The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1883-10-03
CONTRIBUTED.
THIRTY YEARS AGO.

Thirty YEARS AGU.
In this rushing, pushing age of pro-
gress, a third Of a century marks an
advance that required centuries to &C.
complish in the past. The difference
between the newspaper of to day and
that of thirty years ago Is we'll illus-
trated by a comparison of the last is
sue of your paper with a copy of the
Louisiana Democrat Of Tuesday, May
Sd, 1858, which I found the other day
in a bundle of old papers, and which l
send you with this, knowing that your
files aptedating the al were lost or
destroyed during those times of trou-
BILE and destruction.
1t is No. so of Volume 8. David
Martin was then Editor and Proprie
tor, and the price was $500 per year.
At it's head l see the same wise maxim
that you carry for a motto to-day
"The world is governed too much" It
would be an interesting subject for
discussion by the student of political
history whether the world is governed
as much to-day as it was then.
Fanny Fern, who was then a popu-
lar writer, is literally quoted from on
the outside. Who knows of her or her
writings in this day of literary deluge9
How many of your present readers
have ever seen "The Lamplighter" or
know Of the Inherent vendor of "hot
corn" who was her so we'll known9
Turning to the advertisements on
the last page l and the names of many
firms then doing business here whose
members have long since gone to their
long home. Kelly e. 1%saacs, Ogden &
Scott, VIM. B. Lewis, Edwin G. Lee
kie, Gwinn Harris and j. Willison
Gordon, Attorneys-at Law, are all
gone. D. G. GOODWIN, Secretary of
Rapides Lodge No. IS l.. O. 0. F., no.
titles the membees that the Lodge
meets every Saturday night in the
front room (u~p-stairs) of Judge Arial's
Ice House. The Secretary, Ice House,
Judge Atrial and Lodge are all gone,
and no more meetings are held in that
lodge room. But few, if any, of the
Odd Fellows who met in that lodge
room of the old Ice House which was
burnt o survive. Perhaps thirty
years from now some one will find one
of your old papers of to-day and will
enquire, as l am now doing, how many
of those who meet in the lodge rooms
of the Masons, B'nai Birth and
Knights of Pythias are then present ia
answer to roll call.
E. & j. C. Johnson and S. K. John
son, druggists, who advertise jujube
paste and gum lozenges for coughs and
colds, s%cariicators, Evans lancets,
cupping glasses, ETC., are no more, and
the medicines and medical appliances
of their day are forgotten.
Luther F. ParFer, who offers his
Boys Institute, in the Pinewoods, to
the people of Rapides, "for primary
studies Sl60 per amman; higher bran
ches and French $780," has gone the
way of all fesh-his school is no more
and time has effaced every vestige OF
that once Furnishing institution
Scholars who were then boys in pass.
ing know tie place only by a few mgr.
tie trees that bloom in lonesome still.
ness where once all was hustle and ac-
ti7ity, and where boyish shouts once
"made the welkin ring" a solemn al
lence broods, teaching instead of the
lessons once taught there, the grander,
higher truth that all things earthly are
mutable and unstable. The pedago-
que, at much expense of time and Ia.
Dor, may teach the principles of science
and art, but God has written His laws
upon the face of Nature and the les.
sons she teaches are forced upon our
attention, even though u minds be
all untutored, aud whether We would
learn them or not.
The Alexandria House, kept by E,
R. Biossat, the Washington Hotel, by
John Began, and the Missouri House,
By A. M. Hollowell, all belonged to
that thirty years ago, but none of them
now survive.
The Up. Dalman," VIM: Kay, Mas
ter, was the regular weekly packet
leaving Alexandria every Monday "af-
ter the arrival of the IL o'clock cars
and New Orleans every Thursday
The Rapides Cavalry by order Of
Chas. H. Flower, Captain, and j. c.
Wise, O. S. are required to meet on
Saturday, May 9TH, at IL o'clock, for