|
Showing 1 - 5 of
5 matches in All Departments
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...
|
|