The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-03-18
VILLETTE'S VIyACTTIES.
Fabrics OF Fact and Fancy Fashioned by
the Facile Faber ofa Fair Felicianian.
WEST FELIC1ASA. Feb, q. 1882

At last the Carnival is over. Rex, the
King, Comus and Momus with their at.
tendapt "Krewes" have departed 70,
other realms. The masquers, the dancers
and singers have laid aside their gay at
tire for sack-cloth and ashes, and with
our mouths in the dust we cry aloud,
unclean, unclean." It is well that there
is at least one season in the year wherein
our pomps and vanties, so gorgeous and
dazzling to the sight, may be shown
like the glittering jewels of the fairy
tale. which by the wand of the fairy,
Truth, were stripped Of their delusive
brilliancy and changed into worthless
baubles-to US in their true light, that
| we may see bow empty and unsatisfying
are the tempting pleasures of the world.
Folly shakes his bells and sings his
Turing songs to us from Easter-tide to
| Shrove Tuesday and finds US all his
willing votaries. Lent is the astill small
| voice." which warningly whispers
"men,ento mori;; ;" happy those who find
the season of fself-abnegatie'n and humiI-
iation stepping stone to higher aims,
a nobler life whose lowly beginning shall
be perfected in glorious Easter.
1t actually seems impossible to write
without some allusion to the weather.
To leave the elements unnoticed is to
play Hamlet with the Prince left out.
l am glad to be able to say, though, that
we are becoming accustomed to the rain.
Some one says there IS nothing that man
(and woman too,l may not become
habituated to, and am convert to the
belief. Even eels, you know, after
repeated infiictions, grow used to the
process of faying. As matter of
course we have a prejudice in favor of
sunshine and blue skies but since the
I" Weather Department in Washington
has decreed otherwise, we accept our
fate with becoming resignation, hoping
that meekness and christian-like for
bearance may propitiate Old Probabili-
| ties.
| took advantage of a momentary lul
| in the almost incessant drip, drip, tt
venture out into the flower garden thi
morning. A Northerner would be as
| tonished to see the forwardness of ou
| flowers and shrubs at this season. Roses
pansies, violets, jessamines, hyacinth
aud a host of other floral favorites ar,
| blooming, and not only are in perfect
flower, but actually have the audacity
to he fragrant at such a time, in such
horrible weather!
Although st. Valentines has come and
gone, the fact seems to have been un-
noted by the " feathered ehoristers." It
would take a strongminded bird indeed
to brave the inc1emency of this month,
unless clad in some kind of water proof
ulster and goloshes, peculiar to bird
nature. can not imagine any creature,
feathered or otherwise, venturing out
less suitably protected. There is a poor,
disconsolate looking Shanghai fowl,
perched upon the fence, fer whom have
a felEow-feeling; the picture of dreary
forlornness, l can we'll fancy what his
thoughts are. He looks with half
closed and meditative eye up toward the
gray dripping expanse, as if wondering
why it was that he had not been hatcLed
a goose or a puddIe-duck. Alas! lone
bird, thou hast yet to learn that passing
strange and ineompreh ensibie are the
DEGREES of Providence alike to man aud
Shanghai fowls.
/ see by tue papers that tue bi-conten-
NAL anniversary of LaSalle's discovery
of the Mississippi is to be celebrated in
April in New Orleans. It was once my
fortune to visit the very spot in Texas
where the adventurous Freuchinaa landed
during his last disastrous voyage. The
place. too small to be even dignitied by
the appelIation of village, is made MEM
morahle By bearing the name of LaSaIle.
A lonely, sandy strip of sea-beach. it is
almost enclreIed by the Mexican gulf
aud the bright waters OF Matagortla Bay.
The few inhabitants, weas.ier-beaten and
hardy, gain their Iveliiioods from the
waters around them, either as fishermen,
or as sailors in the small craft which
dare the shoals and bars of the many
bays aud lagoons. II was here that the
disappointed Chevalier landed, after
having missed the mouth OF the great
Mississippi. What emotions must have
asitates! his breast as lie stepped ashore
upon the desolate beach, the first step in
that expedition which w.s so soon to
have for him a fatal termination. So
many, many years had passed siuce tha.
eventful day, and yet as I stood upon
the very spot l faneied that / almost
knew what his thoughts must have been
as lie paced the beach iii his lonely
watch with only the sound of the in
coming tide upon his ear, and above lin
the silent " sentinel stars" which gazed
down upon nim anu Ills tFeacheFous
companions. What thoughts Of baffled
ambition, OF growing despair-the enI-
mnation of that :: hope deferred which
nlaketh the heart SICK" the weight of
responsibility the dread OF failHre. and
perhaps. too. memories Of that home, tie
" pleasant land OF France which he
was never again to behold in the flesh.
Or. If hope painted a more dazzling scene
befnre him, his heart may have sweIIed
with pride as he thought of the vast
territory which he was adding to the
crown of France, and saw in fancy tie
honers and wealth a gratiiesi King aud
81, =; Al