The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1879-10-04
Our Broadbrim Letters.

Noble Work Of the Societies for the Pre-
vention Of Cruelty to Animals and
Children Suicides among the Ger
mans = Mormon Emigration
Wall Street and 0oney Island
The Pedestrian Contest.
New York, Sept. "a. 1879.
A few years ago, when Henry Bergh
founded the Society for the Preven-
tion of Cruelty to Animals, every bru-
tai butcher or barbarous cartman,
who considered it a part Of his exclu-
sive privilege to tie q Calls legs and
leave him for hours on sidewalk un-
der burning SUP, or to beat horses
brains out when he was unable to
pull the load of two, sent forth a
flaming manifesto about the imperiled
rights of man, and boldly declared
that calves and horses had no rights
which butchers and cartmen were in
any way bound to respect. 1t was o
hard, uphill work, in city like New
York, where the cartmen, hackmen
and butchers form powerful polit-
ical class, but as an evidence of what
one man can do when he lsas right on
his side, after struggle of ten years
"A lame dog or sick horse is almost
as safe from attack in the streets of
New York as he would be on top of
the pyramids. Even the musical
feline which challengeth the moon
with tuneful melody, while roosting
on the garden fence, might not be
disturbed with impunity by vagrant
bottles or miscellaneous bootjacks.
Humanity rejoices that the savage
brutality Of twenty years ago seldom
finds any public manifestation in our
day, aud besides, this Association has
sown seed which is producing abun-
dant harvests in other and higher
fields. A couple of years after the
organization of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, it
occurred to some kind souls, that per-
haps the thousands of miserable chill
dren, with which the Great Sodom
abounds, might be as worthy of con-
sideration as dog, calf or a cat. 1t
is true that the latter association
never received from the contributions
of the charitable such splendid ben
efaction as Mr.. Bergh received from
tho estate of Louis Bonnard; but the
little they did receive was cast upon
good ground, and brought forth "some
an hundred fold, some sixty fold, and
some thirty fold" Scarcely day
passes that the work of this uupreten-
tious Association is not felt and bless
ed in this community. Last week a
wretched family was discovered in a
coal cart, where father, mother, and
four starving children had passed the
previous night. If the police had dis
covered them in time, they might
probably have clubbed the father and
mother, and turned the miserable lit
tie ones out Of their wretched shelter;
as it was the officers IF the Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
discovered them first, and they took
them all into court, using them as
kindly as it was possible to do under
the circumstances. They were all
washed and fed, and clean clothes
provided for them, aud then came the
question of what was best to do with
them. As soon as the father and
mother recover strength enough to
work, work will be provided for
them, aud in the meantime, the Soci-
ETY. takes upon itself the task of feed
ing the little ones. 1t is true they
have no costly Offices, or magnificent
churches, and yet it is possible that
when the Great Ledger is balanced,
on the Judgment Day, that some Of
these poor laborers in the vineyard of
the Lord will find heavy credit in
their favor.
A little while ago, two young girls
whose heads had been turned By
reading yellow covered novels, left
their happy homes in the country and
came here to live a life of shame i; for
tunately for them and their parents,
their secret was discovered before
their lives were blighted. The officers
of the Society came to the rescue, and
they were saved. This week, more
more of their good work was exhib-
tied in the arrest of the Gerrity fami-
~, father, mother and four children,
at Sc James Street. For many years,
the fonrth ward has been the centre
OF the vilest deus of infamy known to
the city, and in one of the most loath-
some and infamous, the Gerritys were
quartered. The parents did nothing
hut drink rum, the children were
compelled to steal and beg. All
through the wee hours of the nighta
these miserable little wretches were
into tho