This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1916 edition. Excerpt: ... A STATUE DUE SIEUR DE BIENVILLE. By Mrs. S. B. Elder. It is hardly credible that Louisiana does not possess a statute of Bienville, the explorer of the State, the father of the colony, the founder of New Orleans and the governor of the whole territory for nearly thirty years. History, upon its pages, writes his name in large letters as the father of Louisiana. Yet not a single enduring monument has been erected to his memory. There is a medallion of this hero in the Marble Hall of the Customhouse, but it belongs to the United States Government, and not to Louisiana. Few persons know of even this small testimonial, and fewer still have seen or understood it. A parish, a schoolhouse, a street; there are the only memorials of him who gave his entire self and his best energies to the land that seems to have forgotten him! A small spark of remembrance glowed a few years ago, when a new real estate company was formed in this city and its directors appropriately named it the "Bienville Realty Company," after him who laid out, and measured the first land-lots in New Orleans. The spark seems to have rekindled the recollection of the great French explorer and colonizer, for there is a movement in embryo, to erect a splendid bronze statue of Bienville here in our midst, which shall be worthy of the father of Louisiana and of his people. A model, small but exquisite, has already been made by a distinguished sculptor, and which is to be seen, at present, in our State Museum. The dress has been copied from historical sources, and the pose of the figure is true to life. If the project be carried to completion the statue, life size and impressive, will stand somewhere in the "Vieux Carre." In front of the Cabildo would seem to be the proper place. There...