Columns

One of the few of Jean Lafitte’s ships to visit south Louisiana that we know by name was the Hotspur, which sailed up the Mermentau River in November 1820 to refill its water casks.
Fifteen-year-old cabin boy Charles Cronea thought he had been ill treated by the captain, Jim Campbell, and jumped ship there. Young as he was, Charlie had already begun to collect tales of adventure that would make him, according his Galveston News obituary in 1893, a man “whose history is as romantic as that of any man of the nineteenth century.”

When walking backwards it’s easy to see where you have been, but difficult to see where you are going. You have to really crane your neck to see where you are headed in order to keep from tripping. Although it is impractical to get through each day walking backwards, this is how many people go through life.
When walking backwards, the view is clear. You see exactly where you have been, along with the route you have taken. However, unless you turn around, you’ll struggle making real forward progress.

As the nation honors the Stars and Stripes by observing Flag Day each June 14 it is following the fondest wish of a soldier from south Louisiana who had a special place in his heart for Old Glory.
Col. James A. Moss was one of the best-known military men in the nation when he came home to his native Lafayette in late 1923 to begin a campaign to make sure that the U.S. flag would always fly high and proud.