a Jackson man, and felt whatever Jackson did was
right, and he would swear to it. He was courageous and independent;
feared no one nor anything; was always ready to serve a friend, or
fight an enemy--_a fist-fight_; was kind to his neighbors, and always
for the under dog in the fight. It would, after this, be supererogatory
to say he was popular with such a people as his neighbors and
constituents. Whenever he chose he was sent to the Senate by three
parishes, or to the House by one; and in the Legislature he was always
conspicuous. He knew the people he represented, and could say or do
what he pleased; and for any offence he might give, was ready to settle
with words, or a _fist-fight_. Physically powerful, he knew there were
but few who, in a rough-and-tumble, could compete with him; and when
his adversary yielded, he would give him his hand to aid him from the
ground, or to settle it amicably in words. "Any way to have peace," was
his motto.

There was, however, a different way of doing things in New Orleans,
where the Legislature met. Gentlemen were not willing to wear a black
eye, or bruised face, from the hands or cudgels of ruffians. They had a
short way of terminating difficulties with them. A stiletto or
Derringer returned the blow, and the Charity Hospital or potter's field
had a new patient or victim. These were places for which Larry had no
special _penchant_, and in the city he was careful to avoid rows or
personal conflicts. He knew he was protected by the Constitution from
arrest, or responsibility for words uttered in debate, and this was all
he knew of the Constitution; yet he was afraid that for such words as
might be offensive he would be likely to meet some one who would seek
revenge in the night, and secretly. These responsibilities he chose to
shun, by guarding his tongue by day, and keeping his chamber at night.
Sometimes, however, in company with those whom he could trust, he would
visit, at night, Prado's or Hicks's saloon, and play a little, just for
amusement, with the "tiger."

Now, in the heyday of Larry's political usefulness, gaming was a
licensed institution in the city of New Orleans. The magnificent
charity of the State, the Hospital for the Indigent, was sustained by
means derived from this tax.

It was the enlightened policy of French legislation to tax a vice which
could not be suppressed by criminal laws. The experience of
civilization has, or ought to have taught every people, t