuart's life on plantations, first as a child in Avoyelles Parish, where she was born, and later in Arkansas, where her married life was spent, gave her opportunities for studying the negro under circumstances in which his native characteristics have been least modified by contact with white influence. Her Africans are the genuine "darkies" of the sugar belt and the cotton regions, and are noticeably different from those of Mr. Page and Joel Chandler Harris. Mrs. Stuart did not begin to write until after the death of her husband, when she took up her residence in New Orleans with her mother and sisters. In 1892 she removed to New York in order to be nearer the "market," and also for the purpose of availing herself of better educational advantages for her only son. She supplied Mrs. Margaret Sangster's place as editor of Harper's Bazaar during that lady's absence in Europe, and has done much of her best work for the Harper publications. Her collected stories are comprised in five volumes: "A Golden Wedding, and Other Tales," "Carlotta's Intended, and Other Stories," "The Story of Babette," "Solomon Crow's Christmas Pockets and Others," and "In Simpkin-ville."

CECELIA VIETS JAMISON (nee Dakin) is a native of Yarmouth, Can-

ada. She was married to Samuel Jamison, of New Orleans, in 187!>, since which time she has resided in the Crescent Cit}'. Her novel, "The Enthusiast," was the first to attract general attention. "Lady Jane," "Toinette's Phili])," and "Seraph, the Little Violinist," are tales of child life in New Orleans, which were first published serially in the St. Nicholas Magazine. Her other works are: "Woven of Many Threads," "Crown From the Spear," "Eopes of Sand," and "Lilly of San Miniato." She has also contributed many short stories to Harper's and other magazines.

JULIE K. WETHEKILL BAKEE is known in literary circles, north and south, as an essayist, critic, and poet of much ability. Mrs. Baker was born in Woodville, Miss., but educated in Philadelphia, her father's native city. Her literary tendency manifested itself very early, and even as a school-girl she was in the habit of writing romances and tales, which were often accepted by the papers to which they were sent. As her years increased poetrv became her favorite form of expression, though she still wrote occasional stories and sketches. In 1885 she became the wife of Mr. M. A. Baker, literary editor of the New Orleans Times-Democrat, and since that time her pen has been chiefly occupied with critical and literary work for that journal. In addition to the fine natural taste and the sensitiveness to literary efl'ect so essential to the critic, Mrs. Baker possesses the wide acquaintance with the best literatures, ancient and modern, which alone can furnish a proper standard of judgment. Her criticism is not, therefore, a mere expression of personal preference, but a reasoned opinion, based upon an understanding of the principles that underlie every composition which can justly lay claim to the title of literature. Her prose and her poetry express opposite sides of a richly gifted and finely balanced nature. While the latter, full of melody, fancy and exquisite im^ agery, breathes almost always a pensive strain, the former, direct and explicit, almost to_ severity, is often penetrated with a vein of subtle humor or of quiet irony that sends little thrills of merriment along the nerves and keeps a smile upon the lips. It is a subject of regret among Mrs. Baker's friends that she has never thought it worth while to collect either her poems or a selection from her essays into book form.

ELIZA J. NICHOLSON (nee Poitevent) made her debut before the New Orleans reading public under the nom-de-plume of "Pearl Rivers." Her first efforts in metrical composition appeared in the New Orleans Picayune, whose editor, Mr. Holbrook, she subsequently married. After Mr. Holbrook's death she married in second nuptials Mr. George Nicholson, business manager of the Picayune, in con-

junction with whom she conducted tlie paper until her death in 1897. Mrs. Nicholson wrote a good deal of verse, but, except for one volume—"Lyrics"—published in 1873, none of it has ever been collected. Her longest and best known poem, "Hagar,"' appeared in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, November, 1893.

MAKTHA R. FIELD, (nee Smallwood) was for many years connected with the New Orleans Picayune as creator and conductor of the Woman's Department. She wrote on many topics, and in a bright and pleasing style that attracted many renders. Mrs. Field made several trips to Europe, and her lively descriptions of what she saw and how she saw it added much to the interest of the Picayune's Sunday issue. A few years before her death, which occurred in the fall of 1898, Mrs. Field became connected with the New Orleans Times-Democrat, for which journal her last work was done. A selection from her voluminous writings, edited by Mrs. M. E. M. Davis, has been published under the title of "Catherine Cole's Book."

(Mrs.) A. G. Durno Las been for years connected with the Times-Democrat, conducting with ability and characteristic modesty an anonymous weelvly column of book reviews for that journal. Mrs. Durno is distinguished alike for the power of her intellect and the purity and delicacy of her imaginative faculty. She has written verses of singular sweetness and melody, while her prose is clear, strong and picturesque. Some of Mrs. Durno's best work has been in the shape of literary editorials, written for the regular Sunday columns of the Times-Democrat, during the absence or illness of Julia K. Wetherill (Mrs. Marion A. Baker). Much of Mrs. Durno's writing has been under the name of "Felix Gray." Mrs. Durno is a native of Ohio, hut came to New Orleans when young.—Ed.

ART.

