The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-11-04

16uCo dO UU0 OAcuuEI -WtGu Ills WAlhlH
stick. There are hundreds Of other
daily seen on the streets, who at an,
moment may be reasonably expected t
do what this crazy Frenchman did
Years ago when only Il boy he robbed hi
father of several thousand dollars an,
fed to Europe with bis plunder; Their
he spent it i'll rioting among gambler
and harlots, and whe, the last dolla
was gone he returned to find his father
pauper and in the poor house. There
the old man soon died in abject misery
and tue miserable son, stung by remorse
became wandering maniac in the
streets. Society which should have cared
for him, did not perform it's duty in this
respect, aud now it reaps what it had
sown. Many families, are plunged in
grief, numbers of people are grievously
wounded, some will no doubt die, and
now we will do what eugbt to have beell
done years ago-place this unfortunate
wretch where he can do no further harm
Next to the crazy Frenchman tie sen
sation Of the week has been Beecher's
new departure. To a few of us sentineIs
on the wa:ch-towcrs Of society, we who
keep onr weather eyes constantly open
to know what is going en, the proauncia-
mcnto Of the Plymontlf pastor is by no
means surprise, but it was like an ex-
plosion of nitro gIycerine OF giant powder
nndcr the Congregational council whicl,
assembled in New York last week When
Brother Beecher got up and announced
his bcliefthat the botton1had dropped out
every conntenance. and it is said that in
the first heat of excitement there were IL
number of excIamations which but for the
notifications of the Yrevised edition
might have sounded very much like pro-
family. A stout old minister from a
fashionable uptown church started to
his feet exclaiming, "What in Gehcnna
! does he meang" Another, terribly ex-
cited at the attempted upsetting Of the
Westminster confession, reared out,
Oh, let him go to Gehenna; we can get
along without him. The offender was
Immediately seized oy tall, slim, mclan-
choly looking man, whose head was
buried in u high black stock, who said,
Hold on, Brother j., hold on; how i'll
Gehenna are we to get along without
him?" The uproar became so great
at last that tue moderat tor who had been
using hymn book for u gavcl, at last
seized the water pitcher. and pounding
on the desk in Il manner that threatened
instant demolition Of aae pitcher, de-
clarcd that their conduct and language
was most nnseemly, aud that the meet
ing was no better than that of the Bible
society. This brought them to their
senses, and Brother Beccher was allowed
to finish his discourse in peace. Though
he let go his hold on birthstone, held fast
to the Trinity, which he confessed he did
not understand, and finally in the most
affectionate manner, slid out into tho
broad and comfortable sea of universal
ism, and if he gets in no worse company
than Claiming, Chapin, Bellows and
Collier, the presumption is that his lines
will not have fallen in Very unpleasant
places. The broadening Of religious
views was never made more manifest
than at the closing OF Presbyterian coun-
ell, when they bid Brother Beecher God
speed. Fifty years ago when old Lyman
Beecher was power i'll the land, such
fagrant apostasy would have brought
on the head of the offender CaIvinistic
anathena maranatha that would have
made the criminals hair stand On end
like quilts upon the fretful porcnpne.
Not so now the world still moves even
those who have been bitterly opposed to
him for years, advanced aud shook hin,
by the hand, and grim hard-visaged men
who could have stood by Calvin without
I, quiver, while Servitus roasted by the
stake, begged Mr.. Beecher to remain in
their company, and one of the most
orthodox of the conclave declared that
he saw no reason why Brother Beccher
should withdraw. It is new and WON
derful revelation in modern ethics, and l
would not be astonished if at the next
session several other of the elect would
follow Brother Beecher's newly discovered
northwest passage to the Promised Land.
But while ethics aud lnnatics may have
engrossed a good deal Of our attention,
we have been by no means entirely
dependent on these two sources for our
instruction and amusement.
The engrossing business of the week
has been politics, and the black eye the
Republicans got on Wednesday has not
improved the temper of some of our New
York politicians. AS they say in the P.
T., the chicken came mp groggy but
smilin'," and many Republicans seemed !
to think that the Ohio defeat was snb.
ject for congratulation, aud calculated to ,
exercise a very healthfnl influence on
the future; perhaps so-we shall see.
The weather has been-well, it has
that is to say-well, don't know that l
can describe it, but-but-it has been
little of all sorts.
The Fall openings were IL little late,
but it has been quite common during the