r, the blood need not necessarily be mixed, but may
be pure Spanish or pure French, or again, there may be some admixture
of English blood. The word itself was, I am informed, originally
Spanish, and signified an American descended from Spaniards; later it
got into the language of the French West Indies, whence it was imported,
to Louisiana, about the end of the eighteenth century, by refugees who
arrived in considerable numbers from San Domingo, after the revolution
of the blacks there. Thus, the early French settlers did not use the
word.

If any misapprehension as to whether a Creole is a white person does
still exist, that misunderstanding is, I believe, to be traced to the
doors of an old-time cheap burlesque theater in Chicago, where the late
impresario, Sam T. Jack, put on a show in which mulatto women were
billed as "a galaxy of Creole beauties." This show traveled about the
country libeling the Creoles and doubtless causing many persons of that
class which attended Sam T. Jack's shows, to believe that "Creole" means
something like "quadroon." But when the show got to Baton Rouge the
manager was waited upon by a committee of citizens who said certain
things to him which caused him to give up his engagement there and
cancel any other engagements he had in the Creole country.

True, one frequently hears references in New Orleans to "Creole
mammies," and "Creole negroes," but the word used in that sense merely
indicates a negro who has been the servant of Creoles, and who speaks
French--"gombo French" the curious dialect is called. Similarly one
hears of "Creole ponies"--these being ponies of the small, strong type
used by the Cajan farmers. According to the Louisiana dialect
Longfellow's "Evangeline" was a Cajan, the word being a corruption of
"Acadian." About a thousand of these unfortunate expatriates arrived in
New Orleans between 1765 and 1768. Within a century they had multiplied
to forty times that number, spreading over the entire western part of
the State.

Much of the temperament, the gaiety, the sensitiveness of New Orleans
comes from the Creole. He was Latin enough to be a good deal of a
gambler, to love beautiful women, and on slight provocation to draw his
sword.

The street names of New Orleans--not only those of the French Quarter,
but of the whole city--reflect his various tastes. Many of the streets
bear the names of historic figures of the French and Spanish regimes;
Rampart Street, formerly