The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-03-10

| cAssSo
should be some law for the construction
of our public schools at least. The ave.
nues Of escape should be broad and clear,
and the balustrades so firmly fixed that
no pressure could break them down. A
score of homes are in mourning, and had
it not been for the timely aid furnished
by the gallant fire brigade, hundreds
might have perished instead of the
twenty, who were thus hurried to un-
timely graves. If these lines shall m eet
the eye of any school trustee, let him
see at once if all the doors in his school
open outward; see, too, that the stairs
are wide and free. The blood of many
little ones may rest upon their heads as
it is upon the heads of the stupid and
Grim inal committee who built the Ger
man Catholic school. Another thing is
settled by this horrible calamity, and
that is that women are not good disci-
plinarians; they are good deal in school
teaching as they are i'll driving horses.
Every woman thinks she can drive o
horse; put her behind an old plug that a
torpedo would scarcely start, and she
does very we'll, provided nothing unusual
turns up; but give her a horse that knows
cornstalks from oats, and your life is in
danger if you give her the lines. A bit
of paper in the road, or a locomotive
whistle ten miles away, and if a woman
is holding the rens the chances are moro
than even for a Coroner's inquest. The
Sisters in charge of the parochial school
had no more influence over their pupils
| than so many sticks Of wood. There was
no discipline, and nobody to enforce it,
! and hence the fearful holocaust which
| we mourn to-day.
1t is pleasant to know that the tradi-
tions of the old time stage and old time
acting are not entirely destroyed in New
York, if you can find a genius to inter-
pref the great works of the great masters.
Salvini has revived the legitimate drama
in this city. Once more large audiences
Of responsibility and culture turn out to
see Lear, Othello, and other grand plays
which remind us that we still have
drama worth seeing. The most lament
able feature in connection with Salvini's
noble representations was the wretched
character of his support. can we'll un-
derstand that even a good actor would
dwarf in his tremendous presence; but
the support accorded salvini has not
been ordinarily good. The plain fact is,
the actors were not to be had the COM
bination system has destroyed the race
Of American actors. If man achieves
a little notoriety he forthwith becomes a
star, and this is the true reason why Mr..
Wallack plays majority of English act
ors at his theatre. The starring system
has not become so general in England as
it is here. Mr.. Irving, the greatest En-
glsh tragedian, can generally be found
at his own theatre. Mr. Toole, the best
living comedian in England, has also
theatre of his own. Companies work
together for years without a change of
piece or cast. Mr. Wyndham, who is
now in this country, played Pink Domi-
noes at the Criterion theatre in London
for three years, and Our Boys was played
at the A1elphi for nearly four. The
ladies and gentlemen engaged in both of
these pieces were first-class artists-there
were no slipshod or illacted parts; the
smallest servant was character not to
he forgotten; and it is this observance
of the detail Of the drama so that makes
all the worthy members of the dramatic
profession enjoy in Great Britain the
highest social consideration. When Ed
win Booth returns from his European
tour, and from the triumphs of London,
Paris and Berlin, it will not be an easy
matter to get a company together which
can give him as respectable support as
he received abroad.
l. If a man hath ingots, or even green
backs, it will not do to be careless about
them, and this fact was discovered to
the cost of Col McLeer of the Brooklyn
Post-offiee. The other night he was con-
tcmplating pile of Uncle Sans 'money
which he had received for postage stamps
and various other ways; rs the pile lay
on the desk before him, some one called
his attention away for minute; it was
fatal minute for him, for his greenbacks
took wings to themselves and flew away.
Heller, nor the Wizard of the North, nor
Hermann the magnificent ever did any
thing cleverer. The difference between
the post office prestidigitator and Herr
mann being that after the latter makes
thing disappear he generally brings it
back; the post-of1ice conjurer performed
the first part of the trick, but the official
waits ruefully for his greenbacks, which,
as the late Dir. Fisk remarked, "bave
gone where the woodbine twineth."
A lively sensation of the week has been
the Arion ball. The Cercle Francaise be-
leve that in the way of balls they can
kick up their heels as high as their next
neighbor; possibly they can, but in the
matter Of drinking our German fellow 4.
citizens can double discount them. A
morning paper puts the little item OF
| drinks at theoArion ball at $50 900, and
the entire cost was between $500: 600 and
100000. One thing is certain, in the
single item of Rhine wine, you might
have thought old Gross -fader Rhine had
! lrnke Ell thrnuUlt It's hanks from Mayence