The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-10-15

Rates have been cut to an extent which
seemed to thraaten ruin to all concerned ;
and here comes Erie with report for last
month showing $4,000 larger receipts
than the same month last year, which
| was one of the most prosperous business
years that we have since the Declaration
of Independence.
The tide of emigration still rolls in
upon us, and this week we very quietly
received another installment to our Nor
mon colony. No matter what nation they
come from, they all bear the mark of the
most besotted and brutal ignorance.
Sweden and Norway have been invaded !;
there the PEASANTS life is one long strug-
gle with suffering and destitution. Any
change is for the better. Even Mormon
ism, with it's juggernaut Of polygamy, is
better than any thing they have ever
known at home. They keep themselves
apart from all the other emgrants, and
scarcely seem to converse among them
selves. They are not desirable class to
have, and some means should be speedily
adopted by the Government to either
detain them or send them back to their
former homes.
The season opens most auspicionsly for
our theatres; two of the largest are at
present running the exciting Russian
play of Michael Strogoff. just as we
are about to manufacture the most ter
rible of all Russian Nihilists intoa peace
able American citizen, this play comes
before the public to fire the American
heart At both houses the cast is strong,
and the appointments are certainly mag
nifcent. AS show piece it is an unques-
tionable success, but it presents picture
Of Russian life that makes one thank God
that his lot was cast in the United States
instead of Russia.
It is wonderful the stuff the people
will swallow if you only give it French
name. We have had much that was bad,
much that was stupid, much that was
open to the just censure of those who
were nowise prudish in their judgment;
but doubt if either in opera or drama
there has been presented to the public in
twenty years anything as namely stupid
as the petty opera of" Muscotte." 1t has
neither beginning nor ending; there is
10 plot worthy of name and not one
strain of music that will be remembered
two years hence. 1t needed the coarse
antics of one of the most celebrated cour-
texans in Paris to give it even short
term of life among the demi-monde, and
its transplanting to this side of the water
does very little credit to onr taste or
Judgment. Her Majesty's ship Pinafore
always comes back to us with delightful
recollections; the music is bright and
sparkling, aud the story as clean as the
leaf of a camelia. 1t is something that
we. can carry into our parlors and sit be-
side our daughters while they sing it;
but the French opera-bouffe seems to de-
pend on exaggerated buffoonery, and its
most successful representatives have
been people of the most questionable
reputation. Still, the theatre is crowded
night after night to see Muscotte; )" SO
the conclusion is forced upon me that all
the foods are not yet dead. confess
with humility that my opinion is founded
on the Judgment of one of the fools.
The terrible business depression expec-
ted by the Presidents death has not been
realized. Stocks have notably improved,
some advancing four or five points. The
calamity was so largely discounNd in
advance, that the bears were not disposed
to push them any lower. This fact gave
the bulls heart, of which they were not
slow to take advantage, hence the rise all
along the line.
The weather has been exceedingly
trying, the thermometer jumping to 96o
in the shade.
An investigation has been going on of
our tenement houses, conducted by the
Board of Health, revealing a condition
Of affairs among our poorer classes which
is a disgrace to our Civilizations family
ofeight persons eating and sleeping in one
wretched, ill-ventilated room, both pa
rents drunkards and the children vaga-
bonds. The report is we'll calculated
to awaken some reflection in the breasts
of those who short time ago invested
many thousands in foreign missions.
A lot of Irish convicts, with ODonovan
Rossa at, their head, have been trying to
give our brother John Bull a scare with
Internal machines of every imaginable
description. Every ship that goes out
of our port is closely inspected for infer
nal machines, with g'ycerine and dyna-
mite The better class Of Irishmen free
ly express their horror Of that kind of
warfare. and while they may hate En-
gland are not willing to become assassns.
But though Mr.. ODonovan Rosa may
be quite willing to blow up an English
man, he does not care about being blown
up himself; and l promise him (and
please don't forget it) that within twen-
| ty-four hours after the news comes ofthe
blowing up of any British ship, Mr..
| O'Donovan Rosa won't be alive to listen
to the story. 1t is poor rule that won't
work both ways and would respectfully
say again to Mr.. O'Donovan Rosa and