The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-02-26
OUR NEW YORK LETTER.

/
La File du Regiment-A Growl ut the
/ Weatller-Railroad Disasters on the Ele.
i waited Roails-Firos, Shipwrecks and Gen
era1 .Disasters-The Story Of Fashion
able Bride-Reformers In the Republican
/ Committee Democratic Reorganization
i The Children's Carnival-Ncw York So
/ cfallsts-Churclles, Theatres, etc.
New York, February 10, 1881.
EDIToR CHIEF:
Mary Diver is dead, and l can almost
hear yon ask in amazement, who is Mary
Divert She was the girl with one thou
sand fathers. Many poor girls consider
themselves lucky TO have one, and there
are plenty who find even one more than
they can comfortably get along with ;
but Mary had q Thousand, aud none. of
Your common stock either, but every
one q born aristocrat, and as far as she
was concerned, q Preux Chevalier, who
would have fought for, and, if needs be,
died for her. Mary Diver was the adopted
daughter of the 7th Regiment of New
York, and if they were fortunate in hav-
ing so good = daughter she was exces-
sivcly fortunate in 50 many fathers. It
is not necessary to say that the Seventh
is the crack regiment of the city; pri-
Yates in it rank about equal Colorado
Colonel, while Il corporal or sergeant
esteems himself the peer of an Arkansas
or Oregon brigadier. Mary's father was
a member of the Seventh forty years ago.
He distinguished himself in the Mexican
war and died after his return to New
York, leaving Mary u helpless orphan.
He was buried with military honors by
lis old comrades, and, at the suggestion
of the commander, they resolved to adopt
the orphan, and from that day to the
hour Of her death she was known as the
Daughter Of the Regiment" When
she was nine years of age she was for
nially presented to the command, and
as she passed through the lines, taking
the hand Of each soldier as she passed,
there were not many dry eyes :s they
looked OH the beautiful orphan. They
collectively. and Individually vowed that
she should be their daughter, and that
they would be to her all that father
could be, and that VOW they kept with
knightly truth up to the hour Of her
death. It is many years since saw her
last. She was then about sixteen. The
7th had a parade, and as they marched
up Broadway they formed 3 hollow
square, and the Daughter of the Regi-
mcnt" marched i'll the centre, dressed as
II vivandierc. Thousands of people
crowded the sidewalks anxious to get a
look at her, and that, believe, was the
last occasion that she appeared in public
with the command. The regiment edu-
Gated and supported her until she was
married, when they presented her with
Il purse of $4,000. She married u worthy
gentleman 10y the name of Cowdrey, and
her married life was happy as DREAM
While yet a young woman she passed
away, sincerely mourned and loved by
every member Of tho 7tl,. who felt it 4.
privilege to call her daughter.
1t has been q miserable week. l know
we are not naturally good, and l am
very sorry for it. I'll like to he good,
but l can't. No man can be good such
weather as this. A man with proper
Christian principles, no donbt, would
say, pray for better weather. but can't
pray-1 don't feel like praying; on the
contrary, bad language rises to the sur
face as naturally as the sparks fly up
ward. 1t has been u week of unmiti-
gated and constant disaster. NJ less
than three collisions OH the elevated
roads, and in one disaster a man was
torn to pieces. Quite a number have
been run over OH the different roads
around the city. There has bee,, :: nuns
lcr Of disastrous fires, fortunately with
out serious loss Of life, and series of
terrible storms have left our streets in a
condition that may possibly be imagined,
but certainly can not he described. The
cleaning of the streets costs the city a
round million, but to look at them one
would think that nine hundred and
nlnety-nine Thousand nine hundred and
ninety-nine dollars ef the amount was
irretrievably lost in the mud.
The sea, too, sends up its wall of woe,
and can rccollect no time when we
have had in our harbor SO many disabled
vessels and SO many sl,ipwrecke.l sailors.
In the case of ono of the downtown fires
the escape Of the occupants was little
less than u miracle. 1t broke out in the
lower part of the building, and almost
before the people in the upper lofts could
be notified tho stairs had burned away.
Then ensued u scene of the widest tles-
pair, and although there was u fire es-
cape OH the outside, no one appears to
have Thought of it. There were about
sixty people altogetl,"r whose escape
seemed to he cut off, aud about thirty of
these were women and girls. They
rushed wildly to the windows, and some
of them attempted to jump out, but were
pulled back by their cooler companions.
At last young man, who had just dis
covered the fire, reached the loft at the
peril Of his own life aud guided the