Volume I Part 6 (2/2)
He seems not, in these positive assertions, to have overestie that had coreat thinker had blown fro the wine clear and strong beneath From this time becomes evident a new seriousness in his race of for and truth which that for his nae, and the immediate success of the book demonstrated that, while his love for the exotic was to re the exotic into vital touch with the norin in a visit paid in the su in the Gulf of Mexico, near the mouth of the Mississippi River in the Bay of Barataria A letter written to Page Baker while there ive some idea of the place
[Illustration: Gentle houses]
DEAR PAGE,--I wish you were here; for I aood I had not been in sea-water for fifteen years, and you can scarcely iet out of it at all I suppose you have not been at Grande Isle--or at least not been here for so long that you have forgotten what it looks like It makes a curious i in rows like village-streets, and neatly rehtfully rural aspect under their shadowing trees; and there is a veritable country calestions in it of several old country fishi+ng villages I rely provincial The hotel proper, where the tables are laid,--for of that sort,--relish or Western barn-buildings prepared for a holiday festival or a wedding-party feast The only distinctively Aallery hite wooden pillars An absolutely ancient purity of morals appears to prevail here:--no one thinks of bolts or locks or keys, everything is left open and nothing is ever touched nobody has ever been robbed on the island There is no iniquity It is like a resurrection of the days of good King Alfred, when, if a ht return six months later to find it untouched At least that is what I aolden dinars on the beach or in thebeen so long a dweller in wicked cities
I was in hopes that I had made a very important discovery; viz--a flock of really tame and innocuous cows; but the innocent appearance of the beasts is, I have just learned, a disguise for the most fearful ferocity So far I have escaped unhare stick, which will, I have no doubt, considerably aid e to letno work and nevertheless drawing ularly? By the way, one could save money by a residence at Grande Isle There are no temptations--except the perpetual and delicious temptation of the sea
The insects here are s,--they have probably found that the sea can outroar theone away jealous But in Marion's rooainst that beam there is the nest of a ” like this when flying;--but when it isn't flying I can't tell you what it looks like, and it has the peculiar power of flying without noise I think it is of the wasp-kind, and plasters its --likes to look at itself in the glass, and leaves its young in our charge There is another sociable creature--hope it isn't a wasp--which has built two nests under the edge of this table on which I write to you There are no specimens here of the _ci They buzz a little, but seldoer Creatures also abound which have the capacity of ular sort Up in the tree on , quite plainly, ”_Kiss, Kiss, Kiss!_”--referring perhaps to the good young married folks across the way; and on the road to the bath-house, which we travelled late last evening in order to gaze at the phosphorescent sea, there dwells soling in a cut-glass turub, it is superb--solid, nutritious, and without stint
When I first tasted the butter I was enthusiastic, i that those mild-eyed cows had been instrumental in its production; but I have since discovered they were not--and the fact astonishesthe character of those cows
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
At so quiet of the place is broken by the tolling of a bell This means ”Jump up, lazybones; and take a swim before the sun rises” Then the railroad-car co up the whole line of white cottages The distance is short to the beach; Marion and I prefer to walk; but the car is a great convenience for the wolewhich appears to be the intimate friend of the said roay The ladies'
bathing-house is about five lad to say drawers and bathing-suits are unnecessary, so that one has the full benefit of sun-bathing as well as salt-water bathing There is a eaux--perhaps sooes bathing acco; but is a little afraid of getting into deep water It re its stern-end to the breakers:--
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
The only trouble about the bathing is the ferocious sun Few people bathe in the heat of the day, but yesterday ent in four ti we held a council of war and decided upon greater moderation There are three bars, bethich the water is deep The third bar is, I fear, too ”risky” to reach, as it is nearly a mile from the other, and lies beyond a hundred-foot depth of water in which sharks are said to disport themselves I am almost as afraid of sharks as I a man yesterday, in answer to the cry, ”Here, you fellows, help! help!” and I followed We had instantaneous visions of a gold-lorious dreams of newspaper fame under the title ”Journalistic Heroise I had also an unpleasant fancy that the drowning ht twine himself about me, and pull me to the botto But the beatific Gold-Medal fancies were brutally dissipated by the drowninghimself before we could reach him, and we remain as obscure as before
_Interlude_
[Illustration: Miss B B through our lorgnette]
[Illustration: Miss Bisland's A No 1 Chaperone]
[Illustration: The Agricultural Editor of the TD--pursued by his family
A No 2 Miss Bisland's Creole Chaperone
A No 3 Miss Bisland's Pickwickian Chaperon
I will now resume the interrupted text of my narration]
The proprietor has found what I have vainly been ransacking the world for--a civilized hat, showing the highest evolutional develop to make him an offer for it