Excerpt from New Orleans as It Was: Episodes of Louisiana Life

A preface is generally expected by the reader, without it, a book may be likened to a sermon with the text omitted.

The following pages were mostly written during a long spell of sickness, not only with the view of whiting away the tedium of convalescence, but of contributing my mite to a neglected branch of the literature of Louisiana. Conscious of their many defects and imperfections, I still hope that the students of our old-time institutions will find in them matter for instruction as well as entertainment.

Under the form of narratives I have, among other matters, attempted to illustrate the various phases of slavery that obtained in our State before the war of secession. The subject is an interesting one, not only to our Northern brothers, but to the friends of humanity at large, and is presented in unprejudiced and truthful language. I have stated facts and left the reader to his own conclusions.

A peculiar feature of the work is the descriptive history of the city's buildings, monuments and customs since its foundation to within a short time before the year 1860. Under proper headings in the index column the reader will readily discover the information he seeks upon that branch oi the subject. As far as the compass of the work has permitted, I have omitted none of the salient episodes which constitute the charm of this unique metropolis of the South.

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