French were good friends. They were friendly because the French were so polite. Louis called Eagle Heart his "wild brother." Jeanne kissed Laughing Water on both cheeks, and gave her a red ribbon for her hair. The soldiers in the fort watched the Spanish people who lived on the western bank of the Miss'is-sip'pi. The French and the Spanish both claimed the big river, and they quarrelled about it. They did not need to. There was plenty of room for both.
In the shelter of the fort the farm village was built. The houses were not made of stone, as in France, but of squared logs, set on end and the cracks filled with plaster. The roofs sloped out over porches. Above the porches dormer windows jutted from the sloping roof. Roses and honeysuckles climbed the porches. There were cherry trees and peas in the garden, and tall slim poplar trees in the dooryards. In the evening there was gay talk and dancing. On St. Johns eve, in June, a bonfire was built. They could see other bonfires, of other French villages, along the river. This was a part of New France in America.
The French built forts and towns on the St. Lawrence River, far to the north of the Puritans, in Canada. They called two of these towns Que-bec and Mon-tre-al. They built Detroit and other places on the Great Lakes. All along the waterways, far in the deep heart of America, you can today find places the French people named after their kings and saints. But the French soldiers went back to France long ago, and the forts crumbled. The French farmers and traders stayed in America.
Louis and Jeanne learned to speak English, but they did not forget French. Today, thousands of people in Canada speak both English and French. Our warm, southern city of New Orleans is almost as French as many cities in France. If you should ever go to New Orleans you might come to know some pale, black-eyed, polite French children. When you go away they will kiss you on both cheeks, and say goodby. But sometimes they seem to forget that they are Americans. Then they say: "Adieu, cher ami."
