IV. Ship Loads of Politeness
Very near Holland lived other children who came to America. They were French. Their names were Louis and Jeanne. French people did not like to live alone, on separate farms. When the day's work in the fields was done, they liked to visit each other. So they lived in farm villages. The stone cottages and barns, the cow sheds and chicken yards, and the kitchen gardens of twenty families, were all mixed up together in the friendliest way. Tall, slim poplar trees grew in the door yards. On a rock-cliff, above the village, was a gray stone castle with many pointed towers. In French, it was called a chateau (chat-ó). A noble lord lived there. He owned the farms and the village. Everybody had to pay rent to him. Farmers who went to America could own their own land and houses.
When Louis and Jeanne said goodby to their playmates their little faces were pale, their black eyes filled with tears. They kissed people, first on one cheek and then on the other. And they said: "Adieu, cher ami!" That was French for "goodby, dear friend, we will never see you again." French children were polite. Politeness means both kind feelings and pretty manners.
Louis and Jeanne came to America in one of a fleet of ships. One the big sailing vessel that led the fleet, was a company of the king's soldiers, in gay uniforms. They had a band of music. A white flag with golden lilies on it floated from the mast. The soldiers were going to build a fort. On the other ships were miners to dig for gold, workmen and farmers. There were noble lords and ladies too, and black-robed priests, and nuns to teach the children.
The French fleet sailed far south; south of Virginia, south of the rice and cotton fields. Then the ships turned west until they came to the wide mouth of the Miss'is-sip'pi River. Soon they passed a French town on the river bank. Its name was New Orleans. The fleet did not stop there. It sailed up the river hundreds of miles. The fort was built of lime stone from the high bluff that ran along the wide, brown flood of the Miss'is-sip'pi.
Cannon were set up on the walls. Soldiers watched by the cannon. They did not watch for Indians. The Indians and the
