Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1880-10-23
From the New Orleans Times.
SOCIAL MELANGE.
CATHERINE COLES INTERCEPTED
LETTER.

New ORLEANS, October Is, 1880.
My Dear Satu-Last Saturday, just as
was addressing my letter to you, Toms
office boy came up to the house with a
hasty little note from my gentleman, in
which he declared that he was going to
the Press Convention at Baton Rouge
and that if l wanted some fun l might
come along. Come along! I should say l
would. don't think was ever go de-
lighted in all my life, at least never
since the day Tom proposed to me (so
many years ago. for privately, my dear
perfectly adore newspaper men, and SO
tumbled some things into a satchel
got into good dress, and after giving
George, the present divinity that rules
over our digestions, a thousand and one
directions. took the Car tor town.
Of course, it was all hours before got
down and we went straight to that ele-
CANT steamer, John w. Cannon. After
supper Tom went forward to "hunt up
the fellows" he said, and I got out late
issue of the Standard Series, behind
which l intended to study my fellow pas
sengers, mentally deploring the fact that
men can always scrape up acquaintance
with each other at any and all times,
and that women so rarely do. l wonder
why it is that we women eternally think
that we must never speak to each other
until we are introduced /? We had good
many Freut people aboard land French
bride who wore that inevitable lavender
dress. | say inevitable, because if you
will just run over in your mind the list
of brides you have met in the course of
your life yon will find that the majority
of them have been dressed in lavender.
Presently, by means of the children,
broke down the social barriers and was
soon chatting away with Mrs. Hilder-
brand, editor of the Gretna Courier, as
comfortably as if had not before only
known her through the medium of the
little paper which she has so ably con-
dnCted ever since the death of her hus-
band.
By and by Tom brought the editors
down into the cabin. Now, let me
see i'll can think of them all. First, there
was Major Burke, one Of the handsomest
and most courteous of his craft; then
bhcEe was Mr.. Woodcock, of the Morgan
City Review, married-tbe gentleman l
mean; Mr.. Bailey of the Lafayette Ad-
vertiser, and Mr. Benefited, of the Pom
chatoula Gazette. Tom whispered to me,
"Old lady, when Mr.. Benefited says his
prayers he begins, oh, thou inevitable
law of circumstance and do you know,
Safa, it was fully minute before l un-
derstood what he meant. But, la, l
wasn't surprised, for declare it seems
as if every nine men out of ten that one
meets nowadays are free thinkers and if
it is SO down here what must it be up
your way-where the more rigid forms
of worship have been won't to prevail?
Well these editors all talked politics
that night and discussed and discussed
the Indiana and Ohio elections. l don't
know much about politics, l confess, but
l can't help wondering, now that we
know the results of the elections, why
the editors who seemed to know just OK.
actly how things were going to turn out
in those States, had all insisted in their
various papers that the Democrats were
safeto gain the battles fought last Tues
day.
1t was three o'clock Sunday afternoon
before the turreted, gothic outlines of
the grand old statehOuSe came into view,
and the Cannon, like a white marine
monster, pulled and groaned her way to
the wharf.
With the whole State to choose from a |
more beautiful and appropriate place
for statehouse than this quaint olden
time and yetmodern city of Baton Rouge
could never have been selected. Going
up the river the first view of the town
is an imposing one, and takes in the
long green fields of cane, the rolling
hills, the great white University build
ingS, and then the medieval looking
walls of the desolate capitol, browning
the summit of a beautifully wooded and
terraced hill, and which walls are so
beautiful that it almost seems sacri-
lege to restore them. Somebody said
that Senator Hagan wanted to pull down
these walls and erect an entire brand
new building. | don't know Senator
llagan, but ifhe ever wanted to do any
such thing as that he ought to be quar-
tered. Beyond doubt, Safa, the capt.
tDl hoc hna,, a rr.pJ h,;)l.,. 20,