ELEANOR EARLY DRAWINGS BY JOHN O HARA COSGRAVE H RINEHART COMPANY, INCORPORATED NEW YORK TORONTO To acknowledge the invaluable aid o BILL COICER who inspired this book by his enthusiasm and his stories of New Orleans, her people and her customs. I. She Tells Her Beads and Wears Azaleas in Her Hair 3 n. Listen to the Mockingbird 17 III. God Be Thanked for Almonester 31 IV. He Sang, He Fought, He Kissed 44 V. See, the Conquering Hero Comes 53 VI. Dominique You Lived on Love Street 71 VII. The Baroness Was a Gaudy Character 82 VIII. People Said Mr. Audubon Was No Good 103 DL And the Wind Sighed 113 X. Tis All a Checkerboard 122 XL The Vieux Carre 139 XII. Flowery Courtyards and Old Mansions 151 XIII. Plagues and Millionaires 165 XTV. Lives and Times of the Quadroons 185 XV. Death Looks Down 209 XVI. Street of Dreams 231 XVII. The Red Light District 241 XVIII. Mardi Gras 257 XIX. If Ever I Cease to Love 265 XX. Intramural Shenanigans 279 Index 289 NEW ORLEANS HOLIDAY fHE TELLS HER BEADS AND WEARS AZALEAS IN HER HAIR ... There are some cities that resembk women in one way or another, which is not an idea of my own but some thing I picked up from that poem about Paris is a womans town with flowers in her hair. New Orleans in some ways resembles Paris, although not as much as you might suppose. There are streets in the Vieux Carre that are more like streets in the West Indies than streets in Paris, and many courtyards in the French Quarter that are not French at all, but Spanish . . . but before we get into this, let me quote a verse that is about Boston I think but it might as well be about New Orleans I like a city that is worn and old, Where stones are hollowed by the press of feet, Wheregables sag and open doorways hold A store of legends, where a narrow street Will twist and turn before me leisurely, And windows stare at me like tired eyes. I know these cities and I love them well Because they seem to me Like old men who grow more feeble yet more wise With nothing much to do but much to tdL As a matter of fact, they seem to me more like old ladies than old men, but that would spoil die meter. When I was very young I wrote a book about Boston that began like this Boston is a nice old lady. If you dont know her well, you 3 4 New Orleans Holiday migjit think her prosy and a little dull, because Dame Boston dear old soul doesnt always put her best foot forward . . and on I went, about lavender and old lace, and dignity and ageless grace. Younger cities, I said, might be gayer and more modern. But Boston for all her old-fashioned ways was the fairest of them all The truth is I hadnt in those days much field for comparison, bi BOW that I have ranged and roved I believe that the more you trav4 the more you feej these things, and when you have known manf cities you know that some among them are lovable and others ai not Some are bright with worldly splendor, some are cold and gray j and there are young cities that should be beautiful, but are garis and unlovely. Chicago is a mans town theres power in the air, 5 and Charleston is a womans town. Natchez is a slattern, and Philaf delphias a snob. Some cities are dowdy. Others are squabbly andf scraggy. And there are cities that are grim and bleak as narrow unwed women. And when you spend die night in them, it and dinner is awful you go to the movies and the picture is fid, and your room is on a court, with one dirty window andIiard blankets on the bed. Boston and New Orleans arc as different as baked beans an jambalaya, and each in her own way is satisfying. Boston, as every body knows, was founded by Puritans, and Louisiana by LatinsJ Aid the colonizers left their everlasting marks. People are alwaysf faffing in love with both cities. Boston, slightly on the frigid side preserves her civic chastity, and never bats an eyelash. New Orleans facie the seductive type, flaunts her beauty and views the minoJ vices with gaffic tolerance...