Canal Street divides New Orleans into two sections, with the Old Town, or French Quarter, on one side and the New Town, or American Quarter, on the other. This is the main thoroughfare of the city. It is a wide street, well-kept and busy. Here are many of the great retail stores, and to this street comes every car line. From Canal Street one may take a car to any section of the city, and a car taken in any part of New Orleans will sooner or later bring one to Canal Street. On this street are handsome stores, club buildings, hotels, railroad stations, and the United States customhouse. The upper end of the street is a beautiful residence section, whose houses are surrounded by spacious lawns and fine trees. Almost all of these houses have wide galleries, or verandas, upon which their owners may sit and enjoy, all the year round, the balmy air of the southern climate. Very seldom does the temperature drop below 30 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually it is between 50 and 60 degrees, and even in summer it varies only between 75 and 90 degrees. New Orleans is really cooler in summer than some of our northern cities, being so surrounded by river and lakes. [Illustration: A CREOLE COURTYARD] The old New Orleans lies northeast of Canal Street. Here the early settlers established their homes, and in this French Quarter the French language is still in common use, and many old French customs are observed. The streets, many of which bear French names, are narrow and roughly paved and are closely built up with old-fashioned brick buildings ornamented with iron verandas. Open gateways in the front of many a gloomy-looking house give us a glimpse of attractive interior courts, gay with flowers and splashing fountains. Many other courts, alas, are deserted or neglected, for this is no longer the fashionable section of New Orleans. Most of the city's creole population lives in the French Quarter. These people are the descendants of the early French and Spanish inhabitants. [Illustration: JACKSON SQUARE AND THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOUIS] In the French Quarter is Jackson Square, which was the center of governmental life in the early years of the city. Here are the Cabildo--the old Spanish court building--and the Cathedral of St. Louis, an old and beautiful church. On Chartres Street is the Archiepiscopal Palace, said to be the oldest public building in the Mississippi Valley. [Illustration: BAYOU ST. JOHN]