opulated by old musicians from the
opera's orchestra, and women, some middle aged, some old, who used to be
in the ballet or the chorus, and who not only keep alive the musical
tradition of the district, but pass it on to the younger generation.
Indeed there are almost as many places in the French quarter where music
may be heard, as where stories are told.

In one street may be seen a house where the troubles with the Mafia
began. On a corner--the southeast corner of Royal and St. Peter--is
shown the house in which Cable's "'Sieur George" resided. This house is,
I believe, the same one which, when erected, caused people to move away
from its immediate neighborhood, for fear that its height would cause it
to fall down. It is a four story house--the first built in the city. At
the southeast corner of Royal and Hospital Streets stands that
"haunted" house of Mme. Lalaurie, who fled the town when indignation was
aroused because of devilish tortures she inflicted on her slaves. This
house is now an Italian tenement, but even in its decay it will be
recognized as a mansion which, in its day, was fit to house such guests
as Louis Philippe, Lafayette, and Ney. A guest even more distinguished
than these, was to have been housed in the mansion at the northeast
corner of St. Louis and Chartres Streets, for the Creoles had a plan to
rescue Napoleon from St. Helena and bring him here, and had this house
prepared to receive him.

And are we to forget where Andrew Jackson was entertained before and
after the Battle of New Orleans--where General Beauregard, military idol
of the Creoles, resided--where Paul Morphy the "chess king" lived--where
General Butler took up his quarters when, in 1862, under the guns of
Farragut's fleet, the city surrendered--? Shall we fail to visit the
curious old tenements and stables surrounding the barnyard which once
was the _remise_ of the old Orleans Hotel? Shall we neglect old Metaire
cemetery, with its graves built above ground in the days when drainage
was less perfect? Shall we fail to go to the levee (pronounced "levvy")
and see the savage flood of the muddy Mississippi coursing toward the
gulf behind the embankment which alone saves the city from inundation?
Shall we ignore the French Market with its clean stalls piled with fresh
vegetables, sea food, and all manner of comestibles, including _file_
for the glorious Creole gombo. Shall we not view the picturesque if
sinister old Absinthe House, da