New Orleans Courtyards 
A NARROW COURTYARD 
the rose season, such a wealth of roses pink, 
white, crimson, yellow bloom that all sense 
of time is lost, and one stands fixed in an 
ecstasy of enjoyment. Such clumps of bright 
red lilies rising from the neglected old beds; 
such luxuriant syringa, with its 
lavish contribution of white flow¬ 
ers; and a crape myrtle. And 
such a forest of wistaria in posses¬ 
sion of the galleries, and even one 
end of the pointed roof. What 
must the old garden he when the 
wistaria is in bloom ? One regis¬ 
ters a silent vow to come back 
next year at the proper time and 
see. A little further on, an open 
door invites the eye to the court¬ 
yard of a whilom aristocratic man¬ 
sion, now a lodging house. The 
Spanish doorways are arched and, 
set over each door and window in 
wrought iron frames, are panes of 
glass. A great tree has “volun¬ 
teered” in the yard, standing cover- 
ingly close to the tall cistern 
mounted on its brick cellar. Little 
round Italian beds are bordered with a thick 
fringe of violets, from beneath whose broad 
leaves peeps the modest flower. Once more 
we see the Spanish dagger; this time a small 
one, probably a recrudescent from the plant 
killed by the freeze. Before and after “the 
freeze,” in flower parlance, corresponds to 
before and after the war in social parlance. 
One needs not ask what freeze ?—what war ? 
There is but one. 
In the centre of another bed is a small sago 
palm. This too is the offspring of the parent 
killed by the freeze, for it is small and sickly, 
but no doubt loved and petted all the more 
as sickly things should be. 1 he kitchen 
door is screened by a grape vine, brought 
over no doubt by a Frenchman, from the 
vine-clad province of his mother country. 
I he little wooden bench, a comfortable seat 
for two, seems to have been left but a moment 
since, when the slippered old man who has 
lived here many years, with but small yearn¬ 
ing for the outside life, went through the cool 
high vaulted kitchen into the dining-room. 
As he passed, one can easily imagine his look 
of gratification as the savoury grillade greeted 
his gastronomic nose. 
A short ride through the tree-vaulted rue 
esplanade brings us to the Bayou St. John, 
one of the important waterways of the city. 
On its banks stands an old “place,” well 
known and well loved by the descendants 
AN OLD SURVIVOR 
260 
