Читать книгу The South-West (Vol. 1&2) - J. H. Ingraham - Страница 19

4. There is at the North a general misconception of the term "Creole." A friend of mine who had visited Louisiana for his health, after a residence of a few months gained the affections of a very lovely girl, and married her. He wrote to his uncle in Massachusetts, to whose large estate he was heir-expectant, communicating the event, saying that he "had just been united to an amiable Creole, whom he anticipated the pleasure of introducing to him in the Spring." The old gentleman, on receiving the letter, stamped, raved, and swore; and on the same evening replied to his nephew, saying, that as he had disgraced his family by marrying a Mulatto, he might remain where he was, as he wished to have nothing to do with him, or any of his woolly-headed, yellow skinned brats, that might be, henceforward." My friend, however, ventured home, and when the old gentleman beheld his lovely bride, he exclaimed, "The d—l, nephew, if you call this little angel a Creole, what likely chaps the real ebony Congos must be in that country." The old gentleman is not alone in his conception of a Creole. Where there is one individual in New England correctly informed, there are one hundred who, like him, know no distinction between the terms Creole and Mulatto. "Creole" is simply a synonym for "native." It has, however, only a local, whereas "native" has a general application. To say "He is a Creole of Louisiana," is to say "He is a native of Louisiana." Contrary to the general opinion at the North, it is seldom applied to coloured persons, Creole is sometimes, though not frequently, applied to Mississippians; but with the exception of the West-India Islands, it is usually confined to Louisiana.