The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1881-06-18

tary parade on Decoration Day was pass
ing down Broadway. The veterans of
Post Phil. Kearney were in advance one
had lost leg, another an arm, third
an eye, and most of them looked as
though they had not come unscathed
through the conflict; but, torn and bat
tered as they were, they marched along
as proud as peaoocks, bearing an old tat
tered banner which had been torn and
scorched by shot and she'll of the enemy.
just behind them came an old army
wagon, loaded with the choicest and
loyeliest flowers. It was one of the old
wagons which had accompanied General
Sherman in that tremendous march from
Atlanta to the sea, and on its side, in
evergreens and immortellcs, was the
motto, "Flowers for the Graves Of the
Blue and the Grey" Gentle hands scat
tered them alike over graves Of enemies
and friends, and none on that day were
left unblessed by floral tribute. There
are many of the Confederate dead in
Greenwood, but on each Decoration Day
some loving hands are found who scat
ter flowers over the graves of those who
died far away from friends and home, in
defence of the "Lost Cause"
Money was never plentier, and business
never better; yet, one Of our great dailies
has given prominence to case which is
q disgrace to our boasted civilization.
A few dried-up old fossils, who never
know what poverty meant, who never
felt tue pangs of hunger-the class Of
people who when they die forget their
own flesh and blood aud leave their
money to theological institutions and
missionary socioties-these people have
been very much exercised for the past
few years on the subject Of organized
charity; their motto has been, "Never
give anything to beggar in the street,
God help the poor, when these miserable,
pharisaical skinflints become the al
moners of our bounty! A case in point
has just been brought to light, where
these pious hypocrites ought to be in
dictcd forgrand larceny and consigned to
States prisons. In one ward $274O were
collected for charitable purposes, and
$2,246 so were expended for clerk hire,
rent and payment of salary of superin-
tentent, leaving the muniticent sum Of
$493 so to be distributed among the poor.
In the city where this magnificent char
liable organization existed, wrctched
creature has just been tried for the ter
rible crime of infanticide. This poor
wretch, deserted by her husband, found
herself about to become Il mother, stran-
ger in a strange city; hopeless, helpless,
homeless, starving, she wandered through
the streets in the bitter Winter weather,
and no hand was stretched out to save
her. She was picked up at last by one
elegant modern writer has christened
"soiled doves" Well, the heart of this
soiled dove, SCARED and blackcned with
sin, as it was, was touched with pity for
the woe of her unfortunate sister, and
she gave her a nights lodging and sup
per from the wages of her shame. The
next day she took her to charitable in.
stitution, i'll a magnificent building, sup
ported ut cost of thousands annually
They wanted to see her marriage certiii
cate. She had it not; so these pious
almoners of Gods bounty turned hel
away in the wintry storm to die, because
she had not q marriage certificate, and
could not pay five dollars u week. One
charitable institution after another
turned deaf ear to her cry of want the
Home Mission was applied to, but it had
no available funds for wretches such as
her; the Commissioners of Charity were
applied to, and they did not think she
belonged to their county, and then she
visited church after church, and priest
after priest, but they were too busy with
revivals and fairs to listen to the petition
Of a vagabond tramp; so, one bitter
night i'll the latter part of February, in q
miserable outhouse, deserted, alone, and
starving, her child was born. Think OF
it; in a great city, with its three hundred
churches, its costly palaces, its store.
houses full of wealth, and its two thou
sand millions of treasure, this poor crea,
ture was left to perish. When the morn.
ing-hght broke, the little one was found
frozen, stark dead upon shed! Society
was very ready to look after the mother
then; the costly machinery Of the law
was put in motion.
The Coroner got twenty dollars fr
holding an inquest, aud the undertaken
got fifteen dollars for the funeral, an
eminent surgeon charged 1925 for post
mortem examination, and the police de-
partment deputized a couple of detec.
tives to work up the case. For all of this
the city cheerfully paid, and in addition
to this was the cost of the woman's i'm.
prisonment and trial-the entire expense
being over $4,000. Last week she was &C.
quilted, it not being proved beyond q
reasonable doubt that the child was
ever alive. There are some organized
charities here that are worthy of all
praise. Among them will mention the
Seaside Sanitarium, where poor mothers
and sick little children are treated to q
breath of the ocean air, without money
and without price. Then there are ex.
cursions for our poor and ragged waits
where they have at least one days re.
spite from their misery and there are
many others. Yet there is plenty of mis-