E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Sam W., and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net). Music transcribed by Linda Cantoni.
Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations and an audio file of music. See 24078-h.htm or 24078-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/7/24078/24078-h/24078-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/7/24078/24078-h.zip)
There are a small number of characters with diacritical marks, which are as follows:
[)o] is o with a breve (u shaped symbol) above it;
[=a] is a with a macron (straight line) above it.
Additional notes will be found at the end of the book.
New York International Association of Newspapers and Authors 1901
Copyright, 1887, 1888, by George W. Cable.
Braunworth, Munn & Barber Printers and Binders Brooklyn, N. Y.
XX. LOVE, ANGER, AND MISUNDERSTANDING 299
Bayou Teche is the dividing line. On its left is the land of bayous, lakes, and swamps; on its right, the beautiful short-turfed prairies of Western Louisiana. The Vermilion River divides the vast prairie into the countries of Attakapas on the east and Opelousas on the west. On its west bank, at its head of navigation, lies the sorry little town of Vermilionville, near about which on the north and east the prairie rises and falls with a gentle swell, from whose crests one may, as from the top of a wave, somewhat overlook the surrounding regions.
Until a few years ago, stand on whichever one you might, the prospect stretched away, fair and distant, in broad level or gently undulating expanses of crisp, compact turf, dotted at remote intervals by farms, each with its low-roofed house nestled in a planted grove of oaks, or, oftener, Pride of China trees. Far and near herds of horses and cattle roamed at will over the plain. If for a moment, as you passed from one point of view to another, the eye was shut in, it was only where in some lane you were walled in by fields of dense tall sugar-cane or cotton, or by huge green Chickasaw hedges, studded with their white-petalled, golden-centred roses. Eastward the plain broke into slight ridges, which, by comparison with the general level, were called hills; while toward the north it spread away in quieter swells, with more frequent fields and larger houses.