The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-02-18
OUR NEW York LETTER.

. The Great Snow St0rm-The City Mourns-
1 Fire and Loss of Life-Sleigll Bells and
Bal1s-Kicking at the Circle Harmonic
DR.. Bellows Death-Wall street-Homs
and Foreign Missions, Etc.
New YORK, February IL, 1882.
= EDITOR CHIEF:
The storm whicE swept down upon us
on Tuesday blocked up all the thorough
fares and made the ferry houses and
waiting stations look like fortresses in :,
state of soige. No estimate can be placed
on the amount Of misery that such a
storm produces in cities like New York
and Brooklyn. Many thousands Of peo.
pie doing business here live miles away
in the country, and a blockade on the
railroad means "away from home all
night" Thousands more I've from hand
to mouth from day to day, and carry
home the food to wife and children they
earn during the day. If they are block
AIDED or deprived of days work, wife
and children 60 hungry. On Tuesday
night over twelve thousand houscless
wanderers sought shelter in the different
station houses, charitable institutions
and cheap lodging establishments where
the tramp gets a pallet of straw and q
blanket for ten cehts. In addition to the
driving snow, bitter, cutting wind
drove every living thing from the streets,
giving both great cities an air of desola-
tion which is not often seen. As gen.
eral thing snow-storm is hailed with
delight. The streets are full of sleighs,
and the stirring ring of the silver bells
sends thrill of delight even through
the dullest hearts; but, on Tuesday
night, it seemed as if the shadows OF
death rested on the homes Of nearly two
millions of people.
The dreadful FIRE at the old World
building, with it's terrible consequences,
cast an additional gloom on the day.
The news from abroad Of the failure of
Union Generate of Paris helped to darken
the shadow-and, taken as a whole, the
storm of Tuesday went down OH the sad
dest and heaviest day that New York has
seen for many months; yet, it is but a
step from grave to gay. Only a few
hours before the storm commenced tlrou-
sands of jewellers were kicking up their
heels at the French ball of the Circle
Harmonic at the Academy of Music; and
when l say they kicked up their heels, I
,,aean it. About two o'clock in the morn
ine-:after the policemen got sleepy-a
passipg visitor might have imagined
himself at The Jardin Mabille,, or the
Chateau ROME, or any other place where
exceptionally high kicking is done. But
if Tuesday was stormy and miserable,
Wednesday was almost ike fairy trans
formation. The s!elgns ssuu ""n"'o 1o"OS
that have been gathering hay seed for
the last two years were out i'll all their
glory. Harlem Lane-whiclf is the Para
disc of fast horses, fast men and fast
women-neyer looked more tempting.
Wednesday night was beautiful and
clear; the moon was near its full; the
roads we're all that could be desired, and
it is years since every thing that goes to
make perfect sleighing night occurred
before. New York was not backward in
taking advantage of it. The streets were
filled with every sort of machine that
could go on runners, and every thing IN
the way of an accompaniment was taken
into requisition, from Chinese gong to
dinuer-bell. One can scarcely realize
that this is the same place which twenty
fours hours ago looked as if it Lad been
struck by the bosom Of desolation.
On Saturday we sent off another batch
| of missionaries to convert the benighted
heathen. As near as can remember,
there were about twenty in the party,
and the cost of outfit, education, and the
expense of landing them at the scene of
their labors, is estimated at over two
thousand dollars each-s40,000. On Sum
day night while the ship-with this band
of apostles seeking heather to convert
was barely in the offing, two young girls,
one IL and the other IA, were arrested in
the Bowery, where they had devoted
themselves to a life Of shame. They
were not wretched waits from the slums,
but the children Of respectable parents
and the father of one of them was man
of considerable wealth. In court the
was SO incorrigible that the Justice re-
fused to restore them to their parents,
and committed them to the RefOrmatory
for six months. What need of sending
, missionaries to Africa with such harvest
} fields of sinners, ready for the reaper's
sickle, at our own doorsf
For several months past the public has
lost sight of one Of the most magnificent
pieces of engineering Of ancient or mod
; ern times. refer to the tunnel which ii
now being constructed under the Hudson
river. Like all great works by whicl
mankind has been benefited, this under
$ taking has been born and nurtnred il
trouble aud sorrow. No sooner was th'
project started which was to unite New
York with the outer world by direct rail-
! than the big corporations took fright
q and injunctions and mandamuses, au'
;. all those villianous legal impediments b,
which the right is crushed aud the wron