When the sun goes down behind the great oaks along the Bayou Teche near Franklin, it throws red needles of light into the dark woods, and leaves a great glow on the still bayou. Ma’am Mouton paused at her gate and cast a contemplative look at the red sky. “Hit will rain to-morrow, sho’. I […]

We were glancing over the mental photograph album, and commenting on the great lack of dissimilarity in tastes. Nearly every one preferred spring to any other season, with a very few exceptions in favor of autumn. The women loved Mrs. Browning and Longfellow; the men showed decided preferences after Emerson and Macauley. Conceit stuck out […]

There is tropical warmth and languorous life Where the roses lie In a tempting drift Of pink and red and golden light Untouched as yet by the pruning knife. And the still, warm life of the roses fair That whisper “Come,” With promises Of sweet caresses, close and pure Has a thorny whiff in the […]

I heard a merry voice one day And glancing at my side, Fair Love, all breathless, flushed with play, A butterfly did ride. “Whither away, oh sportive boy?” I asked, he tossed his head; Laughing aloud for purest joy, And past me swiftly sped. Next day I heard a plaintive cry And Love crept in […]

An idle lingerer on the wayside’s road, He gathers up his work and yawns away; A little longer, ere the tiresome load Shall be reduced to ashes or to clay. No matter if the world has marched along, And scorned his slowness as it quickly passed; No matter, if amid the busy throng, He greets […]

Wreaths of lilies and immortelles, Scattered upon each silent mound, Voices in loving remembrance swell, Chanting to heaven the solemn sound. Glad skies above, and glad earth beneath; And grateful hearts who silently Gather earth’s flowers, and tenderly wreath Woman’s sweet token of fragility. Ah, the noble forms who fought so well Lie, some unnamed, […]

If I had known Two years ago how drear this life should be, And crowd upon itself allstrangely sad, Mayhap another song would burst from out my lips, Overflowing with the happiness of future hopes; Mayhap another throb than that of joy. Have stirred my soul into its inmost depths, If I had known. If […]

The Harts were going to give a party. Neither Mrs. Hart, nor the Misses Hart, nor the small and busy Harts who amused themselves and the neighborhood by continually falling in the gutter on special occasions, had mentioned this fact to anyone, but all the interested denizens of that particular square could tell by the […]

Farewell, sweetheart, and again farewell; To day we part, and who can tell If we shall e’er again Meet, and with clasped hands Renew our vows of love, and forget The sad, dull pain. Dear heart, ’tis bitter thus to lose thee And think mayhap, you will forget me; And yet, I thrill As I […]

A new gem has been added to sacred literature, and this is the accidental discovery by Nicolas Notovich of a Buddhist history of a phase of Christ’s life left blank in the Scriptures. Notovich, an adventurer, searching amid the ruins of India, delving deep in all the ancient Buddhistic lore, accidentally stumbles upon the name […]

Soft breezes blow and swiftly show Through fragrant orange branches parted, A maiden fair, with sun-flecked hair, Caressed by arrows, golden darted. The vine-clad tree holds forth to me A promise sweet of purple blooms, And chirping bird, scarce seen but heard Sings dreamily, and sweetly croons At Bay St. Louis. The hammock swinging, idly […]

The poor old year died hard; for all the earth lay cold And bare beneath the wintry sky; While grey clouds scurried madly to the west, And hid the chill young moon from mortal sight. Deep, dying groans the aged year breathed forth, In soughing winds that wailed a requiem sad In dull crescendo through […]

Yes, Eleanor, I have grown grayer. I am younger than you, you know, but then, what have you to age you? A kind husband, lovely children, while I–I am nothing but a lonely woman. Time goes slowly, slowly for me now. Why did I never marry? Move that screen a little to one side, please; […]

The light streams through the windows arched high, And o’er the stern, stone carvings breaks In warm rich gold and crimson waves, Then steals away in corners dark to die. And all the grand cathedral silence falls Into the hearts of those that worship low, Like tender waves of hushed nothingness, Confined nor kept by […]

The maid had been reading love-poetry, where the world lay bathed in moon-light, fragrant with dew-wet roses and jasmine, harmonious with the clear tinkle of mandolin and guitar. Then a lethargy, like unto that which steeps the senses, and benumbs the faculties of the lotus-eaters, enveloped her brain, and she lay as one in a […]

Poets sing and fables tell us, Or old folk lore whispers low, Of the origin of all things, Of the spring from whence they came, Kalevala, old and hoary, AEneid, Iliad, AEsop, too, All are filled with strange quaint legends, All replete with ancient tales,– How love came, and how old earth, Freed from chaos, […]

I really must confess, my dear, I cannot help but love you, For of all girls I ever knew, There’s none I place above you; But then you know it’s rather hard, To dangle aimless at your skirt, And watch your every movement so, For I am jealous, and you’re a flirt. There’s half a […]

BY GUSTAVE FLANBERT. Like unto the barbaric splendor, the clashing of arms, the flashing of jewels, so is this book, full of brightness that dazzles, yet does not weary, of rich mosaic beauty of sensuous softness. Yet, with it all, there is a singular lack of elevation of thought and expression; everything tends to degrade, […]

THOUGHT. A swift, successive chain of things, That flash, kaleidoscope-like, now in, now out, Now straight, now eddying in wild rings, No order, neither law, compels their moves, But endless, constant, always swiftly roves. HOPE. Wild seas of tossing, writhing waves, A wreck half-sinking in the tortuous gloom; One man clings desperately, while Boreas raves, […]

To the casual observer, the quaint, narrow, little alley that lies in the heart of the city is no more than any other of the numerous divisions of streets in which New Orleans delights. But to the idle wanderer, or he whose mission down its four squares of much trodden stones, is an aimless one,–whose […]