, could hardly be distinguished from brunette whites,
and it was largely for this reason that the _tignon_ was placed by law
upon the heads of all women having negro blood.

No morsels from the history of old New Orleans are more suggestive to
the imagination than the hints we get from many sources of wildly
dissipated life centering around the notorious quadroon balls--or as
they were called in their day, _cordon bleu_ balls. An old guide book
informs me that the women who were the great attraction at these
functions were "probably the handsomest race of women in the world, and
were, besides, splendid dancers and finished dressers." Authorities seem
to agree that these balls were exceedingly popular among the young
Creole gentlemen, as well as with men visiting the city, and that duels,
resulting from quarrels over the women, were of common occurrence. If a
Creole had the choice of weapons slender swords called _colichemardes_
were used, whereas pistols were almost invariably selected by Americans.
Duels with swords were often fought indoors, but when firearms were to
be employed the combatants repaired to one of the customary dueling
grounds. Under the fine old live oaks of the City Park--then out in the
country--it is said that as many as ten duels have been fought in a
single day. Duels having their beginnings at the quadroon balls were,
however, often fought in St. Anthony's Garden, for the ballroom was in a
building (now occupied by a sisterhood of colored nuns) which stands on
Orleans Street, near where it abuts against the Garden. This garden,
bearing the name of the saint whose temptations have been of such
conspicuous interest to painters of the nude, is not named for him so
much in his own right, as because he was the patron of that same Padre
Antonio de Sedella, already mentioned, who came to New Orleans to
institute the Inquisition, but who, after having been sent away by
Governor Miro, returned as a secular priest and became much beloved for
his good works. Padre Antonio lived in a hut near the garden, and it is
he who figures in Thomas Bailey Aldrich's story "Pere Antoine's Date
Palm."

To the Creole, more than to any other source, may be traced the origin
of dueling in the United States, and no city in the country has such a
dueling history as New Orleans. The American took the practice from the
Latin and by the adoption of pistols made the duel a much more serious
thing than it had previously been, whe