The year 18(51 was full of momentous
changes in New Orleans. Agitation, un
rest, and uncertainty confronted one at
every turn. The old was pm ting on the
new. Scarcely any mas was a private
citizen. Almost every one had thrown off
his privacy, and in its stead assumed the
garb of prominence. The machinery of
commerce, slacking its speed, was soon
stiffened and sti’led by the resultant rust
and dust. Prudence, trembling, shrank
away before passion’s domineering men
ace, while in ail this the pathetic and the
ludicrous became comrades.
When, among the last to go, Virginia
sent out word that she had oast her lot
with her sisters of the independent
South, joy was unoonfiued, and the new
put eu fresh courage and in
creased confidence, for the act of old
Virginia was giadly accepted as an auth
orization, a sort of benediction upon the
movement conclusive of its perfect just
ness and its prosperity. Even in this the
ludicrosn was seen.
Prominent among the citizens of New
Orleans was one fine old son of the old
Dominion, unique and picturesque in the
dress of the old colonial days to which he
clung as his daily attire. The intelli
gence of the action of his mother
State demolished the structure of
his dignity, and throwing his
hat down upon the sidewalk, he
KICKED IT BEVOBE DIM.
straight through the city’s densest
throngs, his face, the while, beaming with
exultation and delight.
At that time I held the unpretentious
position of office-boy for a firm of ship
brokers, the junior of which, though a
young man, was a retired captain and a
wealthy ship-owner.
