Page:The Cambridge History of American Literature, v4.djvu/182

 594 Non-English Writings I believes he has killed her. She smuggles herself out of the palace and comes to Louisiana under the name of Calisto. She hears of the death of Alexis, and marries a young Frenchman, the Chevalier D'Olban. Returning to Paris with D'Olban and a daughter Caroline, she is recognized and forced to retire to the country, where her husband and daughter die, and where she ends her days in a convent. The novel contains, in addi- tion to this train of events, notable descriptions of the huge Louisiana forests, and of a violent hurricane on the Mississippi. Testut's third novel, Le Vieux Salomon (written 1858, not pub- lished until 1877), deals at great length with slavery in Louis- iana, and is virtually a second Uncle Tom's Cabin, with a second Simon Legree for its principal character. The other side of the picture was given in 1881, in Dr. Alfred Mercier's Habita- tion St. Ybars, where the relation between master and slave is a happy one and the old Louisiana life is almost idyllic. Alexandre Barde wrote Michel Peyroux ou I'Histoire des Pirates en Amerique in 1848. The story began serially in La Revue Louisianaise, but was never completed because the manu- script was lost by the printers. It is an account, as far as it goes, of the band of pirates who were led by the famous Lafitte. The novel begins well, and the loss of the manuscript must be considered a real misfortune; the French is excellent. Le Soulier Rouge (1849), by D'Artlys, is an Indian story with a considerable historical basis. Governor Vaudreuil sends Aubry to negotiate with Soulier Rouge, who is chief of the Choctaws. Aubry's guide through the Louisiana forests has a niece, whom Aubry marries. The negotiations are not successful, and Aubry kills Soulier Rouge, who had killed his father. Aubry appears in Gayarre's history, from which D'Artlys borrowed. The story is only moderately long and is excellently written. The numerous descriptions of savage cere- monies make it an interesting document. D'Artlys had a nimble pen. He contributed regularly to La Violette, in the department called Revue de la Semaine. He retailed there the news from Europe, discussing the latest nothings with finesse and spirit. He was editor for a short time of La Presse des Deux-Mondes. Between i860 and 1870 no novels were published in Louis- iana, because with the coming of the Civil War the popular magazines went out of existence. Thereafter novels in French