The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-22
OUR BOSTON CORRESPONDENT
The 18th Of Misunderstanding About Real
Estate rs 1t Is Boston and Liverpool-A
Model Conservatory.

month occurs the centennial anniversary of
the evacuation of Boston by the British
troops, the last Of the notable events Of the
Revolution which occurred in Massachusetts,,
and preparations are being made by the city
government to celebrate the day in suitable
and appropriate manner. The City Hall, Old
State House, Faneuil Fl Ill and the Old Sc7th
Church will be decorated by day and illumin-
ated by night. Nominations will also be
shown from Dorchester Heights, within
stones throw of which I live, and
on Nook's HILL now occupied by the
Lawrence School-house. where Washington's
army erected formidable redoubt the even
ing before the evacuation. Bunker Hill Mon
ument will also be ablaze with light; but,
compared with the 18th of June celebration,
the ceremonies, Friday, will sink into utter
insigni6cance. The grandest display of the
day will be the procession of the Hibernian
societies, in honor of the 15O4th anniversary
of the birth of st. Patrick, Ireland's patron
saint 1t is singular that, celebrated as st.
Patrick has become, often as his festival has
been observed. and frequent as his life has
been written and published, few persons,
comparatively speaking. know the history of
his life and the great sacrifices which have SO
endeared him to the Irish heart Strange as
it may seem, this patron saint of Ireland has
no claim to Irish nationality. OF the forty or
more histories OF him which have been writ
ten, the great majority incline to
the belief that he was born in
Scotland, near the site of Fitzpatrick, at the
mouth of the Clyde, in the year 372, A. d.
About his birth, however, there is much mys-
terry and but very little certainty. The place
and date of his death is, however, given with
mu,h greater degree of certainty, and is set
at the year 464. A. D.. at Down, in the county
of Ulster, Ireland. In his own " Confession"
written shortly before his death, he calls him
self of mixed extraction, both Briton and a
Roman, and says his father was of good
family named Calphurnius. His mother was
supposed to be Conchessa, niece of ST. Mar
tin of Tours. His life was q strange and
eventful one even for the remarkable age in
which he lived, and was mainly characterized
by acts of devotion, nobleness, humility and
elf.sacrifice. Born q Christian, he never
seemed to thoroughly sense the meaning
of devout knowledge aud fervent love
of God until his sixteenth year.
Then it was that he was taken
captive, with his fathers vassals and
slaves, and conveyed to Ireland, where he
was compelled to feed swine and keep cattle
on the mountains and in the forests in the
midst Of snow and ice. Escaping he made
his way to Scotland, and there began to pre-
pare for the mission of his life, the work of
saving the heather Irish and converting. them
to the Christian faith. For this mission he
was ordained deacon, priest and bishop. The
terrors and dangers of his WORK were great, as
he had to go among people hostile to the
Romans and the Britons, and who did not
know the God of whom he came to- preach.
Despite the warning Of friends, however, he
pursued his work with untiring zeal and fear
less courage, and in an almost incredible
short space of time he had penetrated into
the most remote portions of the island, had
ordained clergymen, consecrated virgins to
Christ, and founded the orders of monks
which exist to this day. He built churches
and founded monasteries, the walls of which
are still standing, silent but eloquent monu-
ments to his memory. He may be said to
have conducted one of the grandest religious
revivals the world eves saw. For this reason
it is that the "Sons Of Elm" cling so to-
to his memory, praising him as the
benefactor who.broughs to them not only their
religion, but that degree of learning and
knowledge, which for q time made Ireland
the SO t Of education and of art.
What would your merchants and brokers
say il told them that two.thirds OF the real
estate of Boston is mortgaged up to at least
two-thirds of its assessed valuation. AZ that
was fixed three years ago? Nevertheless, it
is fact These mortgages are largely held
by savings banks and insurance companies,
and in their totality they reach an enormous
figure. The fault lies in the fact that people
after the great fire put up SNOWY buildings
for business, and in order to do it the build
ers had to borrow, for filagree merely, great
sums of money, the interest on
which now disturbs their happiness. In
dwelling houses the same extravaganza has
prevailed. have been told tina. at least six
thousand families in this city are to-day living
in houses which represent rent OF over
three thousand dollars year, and of the six
about one thousand in houses
whose rental value is between FIVE and ten
dollars year. Is it surprising, if
this be the case, that under such state of
affairs there is business distress here, and
that people find their expenses burdensome?
No wonder that there are 80 many business
failures, when merchants, to live in such
houses and keep their families in style, are
under q yearly expense of from fifteen or
twenty to fifty thousand dollars. Nor is it
remarkable that mortg sgors are reeling under