The history of art in New Orleans is neither long nor complicated. Indeed, the historian who sets out to inquire into the art conditions of the earlier years of the city will find growing up in his mind a dire suspicion that his intended chapter will furnish a parallel to the famous chapter on snakes in Ireland. The contention of some writers that the supremacy of the ancient Greeks in the liberal arts was due to the leisure afforded the upper classes by the institution of slavery is hardly sustained by the record of art in the South. While it is true that our country as a whole has been very backward in developing anything worthy of the name of native art, it cannot be denied that the South has lagged far behind even the snail-like progress of the North. In the case of New Orleans this appears all the more singular when it is reflected that the ties of race which affiliated so large and

influential a class of her population with France brought about a closer intercourse between her citizens and Paris, the great modern center of art, than obtained in any other section of the Union. As has been noted in the case of Dr. Mercier, the Eouquette brothers and Charles Gayarre, it was quite the custom among wealthy Creoles to send their sons to France to be educated, or for the young men to betake themselves thither of their own volition, yet the atmosphere of Paris and the contemplation of the masterpieces that line the walls of the great galleries of the Louvre, the Luxembourg and Versailles, do not seem to have awakened in any of these youths an ambition to become the pioneer of art in their own State.

The chronicles of the colonial period yield the names of three legendary artists, all Spanish, who are said to have sojourned in New Orleans an indefinite period of time something like a hundred and thirty years ago. The first of these bore the name of Salazar, and in 1769, it is said, painted the portraits of Mr. Charles Trudeau, surveyor of Louisiana, and of Madam Trudeau, his wife. Another, whose name was Romegar, is said to have done some "landscape work," for which he was awarded a bronze medal in Paris. After these came one whose name has not been preserved, but who painted several portraits, notably a "very fine" one of a Mr. Regio, but finding that he could not compete with Salazar, returned to his native land. This closes the record for the eighteenth century, and the next artistic incident of sufficient importance to deserve mention brings us down into the third decade of the nineteenth. It is of another nameless Spaniard, who had "been traveling in Mexico,"' and who had painted a large landscape, 8x6 feet, "representing the scene of a famous murder,'' for which the St. I^uis Exchange presented him with a bronze medal. After this date the names multiply rapidly. There were Lanseau, Vaude Champ, Leon Pomarede, who painted the three large altar pieces still to be seen in St. Patrick's Church; Julian Hudson, a very light colored man who painted portraits which were much esteemed; Catlin, the Indian painter, who remained but a short time; and A. G. Powers, who came about 1848-9, and resided here many years, painting portraits of a number of the most distinguished citizens. A full length portrait of General Taylor, which he made in 1848 at Baton Rouge, hangs at present in the mayor's parlor at the City HaU. Powers had his studio at No. 102 Canal street.

Bernard was a portrait painter of much talent who came to New Orleans about 1850 and did some very good work. His style was similar to that of Julien and of Healy, the latter of whom also made a short sojourn on the banks of the Mississippi.

Mr. George D. Coulon is an old resident of New Orleans, where he has won considerable reputation, both as a landscape and portrait painter and teacher.

Theodore S. Moise was a South Carolinian who painted many portraits in Xew Orleans and its environs in ante-bellum days. Among the specimens of his work which are accessible to the public are an equestrian portrait of General Jackson, which hangs in the City Hall; a portrait of Governor P. I. Herbert, which is in the State Library, and a piece known as "Life on Metarie," which contains likenesses of forty-four prominent turf men.

Ciceri was a French artist of established reputation in his own country, whose government had intrusted him with a commission to Egypt in the interest of art. He came to New Orleans by invitation of the Opera House Association about 1859-€0, to decorate the interior of the opera house, then in process of building. Ciceri made friends in his new home, and remained there to practice his art. He painted many small pastels and guaches, which are highly prized by their owners, and had also much success as a teacher.

Julio, a native of St. Helena, who came to New Orleans shortly after the war, was a painter of some pretensions. He painted the famous "Last Meeting of Generals Lee and Jackson,"' which has been so widely circulated by means of engravings and photographs, and of which the original hangs in Washington Artillery Hall. His best works are "An Ox-team," and "A Cypress Swamp." His crayons and charcoal sketches are considered better than his work in colors. Julio died some years ago.

Eichard Clague was another Frenchman of recognized ability in his own country who made his home in New Orleans. Clagiie was a landscape painter, and made a specialty of Louisiana landscapes, of which he painted a great number. He died in 1873, since which event his pictures have more than doubled in value.

Paul Poincy is a native of New Orleans, who received his art education in Paris at the Beaux Arts and in the studios of Gleyre and Leon Cogniet. Mr. Poincy is chiefly a painter of portraits and of children, though he has produced some landscapes and street scenes which are highly esteemed. Among his best work in portraiture is a speaking likeness of the late beloved Archbishop Perche In the City Hall hangs an enormous canvas whereon is depicted a parade of the old volunteer Fire Department passing on Canal street, which is the joint work of Mr. Poincy and Mr. Moise. This piece contains sixty-four portraits of prominent members of the old Fire Department, and possesses a certain historic interest as a memento of departed glories. Mr. Poincy has also painted a number of pictures

on sacred subjects, and it is jicrhaps toward tliis branch of art that his natural beut, ^ould he follow it with profit, would most incline him. A well-known local connoisseur says of him: "Poincy ought to have lived in the days of Raphael, when art was consecrated to the church. His genius is not appreciated in these modern times." His representations of sacred scenes are distributed among various religious institutions of the city, and Jlarshall J. Smith is the owner of an unfinished sketch of Christ on the way to Calvary which is spoken of as a conception of striking originality and power.

