The street lamps had been lit at each intersection as the fine pair pulled the carriage steadily out Washington.
Chippewa Street John knew because he loved to play in Clay Square between it, Second, Third and Annunciation Streets. The last street he had first known as Jersey. Laurel Street, where the heavy doors and the iron bars of the jail, just a block from his school, served as a reminder to the little boys to stay in line. Constance Street, first known to him as Live Oak, was familiar as the location of Holy Trinity Church, corner of Second, where his family worshipped. The new church on Jackson was not yet ready.
Magazine Street was next, and this held special charm for him because on Washington, from Magazine to Camp, Live Oak Square formed a vast, tree-shaded playground where he and his young friends staged many a mock battle, refighting the famous engagement at Chalmette, as told to them by some of the veterans themselves, men who had known Jackson, Lafitte and Dominique You in the flesh! Often the boys surrendered the wonderful grounds to real soldiers who encamped there and had military drills; sometimes, to wagon-loads of picnickers of a Sunday. The moss-draped oaks indeed beckoned to him even in the twilight and seemed to whisper, "We'll be waiting."
And in the next block they saw the rough foundation outlines of Mr. Robb's house, an Italian villa he said it would be. The granite foundation stones being hewn, the stacks of the finest cypress and imported mahogany, the piles of red bricks made of the best lake sand--no ordinary house was abuilding here!
Mr. Robb slowed his carriage, but as it was too dark to make out much, they sped onward, turning right at Chestnut Street for the final lap back home to Jackson.
"What a day this has been in the life of the former city of Lafayette," thought John Layton, Sr. "I wonder," he mused that night at home, "if the boy really grasped the impact? Maybe I'd better...."
It was too late for that night. John, Jr., had long before gone to sleep.
[Illustration: Old drawing in Archives of building at Third and Levee, probably a tavern. Lamp at corner was typical of those throughout Lafayette.]
The foregoing is meant to provide a setting for the information to follow. The scene described is not based on an actual occurrence, although it is entirely probable, and factually correct as to dates, places and people except for the Laytons. "Any resemblance is entirely coincidental," as the usual disclaimer says. The merger of Lafayette City and New Orleans did take place under the circumstances described, although no such public event was recorded in the newspapers. This _mise en scène_ has been contrived merely to serve as a vehicle for revealing the surroundings and events of the period, since the essence, the individuality, the physical characteristics of old Lafayette City are so important to the full understanding and appreciation of the present Garden District and its great houses.