174 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



inquiry after introducing myself, as is almost always the 

 case at that particular time of day, "have you dined?" 

 has a brick-drying shed, under which he can dry 30,000 

 at once, upon the "bearing-off-boards," put on slats fas- 

 tened to posts. By this plan, he can have the shed filled 

 with bricks at odd times through the summer, which may 

 be burnt when ready. Owing to the very frequent show- 

 ers in this country, brick making is a very "catching busi- 

 ness," but by this plan, all that trouble and loss is obvi- 

 ated. 



Mr. F's place is a short distance above the "convent,"^ 

 in St. James' parish, which is a very imposing looking 

 structure, or rather structures, neatly formed and where 

 a large school is kept; and where all looks in a healthy, 

 flourishing condition. This was a state-fostered institu- 

 tion, and is said to have cost near half a million of dollars. 



Along the road, the small Creole places are thick as 

 "three in a bed," — all the tracts being 40 arpents deep, 

 and the reluctance of old families to sell out, has caused 

 divisions and subdivisions among heirs until the land is 

 thrown into a shape almost worthless, as I have already 

 mentioned. Fancy a farm three rods wide, and 480 rods 

 deep, and if you like it here is a lot on 'em. 



My entertainer at night was a French gentleman by 

 the name of Ferry,^ where I found a small house well fur- 



^ Jefferson College at Convent, St. James Parish, Incorporated 

 February 28, 1831, by A. B. Roman, Valcour Aime, J. H. Shepard, 

 and others, was the first institution in the state for the higher 

 education of young men. It burned in 1842, was reopened, and 

 again forced to close, in 1859, on account of debt. It was pur- 

 chased by Aime for twenty thousand dollars, and reopened in 1861, 

 under legislative charter. In 1864 it was purchased by the Marist 

 Fathers, and prospered, remaining active until 1927 when it was 

 discontinued. Fortier, Alcee, Louisiana . . . , 1:606-9 (Southern 

 Historical Association, Atlanta, 1909). 



^ A. Ferry operated Bourbon sugar plantation, one of the larger 

 plantations then using improved equipment. Champomier, State- 

 ment of the Sugar Crop Made in Louisiana, 1849; Pike, Coast- 

 Directory; map of Plantations on the Mississippi River; "Direc- 

 tory of the Planters of Louisiana and Mississippi," in Cohen's New 

 Orleans Directory, 1855, p. 328. 



