The Story of Babette a Little Creole Girl

1904. Stuart was the daughter of a wealthy family of planters and slaveholders, as well as lifelong residents of Louisiana. She was educated at private and public schools in New Orleans. These experiences provided the information for her tales about Creoles and Italians. Her writing began after her husband's death. According to several interviews, she wrote before breakfast and afterwards until lunch, then exercised in the afternoon. The Story of Babette begins: It was Mardi Gras night in New Orleans. Canal Street, as far as the eye could reach in either direction-out towards the river or back in the direction of the swamp lands-was a surging mass of people. The deep balconies, the galleries of the old French town, overhanging the banquettes on either side the way, were crowded beyond their strength, and many would have fallen but for the temporary support of heavy timbers put in for the occasion.