LIFE IN OLD LOUISIANA

it is 1830 and for 18 years steamboats have churned the waters of the Mississippi River downstream with Valley produce upstream with manufactured goods as black smoke billows and whistles blow traveling aboard the boats our northerners like John Abbott southern planters like I'll stay Dornier who knows the river well here on the Lord Delta not far above New Orleans yes you will find our New Orleans different from your cities of north week wheels are different to most of us you know still speak only French take my own family do you say shack the premier better web a paradise Angelov live lemonade aterna sauce in my mouth is female a nibble a best table and Vallely alone hey bien along Z and now a visit to the pilothouse what are your Louisiana plantations like mr. Dorn yay well now mine is a cotton plantation the house is of a style very common in these parts with the living quarters well above ground action against floods back from the house and gardens are the plantation fields the cotton season is about over for this year and just now the slaves are picking the few remaining balls that have been the last to ripen of course most of our land is planted in cane my friend Jean Tebow has a cane plantation just around this next bend his home stands at the end of a long line of oak trees making a very beautiful setting you must be sure to see it when you are here the house and grounds would delight you I'm sure this is the busy season that Tebow's with the cane harvest is just beginning and the crop this year is one of the best I have ever seen it will take from now until Christmas to cut at all land in these parts inside suited to the raising of sugarcane you know and I assure you that sugar can sweeten life in more ways than one well I've been telling you only about the country but tomorrow you will see the city for yourself the shore passes and the steamboat with its passengers and cargo proceeds down the river toward New Orleans the next day as the hour of the family's arrival draws near the Dornier town house in the French Quarter of the city is the scene of busy activity on the part of the household servants the flagstones of the inner courtyard are given a thorough cleaning pictures of water filled at the cistern are placed in readiness in the bedrooms and in the kitchen preparations go forward for the proper reception of the Dorniers preparations ever a source of pride to the families skillful cook and now with their clip completed the Dorniers call it the cathedral here jacques takes his leaves and proceeds to the town house to make sure that all is ready meanwhile the other members of the family kneel reverently before the cathedral altar religious observances are a highly important aspect of life to devout crazed resently all are seated in the courtyard of their home to enjoy a welcoming cup of coffee Simone de Beauvoir Donald reveal encore Madame c'est bon d'etre to return this with the serving of coffee in the courtyard the town life of the Dorniers is ushered in for another winter season and it is a life of varied activities for Marie there is daily practice on the harp for the Creole young lady is expected to be accomplished [Music] [Music] for the younger children Raul and Jeanette there are regular lessons in English under the guidance of a governess who is responsible for their schooling will you read these truths to be self-evident created equal they are endowed by their creator with certain on a mule ride in contrast to home life is another activity out under the dueling Oaks a little distance from town the code duello is still the practice for settling disputes between gentlemen here as seconds to the contestants we find young jacques Dorniers together with his cousin Pierre just back from study in Paris also intent on the flashing sabers is the avarice sense of surgeon and regulating the entire procedure there is a director in charge a contestant may be disarmed but the duel will continue until blood is drawn and honor is avenged later in the day we find the crowd gathered at the slave market where would their physiques exposed to view slaves await their turn upon the auction block before the assembled planners Monsieur Monsieur Monsieur what's the ocean of ma bonne Sophie for hobbies excellent father yer a shiitake and now a bid from flattered own a cat to the southwest $400 sauce off just five hundred dollars C sub yards six hundred dollars with the auction over planter Dornier and the auctioneer proceed to the Cabildo or city hall on business meanwhile in one of the local cemeteries where the lowland necessitates burial above ground Madame Dornier and the younger children placed a wreath from the tomb of a relative one of the many victims of a recent yellow fever epidemic in the evening the Dorniers entertain at dinner their friend of the boat trip mr. Abbot good food and lavish entertainment are points of pride with Creole platter and household servant alike nor are their attentions lost upon their guests you Creoles live the good life mr. Dorn yay thank you sir we try to it seems strange in a way we call ourselves Creole and we call you people Americans but I think the distinction will mean less as the years go by of course all of us French Spanish English German Dutch people of the north people of the south we all spread the oppressions of Europe out of a love of freedom that will endure that will bring us closer but now Marie and Jacque excuse themselves from the table to prepare for a party the evening holds in store in Marie's room with its canopy four-poster bed a devoted maid is all attention in her concern that Mademoiselle Marie shall look her prettiest for the evenings festivities already Marie's young beau is making his call at the entrance to the Dornier hall the door illumined by the light of an oil burning street lamp close by a servant stands ready with a lantern to guide the party on their way a chaperone escorting Marie the young bow following as the group make their way along the dimly lighted Street meanwhile in the Dornier drawing-room they're saying up north that the railroads may be harmful to New Orleans yes I know but I disagree we will continue to prosper we have an abundance of fertile soil an excellent climate and an ample supply of slave labor to handle our cotton and cane plantations besides our agricultural wealth we are the river with its shipping that increases year by year and above all we have a location at the entrance to the entire Mississippi Valley yes the New Orleans of 1830 looks to the future with calm there is the river there are ships and there is an ever-increasing flow of Commerce along the main waterway of a rapidly growing nation