Editorial July 27, 1987 Issue

Where the treasure is

William E. Moody

In the bayou country, legends of lost treasure have long outlived the old privateers like Jean Lafitte and his brother Pierre. It's said that during the early nineteenth century, fortunes in gold and silver were buried beneath the cypress trees or sunk in the murky waters of the great swamps of southern Louisiana. But down through the years, the treasure seekers have been sadly disappointed.

One story is told of a Cajun boy who was sitting in his pirogue on a bayou, talking with a visitor. They watched another boy, poling along intently in an old scow, off once again to hunt for the lost treasure.

After he had passed by, the Cajun boy spoke to his visitor. " 'I pity him, that one,' he said, watching the scow poled jerkily away. ... 'Grand-Père, he say too many folks go crazy ... jus' wishin' an' diggin' and worryin' an' wishin' for treasure. Grand-Père, he is a wise man. He say you find riches only as a gift from God. ... So, Grand-Père he say we Cajuns have the same as buried treasure; stars for diamonds .... We got th' waters an' th' bright blue sky. An' we just as free as that old crow, flappin' away out there.' "^{Holling Clancy Holling, Minn of the Mississippi (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1951), p. 86 .}

Send a comment to the editors

NEXT IN THIS ISSUE

Editorial

New Testament Christianity and Christian Science