Andres Molinary is a native of Gibraltar, a British subject, therefore, though of Italian ancestry, and speaking Spanish as his mother tongue. He was educated at the Fine Art Academy of Seville, and at Lucca's Academy in Eome under such masters as Valles and Alvarey. After quitting the school he traveled extensively in Europe and in Africa with the famous artists Fortuny and Reynold. Mr. Molinary has resided for many years in New Orleans, where his reputation, both as a painter and teacher, has steadily increased. As a portrait painter he has no superior, perhaps no equal, in the South, and his fame is rapidly spreading to other cities. In the room of the Louisiana Supreme Court hang portraits of Judges Eost, Buchanan, Marr, Merrick and Poche, and in the Charity Hospital those of Drs. Miles and Picard, all examples of Mr. Molinary"s work, and in the gallery of the Newcomb Art Building, loaned by the owner, Mr. P. M. Westfeltd, may be seen a most lifelike presentation of Achille Perelli, the sculptor, who died in 189G.

Achille Peretti, a native of Piedemonte, Itah', and a member of the third generation of a family of artists, came to New Orleans in 1885. Mr. Peretti is a pupil of the Milan Reale Academia di Belle Arte, and a winner of diplomas and medals, both at the academy and at Eome. Since his advent in New Orleans he has decorated several churches, notably the interior of the Church of St. John the Baptist and that of St. Stephen, where he reproduced as a center piece the Stephen of Raphael in Genoa. Some eight or nine years ago Mr. Peretti was engaged to decorate the Church of St. Columbkill in Chicago, a work which elicited the highest encomiums from the press of that city. Mr. Peretti is a painter of landscapes, as well as of the human figure, and is besides an expert wood-carver.

About fourteen years ago, that is, in 1886, the little band of professional artists in New Orleans was reinforced by the arrival of Mr. B. A. Wikstrom, a native of Norway, and a pupil of the finest art schools of Europe. As seems quite natural in one of his nationality, Mr. Wikstrom's chosen metier is that of the marine painter. For j-ears he followed the sea in order to study it in all its moods and

phases, and his painted images of ships racing before a spanking breeze or ploughing heavily across the tossing heights and hollows of mid-ocean have for the beholder much of the exhilaration and solemn fascination of the sea itself. Mr. Wikstrom, however, does not confine himself altogether to marine painting, and his landscapes and interiors form no mean second to his sea pieces. An industrious worker during his season of production, Mr. Wikstrom keeps himself fresh and au couraut with the great world of art by a yearly pilgrimage to Europe, whence he returns with renewed inspiration.

The first symptom of the awakening of anything like a general interest in art matters among the people of New Orleans was shown in the organization of "The Southern Art Union" in 1883. The Union owed its existence to Molinary, who, with the assistance of Edward Livingston and Marshall J. Smith, undertook to induct such of the members as felt an impulse toward artistic expression into the mysteries of line and color. The organization began life under flattering auspices. The membership increased rapidly, reaching at one time the very respectable figure of five hundred, and the financial basis seemed all that could be desired. A collection of paintings from the North was secured for exhibition in its gallery, at first with the charge of a small admission fee, and afterward free, which resulted in the sale of a number of the pictures. But the road to success in art is no less difficult than that of any other of the more elevated lines of human endeavor, and presently sundry of the neophytes began to long for something at once easier of accomplishment and more'showy in effect than the results of their efforts with brush and pencil. To satisfy these cravings, various forms of decorative work were introduced, at which the artist instructors complacently winked, but when it was proposed to add "art embroidery" to the course of instruction, they packed up their brushes and colors, shouldered their easels, and incontinently abandoned the field to the false gods preferred by so many to the severe divinity of "high art." The Union lingered on through some months of slow degeneration and disintegration, but finally gave up the ghost in 1886. "Too many cooks" was the verdict of the jury of experts who informally "sat upon" the remains.

The same year saw the inception of another art society which, although it can hardly be said to have sprung, Phoenix-like, from the ashes of the defunct Union, certainly included some of its former members. The new organization, styled "The Artists' Association of New Orleans," was the happy thought of Mr. B. A. Wikstrom, then but newly arrived from lands where art has long flourished, and was accepted with enthusiasm by his brethren of the brush. The fraternity had but

little spare cash, but they made up in abundant good vriW for the deficiencies of their exchequer. Every man was ready to put his hand to the work, and fingers that were accustomed to the delicate manipulation of palette colors now grasped the coarse brushes of the kalsominer and the house painter, and flourished other implements equally alien, but serviceable in the task of fitting up a home for their club. In order to increase their influence in the community, as well as to create a fund for the furtherance of art purposes, it was decided to form classes in the various branches of painting, the artist members giving their services as teachers free of other charge than the initiation fee and annual dues. The corps of instructors included B. A. Wikstrom, water colors and out-door sketching; Paul Poincy, cartoon and perspective; Andres Molinarj-, oils; A. Perelli (sculptor), modelling. For a time the classes were full and the signs seemed bright with promise, but again the interest of the students died out, the classes dwindled, and finally, after three years of unremunerated labor, it was decided to discontinue them and to maintain the Association purely for the cultivation of good fellowship among the members, its relations with the public being confined to exhibits of original work and of such collections from other places as can be secured. In 1899 the directors of the Fisk Free and Public Library placed at the service of the Association a room adjoining the large reading room as a sort of gallery for the permanent exhibition of paintings. The Association has held fourteen exhibitions, the last one in December, 1899, to which twenty-two artists contributed. Of these, sixteen are residents of New Orleans, professional and amateur. Prominent among the non-resident artists represented by their work were Dodge McKnight, of Mystic, Conn., who has once before exhibited in New Orleans, and George H. Clements, a native of Louisiana and an artist of European reputation, now located at Flushing, L. I. The other non-resident's are Walter Burridge and F. L. Linden, of Chicago, 111., Miss L. L. Heustis, of New York, and Eobert Koehler, of Minneapolis, Minn. Mr. Robert B. Mayfield, a local artist who was represented by a dozen canvases, has studied in Paris, where he spent three years in the ateliers of the best masters. He paints both figures and landscapes, though his time is chiefly given to illustrative work. Mr. Mayfield is the regular artist of the Times-Democrat. Among the amateur members of the Association who have achieved a very creditable degree of skill may be mentioned its president, Mr. P. M. Westfeltd, its vice-president, Mr. Frank Cox, and Mr. A. J. Drysdale. The Association numbers among its members several ladies, who are also among its most zealous workers. Mrs. Gertrude Eoberts Smith and Miss Mary G. Sheerer are artists by profession, and are actively engaged as

