The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1882-01-14


fed to let others pay tho expenses. The
free Gospel is undoubtedly most excel
lent thing, but ministers must live, as
we'll as other folks. Ravens don't fly
around nox-a-days with porter-house
steaks In their beaks, nor do buckwheat
cakes and hominy descend in shower
upon us, unless we make preliminary
call ct the grocer's. The expenses OF
Brother Taln,ags's church are about $751;
600 u year, or, in round numbers, about
$500 for each Sabbath. But when you
consider that there are two months ~
Summer when there is no stated service,
the cost is higher. The Gospel, like
every thing else, is getting more costly
every year, and . congregation without
. hundred thousand-dollar church, and
o mortgage, is mighty small potatoes and
few in hill. Let us hope that the new
departure will render the labors Of the
Finance Committee much more pleasant
than when trusting to that very uncer-
tain quantity-the conscienccs Of the
congregation.
The old Walton House, on Pearl street
Ono of the Oldest landmarks in the city
has at last been doomed to destruction;
and it is little singular that the WASH
ington Hotel, also one of our Oldest anu
grandest landmarks, is about being de-
stroyed at the same time. The Walton
House was famous hostelry over a hum
bred years ago, and beneath its hospita-
bic roof have lodged many Of the most
notable men that the country has ever
produced. Though now hedged i'll with
nnsightly piles Of brick and stone, and
.lwarfed under the gigantic abntments Of
the mighty bridge that unites New York
aud Brooklyn, when it was erected its
ample and pleasant grounds stretched
away to the river bank aud a handsome
walk bordered with lime-trees reached
from its porch to the waters edge. In
front was the Klock, or Pond, a beautiful
sheet Of water which occupied the whole
Of the district afterward known a. tho
"Swamp," and which stretched away
beyond the present site Of the Tombs,
aud connected with a stream or canal
that ran through Canal street to the
Hudson river. The lake, the swamp
and the canal have disappeared many
years since, and now the old house itself
has been torn down and will soon be .
thing Of the past. Franklin went there
whom he first arrived in New York, and
in after-life, when he had become great,
it was still u favorite stopping-placc.
Washington, Jefferson and Adams made
their home there at different times, and
during the Revolution it was favorite
resort Of the most distinguished English
officers, but these associations only live
in history; for many years past it has
been little better than u rookery, where
drunken sailors and ragged tramps held
high links in the wee hours Of the night.
The police Of the district will not be
sorry to know that the old Walton House
is torn down, for tho inmates were . con-
slant source of trouble, and they will
now have to seek other quarters. Jerry
cCauley's mission is not far from tho
old Walton, and the neighborhood is very
much altered since John Allen" the
wicketlest man in New York"-used to
teach his little Avo-year old boy to curse
and blaspheme by note. BY the way,
Jerry McCauley has abandoned his old
mission, and is going to move up town.
The old mission 10 put in charge of . con
verified thief.
There have been in the last thirty or
forty years number Of phenomenal
conversions Of prize-iyhtcrs, cracksmen,
pickpockcts and drunkards; but the
backslidcrs have been much more numer.
GUS than the saints, and Jerry McCauley
is about the only one can now remem-
Der who, for ten consecutive years, has
held fast to the Rock of Ages. His task
has not been an easy one; but, aided by
his wife, he has worked in u neighbor-
hood and among a people where ton
thousand-dollar ministers never come.
The ragged and forsaken men mad with
drink and women Scared with crime,
the fotsam and jetsun Of this great sea
of sin, were constantly drifting in upon
him, but Jerry McCauley knew how tc
talk to them then, for his own heart had
been scared as with red-hot iron, and
the voice of the Saviour had come to him
i'll u felon's cell aud through prison bars
Yes, the world is not SO selfish and bal
after all. Here aud there some brigh
example, like Jerry McCauley's, stand
out in bold relief against the sky, max
: ing men, with all their sius, seem bn
little lower than the angels.
Notwithstanding the terrible storms a
sea, migration still keeps pouring in
we close the year having added in roun'
/; numbers half million to our populati o
t from Immigration alone. If, accortlin
y to the careful estimate of one of til
: wisest political economists that tho worl
! has ever seen, every able bodied man all
q woman is worth to the State $1,000, W
a may he said to have added to our mate
j. rial wealth about five hundred million
a of dollars.
t The week has been given up to amus'
t ments of all sorts, and many of gu
Is churches are getting up plays Of til