The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-03-11

ting crowd below. s.Roms y . .sp :,
was the grand mistress If asi pn e.
tmr,'a sn'S, ana the master kew that
lu,"sd his character. Often have a" !
u, nea'd him exclaim, IN oxjginal Ts.;. 1
,'s eyes uptnrned to heaven. in f"rr;,,
uevo'ion: ooh Rome! Rome n,a m
Ivy right hand forget it's cupn;na ;f :
,"a', i"rSet." Yet charity toward all
a,'a MI. was the teaching ofhis creed
" "ro,, s"e natural prompting of his cen,
mhS" monrnfully, pleasant reminis.
cehses of Father Picrre-in ths so";s,
etfcte. passages of wit. evanoelic,l Dis"
fe."Ssions, amusing tits of arrnman,.
,i"n' crowd this pen for utterance
"eIe' hnt | forbear. Ouly one incident
so. h'ghiy honorable to the drl;cacv IF
"'S peculiar refinement forces itself.
w hen the dark years of orr ;ntor-
nec'ne troubles we're over. and ,var
emancipation and flonds had svsnt
from our sky all vestige of that golden
sunshine III which the timid Young
priest had shared of yore, he met "a on
""i frthfh t" Shreveport. Tie same
cordial grasp of the soft feminine hand
was there; the same expressive symna
my OF the large blue eye.
In a few days, he sent us the fol.
loving note. accompanying an excel
lent dining table, douIly accentnhlr
since lire had destroyed all furniture
stores in Shreveport:
DEAR MADAM-May the good Jord
provide this table with as MANY boun.
''es lof you in the future rs YOU provi-
oeh one for me in the past, when RI
o"lhe' Il stranger. TO your door.
Your friend,
j. PIERRE.
Tie Informed me afterwurd that he
had sprinkled it with holy water. Ast
regards the rote, | submit that seldom
so few lines have conveyed so much
10 ennmerafe all the many cllarita.
ne ami delicate acts of Father Pierre's
llfe-and generally, too, from an uu-
sufficient pnrse-ltis ihoughtfulness of
the poor, his constant attention TO their
wants, physical and spiritual; his care
and instruction OF the destitute youth
ut onr city, would be to I'll an entfre
His conversations. powers were fine,
despite his foreign birth. with keen
appreciation Of both wit and poetry,
There WAS No department of art. sci !
ence or literature with which he was
not, to SOME extent, familiar and capa
hle of further Illustration: nor cnnl;l
one make his acquaintance wirlont
admitting that he was both the finish
ed scholar and the gentleman, .,
In the terrible plague, that found
him at his post, he was swept from orr
vision forever. An alien among us.
with no drop of our blood in his veins
with no kindred hand to close his
eye or heap the mound above his form
he sleeps the sleep that knows no
Bnt lives aid deaths such as Father
P'erre's cal! up at once both the sad
lest and the nobIest emotions Of oul
nature. and convert all mankind into
Dne common family, to pay the last
sad tributes to lofty deeds and genuine
worth. Human nature cIings to its
clay. As though this mortal
existence We're all, and there were no
higher plane, where the soul enters
upon a wider and nobler career, we
gather up the few fragments of this
iuman life aud strive tn impact them
nto some enduring shape, that may
1attle with the corrod NC tooth of
ime, and stand tn memento mort for
aver. ,--. -.,t,- '.. ~
Artemisia, dewy-eycd and inconsol-
IDLE, built her marble nansoleum on
he glittering shores of Asia. Alexan-
Ter eclipsed it's magnifcence in his
'rief for Hephastion, sarmounting the
cnlptured structure with tie hollow ,
statues of syrens, where hidden min
treIs might sing sad dirges FIR his
riend. Mysterious pyramids diversity
he sands of Egypt; mighty sarcopha-
;Ie, where the slnmberns prosecutors
II Israel lay emhalmed in Egyptian /
lrt; sculptnIth vases and elabOrately ,
arved burial urns held the mighty
'earts of Roman Caesars; flowers and
and gil,led letters on Car
aran marble trora time immemnrlalI
ave sought to rescue f ON Oblivion
his poor, frail perishing humanity.
'etriinctiOn strives tn render the body
and prison it in its old ia
niiar haunts, while the modern me-
alic burial case nullifes that ancient ..
nd imperial edict, "Dnst thon art, to
nst shalt thou return" Poetry and
lncntion, oratory, art and song, alike
ann boJ,-rI I