teachers in the Art Department of Newcomb College. Miss M. M. Seebold, although she modestly styles herself "amateur," is enlisted heart and soul in painting, to which she devotes all her time. She is a pupil of Molinary, and was one of the first women in whose behalf the rigidly exclusive rules originally adopted against the admission of ladies to the Association were relaxed. Miss Seebold is distinctively a flower painter, although she often diverges into other lines. Her canvases meet with warm appreciation and bring good prices.

Miss Jenny Wilde is known as the Carnival Artist from the fact that her time and talent are chiefly devoted to the work of designing the floats and tableaux of one of the most prominent carnival organizations. Miss Wilde is a granddaughter of Eichard Henry Wilde, the Irish-American poet, who had made his home in New Orleans a short time before his death.

Marshall J. Smith, who has been already mentioned as one of the original promoters of the Art Union, studied painting first in New Orleans under Clague, and afterward in Europe, where he spent two years, working in various studios in Rome and Munich, traveling and visiting the most noted galleries. On his return to his own country he opened a studio, and for a time devoted himself exclusively to art. Subsequently he became engaged in the insurance business, and painting has since occupied a secondary position in his active life, if not in his affections.

W. H. Buck, a Norwegian by birth, was also a pupil of Clague and painted much in the style of his master. He went to Boston and studied for a time, with the effect of producing some variation in his manner. Buck was little more than an amateur, although his pictures found purchasers. He was a cotton-weigher by occupation.

Tliere remains to be spoken of tlic work of Professors William and Ellsworth Woodward, a work which, without question, is destined to prove the most potent factor in the develojiment of the art spirit in New Orleans, and the creation of an art center whose influence shall be felt throughout the South.

The work was begun in 1884-85, and seems to have received its first impulse from the bringing together of a vast number of paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc., by the Cotton Centennial Exposition of that year. Tlie impulse led to the organization of drawing classes in Tulane College and High School, which held a session each afternoon in the gallery of the Government and States building. The following year free drawing classes were established in connection with Tulane, free to all, and attended by hundreds of men and women, overjoyed to avail themselves of such an opportunity. The classes were under the supervision of Professor William

Woodward, and were continued until the removal of the University to its new building, opposite Audubon Park. From the decorative art classes, composed of women, grew up an Art League which for several years conducted a "supply store"' and "art pottery," a cabinet-maker's shop, reading and exhibition rooms, etc. In this work Professor Woodward was aided by his brother, Ellsworth, who had been secured as an assistant after the experiences of the first year had demonstrated that the newly opened field promised to yield a rich harvest. When, in 1887, President Johnston, of Tulane, was engaged in the organization of the H. Sophie Jfewcomb Memorial College, the art department of the new institution was confided to the care of the Woodward brothers, who continued to work together, both there and in the free drawing classes, until the enlargement and removal of the Memorial College to its present location compelled a division of labor. Professor Ellsworth then assumed entire charge of the Xewconib art classes, having as assistant Miss Gertrude Eoberts, of Boston, while William remained with Tulane, where he now occupies the position of Professor of Drawing and Architecture in the College of Technology and the University Department.

At Newcomb, Professor Ellsworth Woodward has inaugurated and is carrying forward with ever growing success, a great work, for which ample facilities are afforded by the large and handsome building designed expressly for art purposes. The work falls under three heads: The academic and collegiate art studies, which enter into the general plan of a liberal education, and in which the object is educational, rather than technical; the Normal Art classes, for which the studies are graded and planned to extend through a period of four years, finally fitting the student to teach art as a profession; and the studio classes, which are conducted on a plan similar to those of the other art schools of the country. A noteworthy development in this department is its pottery, which originated a few years since, and has already become an art industry of richest promise. In this department Professor Woodward is using every means to make the work in every sense native to the locality. Only Southern clays are used, and experiments are constantly being carried on with new specimens brought to the attention of the director. The students are encouraged to select their models from objects about them, and the result is that many humble flowers, weeds, insects and members of the great family of Crustacea have been pressed into the service of beauty. Specimens of the Newcomb pottery have found their way to Northern cities, where they have elicited much admiration, both for originality of design and beauty of coloring and finish.

The Woodwards are natives of Massachusetts, where their early life was spent.

They are both graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design. William, after his graduation, spent a summer in Julien's art school at Paris. He paints landscapes and portraits, both in oils and water-colors, and has recently exhibited a number of exquisite fruit pieces. Mr. Woodward is an ex-president of the Artists' Association, president of the Louisiana Art Teachers' Association, and vice-president of the Louisiana Chautauqua, Euston, 1898-9.

