The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1874-03-01
Mobile and its Institutions.
AN INTERESTING LETTER.

|
Thinking letter from Mobile might not
be uninteresting to many of your readers,
l will give them the benefit of some facts
about the place, people, and also about our
holy religion. Mobile is singular place,
combining more beauty and ugliness, more
dirt Dirt and health, than any city I ever be-
| held. 1t is situated on low, sandy, fiat
site, west of Mobile river and bay, and
about thirty five miles from the Gulf. The
| Inhabitants number something over thirty
thousand, with a large proportion of ne
groes. The streets are macadamized with
oyster shells. These shell roads are quite
AN Institution in the South, and when kept
| in order make the finest description of road
smoother than the Nicholson pavement
and quite as easy for the horse. The fash,
ionable drive here is splendid shell road,
leading for miles down the bay shore, and
revealing to the eye varied and beautiful
scenery. Mobile is considered one of the
healthiest cities in the United States. There
| Is very mistaken idea among many at
the North about the climate here. They
think we live in perpetual malaria, sur
rounded by swamps, and snakes, and in
fections, and that the heat of the sun is SO
great as to preclude all labor or moving
about for the most part of the day. On
the contrary, the malaria is not near as
great as that which exists along the Wa
bash river, in Indiana and Illinois, and
which renders Cairo go unhealthy a local
lty, while sunstroke is comparatively IN
known in Mobile. Yellow fever visits us
but seldom, and probably is not as de-
structlVe as the smallpox and typhoid
fever, which continually exist somewhere
IN the North. Even now our mild winter
is about gone, and we are already enjoying
some of the fresh vegetables of spring.
Snow is something as rare as it it is novel
here, and last winter I remember seeing
some boys make a great fuss over quarter
of an inch thickness of ice, which had fro
zen In tub the previous night. Long
before you see your last snow we will be
enjoying all the freshness of spring. Al
together this is delightful climate, and 1
wish that the Northern people knew more
about it,
AS to the population you will find repre-
sentatives of several nations. The Direc-
tory exhibits the names of many of the old
Spanish and French families, who W ere the
founders of the city while the names of
the streets show the Faith they did not
forget in their new homes. ST. Joseph
Immaculate Conception, and St. Francis
streets sound rather strange in the ears of
one coming from the land of Puritans. The
society of Mobile still preserves its high
tone, as IN ante-bellum times, and respect
able Northern families are readily admit.
ted, though the riff-raff of carpet baggers
and sca.lawags, as they are termed, are rig
orously excluded. These Barbarian In
vaders who have been a curse to the NUM-
cipality since the close of the war, imme-
diately monOpolized all the positions of
trust aud began an organized and de!iber-
ate system of robbery, and, being supported
in office by the Federal Government, the
people were powerless to eject them. The
consequent frauds and open acts of tyranny
which have been practiced upon these pa
tIent and helpless people, if enacted in any
Northern State would have caused vio-
lent outbreak in that State, and some very
decided and emphatic condemnations and
"a Of in, thn
Suppose, for example, there existed law
In Cincinnati which made it an offense,
punishable by instant arrest and imprison
ment, to challenge any person 3 vote. The
Carpet Bag Legislature of Alabama made
ouch law, and it existed in full force until
the present Legislature abrogated it. So
at the last election, the accustomed sight
OF wagon loads o. negroes driving around
to each poll, and voting, was missed. One
illustration of the consequences will suffice.
The last Mayor took his seat by a majority
greater than the entire rote of the city. Such
are specimens of Radical Acknowledgement
throughout the South.
1t Is with pleasure we turn from such a
picture to contemplate the position which
our loved and Holy Mother the Church &C.
cupies in this fair city, as we'll as in the
South generally. 1t is an acknowledged
fact that Southerner is liberal man, and
we have q fair example of it in the opinion
which he holds of the Catholic Church.
Your Church." they say, L" did not preach
against Us, nor did its ministers invoke the
wrath and curses of Almighty God upon
our poor distracted and oppressed land.
Its noble Sisters of Charity were found on
every battlefield and in every hospital
and the Church that these angels on earth
belong to cannot be other than Divine.n
the Right Rev. Bishop. whose return is
looked for soon, has beer absent for
some time collecting money to complete
his beautiful Cathedral. If all the lovers
of the classic and pure in architecture
could see this splendid design, they would,
for the honor of the craft and the country,
shower the necessary means upon the good
Bishop for its speedy completion. have
been in many fine structures, from the Rio
Grande to the st. Lawrence, but never was
more awed than by the interior of the
Mobile Cathedral. Often do go there to
study its wonderful proportions, character
lied by exquisite purity; and it's high
walls and grand beauty never fail to leave
a strange and haunting sensation of won
der and admiration for many days after.
Mobile is also favored with the proximi-
IS