The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1881-10-12
TOBIAS nHANCS HIS HARP ON THE
WILLOWS."

TOBIAS "HANGS HIS hhhE w AnG u
WILLOWS" !. :,
Il
Dear Democrat a
You know, Of course, that some OF o
the most beautiful language that was t
ever written in any tongue is to be a
found in the bible, and that some OF '
the pen pictures there drawn have s
never been surpassed. The Young 7
man, or young woman too, for tnat ,
matter, who has never read the blbie
through as literary work, leaving
aside the question of faith, has but
small claims to the distinction of be-
ing we'll read. But this is not what
| Intended to say. One of the most
complete, while at the same time IL
is one of the saddest pen pictures in
the bible, is the description given OF
the Israelites after they had been
carried of into captivity to Babylon.
They hung their harps upon the will
lows and they sat down by the wa
tiers of Babylon and wept. Mine is
perhaps poor old harp not worth
hanging anywhere, and l can hardly
) fiatter myself that anybody will miss
e its music, but such as it is, its
KEYS all loose, silent save as the
winds may play upon its sounding
: board, l hang it on tae willows.
POOR CAVITY.
Can it be so that Chatty is dead?
y I have tried TO persuade myself that
n there was some mistake-tried to
- wake up from some ugly dream to
. find it not so, and yet l know it is
" no dream for I saw the brig ht eyes
4 that indexed a brilliant intellect
closed in death. | saw the face that
l. was wont to be lit up with joy and
ID mirth, pale and cold at the icy touch
of that King of Terrors, that great
. Iconoclast who loves to strike just
IN such blows. I followed, one of
be large, Borrowing cortege of friends
~ to The home where she sleeps the
r. sleep of the blessed, and where the
lie seminal pines stand guard over her
ready made monuments to her worth
he and I knew that alas! it is too tru'
~, that she is gone.
She came here only short tim
ago from Baton Rouge, of which
,rt place both she and her husband wer
IS natives, and I had barely time t.
10 renew an acquaintance of the pas
IN when she was called away. Her let
lief ters to this paper under the monan'
de plume of Chatty were marked b
aat such sprightliness of humor; sue
ess powers of keen, but withal kind crl
Iicism; such evidences of a culture
us mind and maturcd thought and e.
to tensiye reading, that they at ono
,ch gave her place at the head OF llter'
,ry circles here where we pride 0,
EN- selves upon our requirements in Il
erature. There is none to dlspu
her rank as facile princeps. No
'ee' that her pen is silent-that the COZ
nnd panion who gave inspiration to h
&c thought is no more, Tobias Ia
Vi down the weekly task that has her
and tofore been so pleasant, but whl'
an would now be too suggestive of h
a'e' death to any longer afford eth
pleasure or profit. A shadow broo
over my thought. A gaunt spec'
whispers as write that the END
bree human effort is "vanity and vexatl
erts Of spirit"
.,o A PLEASANT VISIT.
,ont I spent the day since l wrote y
' last with Jack Horner and vt g
mon without the saying that day sp'
ivid- with him is a day Of pleasure
o on There is no more hospitable ho'
nam than his, and no more genial CO
,.oo panionable a gentleman to be tor
''e'' anywhere than he. If one want
man day that shall mark an epoch in
hich life, a day to be perpetuated by
!. in. erection of a white stone, let him
,rno that ancestral home on Bayou K
~ ert, where the aged sire, whose he
""e is as young now as it ever was,
gave spite of the silver locks that tell
N on the long ago, is always ready to
the the worthy son in making you
at home, and to dispense gener
hospitality that counts not cost
VAIN trouble, and he will come away
owe did, charmed and delighted with
-h visit. If one happens to be a 20
,sapd lawyer, like J. r. who was til
and he falls sick of fever by
way, there are so many gentle
sloes SEES to soothe and sympathize
id: him that I am sure it must be
I'm pleasant to be sick amid such pc
- surroundings. At any rate A. J
r1o,n the other young lawyer, who
iho'n there too looked as he would lik
ce az be sick. That handsome yc
in the clerk, who does the honors of on
en- in our largest town establishments
- not so much grace. was suffering
An attack of a different malad..
nreo pair of bright eyes had given b
lie, be- serious wound and if | were M
,alked old Benedict I would say that he
d his played most excellent taste in r
, was wing his hurt in such cause
w." from such source.
'eo al 1 will say now what l have
whole intending to say for some time,
Town. in nv opinion of oil the asplI
for literary honors, that poor {