Ellsworth's studies at the School of Design were supplemented by a term of study in New York and another in Munich, where he was under the instruction of Professor Carl Marr. He is a rapid worker and a master of technique, and his annual vacation is a season of fruitful production, whose results are displayed to the public in the studio at the college.

The following extract from a letter from the artist, George H. Clements, to Professor William Woodward, may be taken as an unsolicited expert opinion of the brothers and their work: "As the first days of surprises and contrasts have passed, I am able to recall the delightful impressions of my recent vacation in Louisiana. Among them stands distinctly my visits to you and your brother in your cozy workshops, where I was greatly pleased to see such work as one finds in the most advanced centers of art. I think Tulane and Sophie Newcomb so handsomely equipped in their art departments that their gifted pupils will have nothing to unlearn in the future, which is a rare advantage to be found in any but a few well-known cities. I was so sincerely pleased with your water-colors, in particular, that I wish you might exhibit with us in the Fifty-seventh street gallery. The New York Water-Color Club is an association of the most talented specialists in the country. It seems to me their exhibitions are equal to the best in Paris, and equal to any other I have seen abroad, therefore you will be in excellent company."

With Newcomb and Tulane to spread abroad in the community a practical knowledge of the principles of art, and to furnish a yearly recruited band of finished artists, and the Art Association to foster the art sentiment and to supply inspiration and incentive by placing before the public examples of the best work of the world, it seems permitted to hope that the next casting up of accounts in matters of art mav show a large balance on the credit side of the ledger.

CHAPTER XVI.

FLOEA OF LOUISIANA. By Reginald S. Uocks

THE geographical position of Louisiana is such that its flora could hardly fail to be of extreme interest. Traversed through a large portion of its territory by the Mississippi Eiver, it is on the border land of two very distinct floras, "the eastern and western," of which this river forms a very natural division line. From its position again at the mouth of the Mississippi we find that the seeds of many plants which usually live in more northern States are washed down and deposited on its banks, while on the other hand, the winds and currents of the Gulf wash to its shores many plants belonging rather to more southern climates. When, furthermore, we take into consideration the fact that its climate combines in a remarkable degree the two factors of humidity and warmth, which more than anything else are conducive to a luxuriant vegetation, we can hardly be surprised to find its flora exceedingly large and varied.

The surface and soil of Louisiana can be divided into four distinct divisions, each characterized by its own flora. Firstly, there are the cypress swamps, which comprise a great many square miles of Louisiana's territory. The flora of this region is characterized, of course, by the presence of the cypress Taxodium distichum L.; and it is worth noticing that in these cypress swamps there is usually little or no undergrowth of any kind, the ground being often absolutely bare for many miles, •'secondly, there are the pine barrens, where, though of course pines are the predominating feature, there is an abundant undergrowth and profusion of wild Jlowers. In fact, it is in this region that the botanist finds his choicest specimens. Thirdly, there are the large open lowland prairies, whose vegetation consists mainly i)f rank grasses and sedges, though not unfrequently interspersed with flowers of ■:he brightest hue, such as Asclepia paupercula and several varieties of the Hibiscus family. Fourthly, there are what is called the hummock lands, covered by a variety of timber trees, as oaks, magnolias, sweet giims, etc., and with a luxuriant undergrowth of creepers, shrubs and flowers of many kinds.

Probably the earliest investigator of the flora of Louisiana was the historian Le Page du Pratz. Over one hundred years ago he made a report upon it to the French government and sent home for their inspection three hundred species of plants supposed to be of medicinal value. Speaking of the fliora, he wrote that "the flowers are so varied and so beautiful that the perplexed collector cannot make up lus mind which to take and which to leave behind." He was much interested in the so-called Spanish moss, Tillandsia usneoides, which forms such a feature of the Louisiana forests. Not imagining it to be a plant, he calls it "an excrescence/' and attributes its early name, Barbe Espagnole, to the likeness which the Indians detected' in it to the beards of the Spaniards. The first book devoted entirely to the botany of the State was a "Flora Ludoviciana," published in the year 1803 by a French gentleman, C. C. Eobin. To him belongs the honor of having been the first to describe very many of the native plants of the State. A few years later this book was enlarged and in many ways improved by Mr. Eafinesque. From time to time after this we find various scattered notices of the flora of Louisiana, but it was not until about the year 1850 that a serious attempt was made to explore the botanical resources of the State. In the year 1851 there was published in The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal a catalogue of all the flowering plants known at' that time in the State. This catalogue represented the joint labors for twenty years of Professor Eiddell, of New Orleans, Professor Carpenter, also of New Orleans, and Dr. Hale, of Alexandria. It enumerated about sixteen hundred species of flowering plants, but omitted the large and important families of the grasses and sedges. In the troubled times that followed in the succeeding two decades, not only was the study of the flora of the State absolutely neglected, but also the large collections which represented the labors of these three gentlemen were in a great . measure ruined or lost, so that the work of exploration had almost to be begun anew. The most prominent workers in the State since that date have been Professor Featherman, a professor at the Louisiana State University, who about the year 1871 sent to the Smithsonian Institution a report upon the botany of the State, which, however, was never published; Dr. Joor, lately of Tulane University, who died in the year 1892; and the Eev. Father A. B. Langlois, now of St. Martinville, La. To the latter gentleman more perhaps than to all the others we owe our present knowledge of the flora of the State. Gifted with the power of the closest observation, this indefatigable worker has devoted all his leisure time for many years to the study of the botany of the State, with a success that has fallen to the lot of few. His name will be always indissolubly associated with the study of botany

in Louisiana. He published, in the year 1886, a provisional catalogue, not only of the flowering plants, grasses and sedges of the State, but also of the flowerless plants, including the ferns, mosses, fungi, etc.

As a result of the labors of these gentlemen, and perhaps of some few others, there are at present known to exist in the State about twenty-two hundred different species of phanerogamic plants growing without cultivation, and no doubt this number will be increased when the whole State shall have been thoroughly explored.

No part of the flora of any region is of more general interest than its trees, of which there are in Louisiana about one hundred and thirty different kinds. Foremost of these, both in its economic importance and in the number of individuals, is the Long-leafed Pine, Pinus palustris Miller, known also in Louisiana under the names Southern Pine, Yellow Pine, Hard Pine, Heart Pine, and elsewhere by a variety of other names. Some idea of the importance of this tree to the State of Louisiana may be gathered from the fact that during the year 1892 it was estimated that 275,000,000 feet were sawn up in the different mills throughout the State. Besides the Yellow Pine, there are three other pines found in more or less abundance in different parts of the State. These are the Loblolly Pine, Pinus taeda L.; the Short-leafed Pine, Pinus echinata Miller; and the Cuban Pine, PinuS heterophylla Ell.

Of hardly less importance than the pine is the Cypress, Taxodium distichum L., which forms such a feature of the Louisiana swamps. The curious so-called Cypress knees have long been, and still are, an interesting puzzle to botanists.

The Oak family is well represented throughout the State by fifteen different species, prominent among which might be mentioned the Live Oak, Water Oak, Red Oak, Spanish Oak, Post Oak, Chestnut Oak, etc. The Live Oaks, especially in the vicinity of New Orleans, have long been famous for their size and beauty.

The Magnolia is represented by five different species, and the Hickory by seven, including the well-known Pecan. Of the Sour Gum or Nyssa, known also by the name Tupelo, three kinds occur in abundance in the swampy regions. Without attempting to give a catalogue of the trees of the State, it is hardly possible to omit the names of the Liriodendron, or Tulip tree, the Beech, the Elm, represented by five different species; the Ash by four, the Hackberry by two, the Maple by four, and the Chestnut by two, while the Sycamore, Sweet Gum, Walnut, Eed Bay, Linden and Mulberry are all more or less plentiful. Several trees, though not native, have become so completely naturalized as to deserve mention. Amongst these are the

Fig tree, the Crape Myrtle, the Paper Mulberry, the Umbrella tree, Melia azederacli L., and perhaps even to a certain extent, the Orange tree.

Of equal value to the trees of any region are the grasses and forage plants occurring in it, and of these Louisiana has a bountiful share. There are known to the writer something over two hundred different kinds of grasses, with habits so various that the season is indeed short when some species is not available for pasture. How large a number of species of grasses two hundred means may be better understood when it is stated that in Great Britain, which has been explored botani-cally in a way Louisiana will not be for many years to come, there are only one hundred and twenty. Amongst grasses particularly characteristic of Louisiana may be mentioned the Wild Rice, the magnificent Giant Millet, Chaetochloa magna, which frequently attains a height of seven or eight feet, and the various species of "plume grass," Erianthus.

Hardly second in importance numerically to the grasses are the sedges and rushes, of which there are about one hundred and seventy kinds occurring in the State. Though of little use economically, in which respect they differ greatly from their near relatives, the grasses, they form such a feature of the lowlands of Louisiana that even the most casual observer could hardly fail to be struck by their abundance and variety. Cladium effusum, or Saw grass, the giant of the family, frequently attains a height of eight or nine feet, and its dark chestnut brown spikes are very conspiciious in the prairie swamps around New Orleans.

Outside of the grass family the order next in importance from an economic standpoint is perhaps the Leguminosae, or Bean family; for to this family belong the majority of plants, exclusive of grasses, useful for forage purposes. This family is well represented in Louisiana by about one hundred and twenty species. Of these, the most important is, perhaps, the well-known Lespedeza striata, or Japan Clover, which, though not a native of the State, has become so extensively naturalized that it shares with the Bermuda grass and Crab grass the honor of being the most valuable pasture food in this region. Though composed principally of herbs, there are some few trees belonging to this order found in the State, among them the Red Bud or Judas tree, Cercis canadensis; the False Acacia or Robinia; and a very handsome tree naturalized from Mexico, Parkinsonia aculeata, now thoroughly at home in certain parts of the State.

The largest order of plants in Louisiana is the Compositae, or Thistle family, of which there are over three hundred different species. Though very fejv plants of this large order are of much economic importance, it contains so many showy

flowers, especially those which hloom in the autumn, that it deserves mor(> than passing mention. The Goldenrods, of which we liave in Louisiana about twenty-nine different kinds, and the Asters, about the same number, are the two largest representatives of this family. To this same family also belongs what, in the writer's opinion, is the handsomest wild flower in the State, Stokesia cyanea, which, though very common in the pine barrens, and of a magnificent purplish blue, a rare color, has not so far been honored with a popular name, and is by no means so well known as it deserves.

Of edible berries and wild fruits, Louisiana has a faii; share. It is sufficient, perhaps, to mention here the Muscadyne grape, the Blackberry, the Huckleberry, the Pawpaw, two or three kinds of Plum, the Persimmon, Hickory and Pecan nuts; while on the other hand the poisonous plants are few in number, two only, perhaps, being deserving of special notice—the Poison Sumac and the Poison Oak.

With brilliant flowering trees and shrubs the State is abundantly supplied, as anyone can testify who, at the end of February or beginning of March, has seen the woods a blaze of color with the bright yellow Jesamine, Gelsemium semper-virens, the snow-white Dogwoods, Cornus floridana, and the quaint Daddy Graybeard or Fringe tree, Chionanthes virginiea. While, as should be expected from the large amount of standing water throughout the State, there is a very great abundance of Water Lilies and other water-loving plants.

In conclusion, it might be said that, though perhaps the flora of Louisiana lacks the tropical beauty of that of Florida, or the stupendous grandeur of the forests of California, yet in the diversity and variety of its plant life it is second probably to no State in the Union.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE BENCH AND BAK OF NEW ORLEANS. By B. R. Forman, Jr.

IN THE following sketch of the bench and bar of New Orleans, but a brief mention has been made, on account of the limit of space, of some of the distinguished

figures. For the same reason many who would be entitled to an extended notice in a complete work upon the subject have necessarily been omitted.

For the preparation of the biographical sketch of Judge Martin, acknowledgment is made to the admirable life of Judge Martin by Judge W. W. Howe, prefaced to Gresham's edition of Martin's history. For the preparation of the other sketches numerous authorities have been consulted; Appleton's Encyclopedia of American Biography for some; the eulogies in the Louisiana Annuals for others, and other authorities.

The quotations from Charles Gayarre relative to many of the subjects of these sketches are taken from an article of that author entitled "New Orleans Bench and Bar in 1823," published in Harper's Magazine in 1888.

For much of the information contained in the introductory sketch acknowledgment is made to an article in the New Orleans Book of 1851, by Mr. Henry J. Leovy, of the New Orleans bar, entitled "Louisiana and Her Laws."

In the early days it was a question whether the laws of Louisiana were the laws of France or of Spain. Until 1769, when Don O'Reilly took possession of the colony in the name of Spain, the laws of Louisiana were the laws of France. The Fifteenth Article of the charter of the Mississippi Company provided that the "Judges established in the aforesaid places shall be held to judge according to the laws and ordinances of the Kingdom (of France); and to conform themselves to the Pro-vosty and Viscounty of Paris." Crozat's charter contained the same provision. When O'Reilly took possession, however, he issued a proclamation establishing the laws of Spain and giving a synopsis of them in the proclamation itself, because the "limited knowledge w^hich the King's new subjects possess of the Spanish laws might render a strict observance of them difficult." The question that arose after the

cession to the United States was whether the proclamation of O'Eeilly had repealed the laws of France. JefPerson seems to have held one opinion and Judge Martin another. As both systems of law took their origin from the same source practically, the difference was not great.

It was not until 1828 that the Legislature of Louisiana abolished the Eoman, French and Spanish laws previously in existence. As late as 1819 the Legislature had ordered the publication of such part of the Spanish Partidas as were still in force.

The people of Louisiana, under the rule of Spain, were governed by the Fuero Viego, Fuero Juzco, Partidas, Eecopilaciones, Leyes de las Indias, Autos Accorda-dos, and Eoyal Schedules.

The Civil Code of Louisiana to-day is founded on the Code Napoleon. Many of its articles are but translations of that code. There are amendments of the different Legislatures to different parts of it; the original compilers, Messrs. Brown and Moscau Lislet in 1808 and Messrs. Livingston, Derbigny and Lislet in 1825, made various changes, yet substantially it is the Code Napoleon still, and it is the boast of French and of Louisiana lawyers that that code has never been surpassed in any country in the world.

The original Louisiana Code of 1808 was taken from the projet of the Code Napoleon. The Code of 1825, which was revised in 1870 (the Eevised Civil Code of 1870 is the present Louisiana Civil Code) was taken from the Code Napoleon itself.

From the earliest time the Eoman Corpus Juris Civilis and its commentators were cited in the courts with the Spanish law writers during Spanish times, and since the cession to the United States the French commentators on the Code Napoleon and Pothier have been constantly resorted to.

When it is considered that in addition to being a civilian, which, whatever the merits of the controversy between the learned in the civil and in the common law with regard to the merits of their respective systems, implies beyond dispute an acquaintance with a greater body of law than a common law lawyer has to apply himself to, the Louisiana lawyer has to acquaint himself with the Federal jurisprudence followed in the Federal courts, derived from the common law and of a totally different system, it is seen that the Louisiana lawyer must needs be learned in the law to a degree that is unessential to his brother lawyers in other parts of the country. It is this acquaintance with two systems undoubtedly that has broadened the minds of the New Orleans lawyers and helped to render so many of them distinguished in proportion to their total number.

FEANCOIS XAVIER MARTIN.

Frangois Xavier Martin, one of the great jurists of the world, was born in France at Marseilles, March 17, 1762. Little is known of his parentage or his education. At the age of eighteen he emigrated to the French Colony of Martinique. Then he emigrated to Newbern, N. C, and it is said that while here he volunteered in the Continental Army in the last years of the war of the American Revolution and saw some service. At the close of the Revolutionary war he returned to New-burn, taught French, and finally became a printer. Then he published a newspaper, and in addition to his printing business and his newspaper, published some books, some novels which other people had written, and some law books which he wrote himself; "Martin's Sheriff," "Martin on E.xecutors," and "A Revision of the Statutes of North Carolina." The printing and publishing business was now a partnership, the firm being Martin and Ogden.

In 1789, Martin having studied law, was admitted to the bar of North Carolina, although he seems to have still continued his old business, and, as is not unusual in country towns in those daj's and at the present, to combine the legal profession with other work.

In 1806 Mr. Martin was elected to the Legislature of North Carolina, in which he served one term.

In 1802 he had published a translation of "Pothier on Obligations," which shows that although he had practiced his profession in a State where the common' law prevails, he had not neglected the study of the civil law, in which he afterwards became so distinguished.

While in North Carolina, although he had practiced with ability as a lawyer, it was as a law-writer that he had made his principal reputation. It was for this reason that in 1809 President Madison appointed him to a judgeship in the Territory of Mississippi.

In Mississippi Judge Martin served for about a year, when on March 21, 1810, he was transferred to the bench of the Superior Court of the Territory of Orleans, which sat in New Orleans.

In 1812, when the Territory of Orleans was admitted into the Union as the State of Louisiana, the territorial courts ceased to exist. Judge Martin was ap-poinCed the first Attorney General of Louisiana, and served in that office until Feb-ruar}', 1815, when he was appointed one of the judges of the Supreme Court of the State.

Upon this bench he sat for thirty-one years. From 1846, when Judge Matthews

died, Judge Martin was Chief Justice. In 1817 he was elected a member of the Academy of Marseilles. In 1841, he was given the degree of Doctor of Laws by Harvard College.

Besides the labor of the sessions of the court and his judicial opinions, Judge Martin was reporter of the decisions of the Supreme Court, eighteen volumes of the reports bearing his name, "Martin, Old Series," and "Martin, New Series," being familiar to every Louisiana lawyer and every student of the jurisprudence of Louisiana.

In 1827 Judge Martin published his "History of Louisiana," which, although it labors under the disadvantage of being written in English and composed in French, is an accepted authority of high rank among scholars. No lawyer in Louisiana can take high rank in his profession without studying the decisions of Judge Martin, and no writer upon the history of Louisiana can do competent work without consulting Martin's History.

In 1846, under the constitution adopted in that year, a new Supreme Court was formed and Judge Martin was thus retired from the bench.

On the 10th of December, 1846, Judge Martin died, at the age of 84. He left a fortune of $400,000. For the last eight years of his life he had been blind. This circumstance was urged in the suit to contest his will that was brought by the State. It was claimed that a blind man could not make a valid olographic will. Unlike Tilden and other lawj'ers who have made their own wills, Judge Martin had known how to make his. The will was held good and his brother, Paul B. Martin, to whom his estate had been left, came into possession of it. Judge Martin had never married.

There were brilliant advocates in New Orleans in the first part of this century, yet the legal reputation of Louisiana, which is as high as that of any other State in the Union, though spread abroad by their eloquence, was founded upon the genius of Martin. Matthews and Porter and his other confreres were able men, but it was Martin who was the court. Never has there sat upon any bench in any country in the world a judge whose decisions were more able, more clear, more authoritative. There is that brevity in them to which only a master mind in jurisprudence can attain. More than the decisions of any other judge, the decisions of Martin read like the Code.

JOHN RANDOLPH GRYMES.

John Randolph Grymes was named after his father, who was a Virginia tory in the time of the Revolution, and a soldier of some distinction. He was born in

Orange County, Virginia, in 1786, and died in New Orleans on the 4th of December, 1854. He came to New Orleans not long before the battle of New Orleans, in which he served as an aide to General Jackson, and in the dispatches of that General to Washington, the name of John Randolph Grimes received complimentary mention.

Colonel Grymes was counsel for Jackson in the United States bank case. He was also counsel in the Gaines case, and opposed to Daniel Webster. He was United States District Attorney, Attorney General, member of the Legislature for several terms, and a member of the State Constitutional Convention.

During his professional career he fought two duels, after the fashion of the times, although he was not a particularly quarrelsome man. He was very popular with all classes, and while it is said that his learning was not profound, he was undoubtedly one of the ablest advocates of the early bar. Mr. Gayarre thus describes Mr. Grymes:

"John E. Grymes claims to belong to one of the first families of Virginia, and of course is not destitute of a coat of arms. He is an elegant, distingue looking man, above the middle size, always fashionably well dressed and always systematically courteous. He brijigs to the bar some of the etiquette and forms observed in the saloons of refined society. He is never boisterous, loud, passionate, and rough in his tone and gesticulations. * * * As a lawyer he has a lucid, logical mind, and speaks with the richest fluency, never being at a loss or hesitating about a word; but that word, although presenting itself with the utmost ease and confidence, is not always the proper one. His style is far from being classical or even grammatical, but it is effective, it is persuasive, and the meaning which it intends to convey is understood without effort even by the dullest. His pronunciation denotes at once his Virginian origin; but his voice is musical, and his easy, pleasing flow of speech leaves no time and no desire to the hearer to analyze its constructive elements.

"There is nothing of the scholar in Grymes; his collegiate education has been imperfect; his reading is not extensive as to legal lore or anything else. But there in infinite charm in his natural eloquence, and his powerful native intellect knows how to make the most skilful use of the materials whicli it gathers at random outside of any regular course of study and research. * * * jjg stands among the highest in his profession, and exercises great influence over judges and jurors. "'He has a decided taste for luxurious living, for horse racing, cock-fighting and card gambling. * -1= * Notwithstanding the considerable fees which he