The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-12-01
OUR LETTER FROM BROADBRiM.
a Handsome Young Parsons Pecadilloes-
Anathematizing Sunday Nihgt Courting
"A Grasping Monopoly-How are We to

NEW YORK, November "a, 1888.
EDITOR CHIEF:
few years ago young minister ap
peared in Brooklyn and was installed as
pastor over one of the most popular Meth
odist churches i'll the city. He was an ex
ceedingly handsome young man: in fact
altogether too handsome for the shepherd
of flock of lambs, with a large preponder
ance of ewes. Not that there was any thing
wrong about this particular minister, fol
there was not; he toed the spiritual mark
every time, and when weighed in the bal
ance was not found wanting in any thing
But it is not good thing to have the min
| lister too handsome, otherwise the suscepti-
BILE female portion of the congregation will
| be thinking of the minister when they
should be thinking of their sins. This
minister was not only handsome but elo-
! quent, and he had not been long installed in
| his new church when the house became too
small to hold the congregation. The sum
mer vacation was seized on to tear down
the old edifce and rear new temple in its
| place, and when the autumn leaves were
| falling and the vagrant congregation re-
| turned to the old altar to confess the sins
and transgressions of the summer, they
! found the ceilings frescoed, new gallery,
new pews with broad hair cushions, that
made them feel like a saints rest. Stained
glass windows, all full of nice, fat little
| angels, filled the interior of the church with
the hues of the rainbow, while the organ,
respondent in the brightest of blues, the
most brilliant of reds, and the shiniest of
gold, was at once wonder and delight,
and, while in strict keeping with the rest of
the editice, was like any thing else but the
staid old Methodist church, for which John
Wesley had stood the pelting of rotten eggs
at Moorfields, and Charles had just escaped
a ducking under Aldergate pump. But the
youthful pastor was evidently gratifed, for
every Sunday the church was crowded, and
the only regret of the deacons and trustees
was that they had no more ground to build
upon. The minister had arrived at the
summit of his hopes, but lions lay in The
path. His wife, a beautiful, affectionate
young creature, fell sick, and before loving
hands could aid her she was gone. For
weeks and weeks the young priests reason
tottered Oh the verge of insanity: no friend
Iy aid brought any consolation to his desc
late hearthstone, and even prayer seemed
to have lost its power, for his heart was
empty and his eyes were wet. The elders
of the congregation shook their heads as
they looked in his wan face, and they said,
there is nothing left for him but the grave.
He will never smile again.
About six months from the time of which
have been speaking, a consoling angel ap-
peared to the young pastor, i'll the person of
the cousin of the departed wife, and the
new divinity made such excellent use of
her time that after q reasonable period of
mourning, such as society demands and the
church expects, the young minister ap-
peared a second time before the altar with
a bride, wreathed in orange blossoms, and
began life anew.
Then occurred the most radical change of
all-the second angel was q Baptist, and the
wedding bells had scarcely stopped ringing
when Methodist Brooklyn was Mortified by
the announcement that her petted ecclesias-
teal darling was about to shake the dust of
Methodisin from his feet and be dipped in
the Baptist church. His apostacy was com
plete, and it was no sooner finished than he
was installed over one of the largest and
most influential Baptist congregations in
Brooklyn. Soon discomfort began to mani
fest itself. and after year of trial and
tribulation, one-third of the most respect
able and wealthy members of the church
withdrew in q body and started a new con-
gregation; and all [ have told you is but a
prologue to the pastors present sin-one
which overshadows every other malefaction
and at present threatens his temporal, if
not his spiritual destruction.
A week ago last Sabbath he preached a
sermon on courting Sunday nights, expiat-
ing on the evil influences of this terrible
custom, calling upon fathers and mothers of
the congregation to use their authority to
suppress it; threatening the anathema mar
anatha and the fires of Gehenna to those
who refused to obey. The sermon was not
success: it raised a row i'll the cOngrega-
ton. and Deacon Miler's son. John, was
heard to declare g that if he had to give up
Sunday evenings with Jane Mathilda Sum-
mers or the minister's preaching, he guessed
he'd give up the preaching,' and this scnti-
ment was loudly endorsed by chorus Of a
hundred voices. The minister has had two
trials at it and each one has been a success.
But from the very nature of his calling he
could not do his counting Sunday nights: he
had lots of opportunities through the week
day afternoons, which he worked with
pleasure and profit to himself. He forgot
that every poor fellow has not a popular
young minister's opportunities, but one
thing is morally certain and that is that his
sermon on courting Sunday nights is the
severest blow that revealed religion has re-
ceived i'll Brooklyn for years, and that min
ister's usefulness is very much impaired.
While on the subject of churches, you
should have seen the crush as Plymouth
church when Henry Isving and Miss Terry
went over to hear Henry Ward Beecher
preach. Irving thinks Beecher frst-class
preacher and Beecher thinks Irving a first
class actor; the pulpit and the stage have
come together. Hooray!
On Tuesday the theatrical world was all
agog when Irving acted Louis XI for the
profession. One would scarcely think there
were so many actors in New York, but they
filled the Star Theatre from pit to dome.
The performance is one of Mr.. Irving s best
and yet not good enough to be called great.
It has almost become custom for foreign
actors to give their brother professionals q
fine treat. Everybody seemed highly pleased
and the affair was pronounced success.
If any man doubts that we are gradually
being throttled by nonopolies, let him step
across the river and to our sister city,
Brooklyn, and see the fight now going on
between the Standard Oil Company and a
single gas company, which it is attempting
to destroy. When the Standard Oil Com
pany started in to form a gas syndicate, one
by one they bulldozed the Brooklyn com
panies till they got them all to join III a ring
to fix the price of gas at 50 80 per 1909 feet.
One company alone resisted; they were
supplying their customers at 81 per 1860,
and were realizing fair profit, and they
did not wish to get in the folds of the ana
conda. Then the Standard Oil Company.
at cost of many thousands of dollars. pro
ceeded to lay gas mains all over the territory
covered by the rival company, and they ap-
peal to the cupidity of the citizens of Brook
lyn by Offering to furnish gas free for the
months of November and December.
hope the sense of square dealing as we'll as
of personal safety, which distinguishes our
friends of the City of Churches, will not al
low them to see a company crushed by such
worthless rival and such shallow pre-
tense. If our railroads and telegraphs, our
gas and our grain, our vegetables and our
lies li.s''' ike e., the he Standard on CompanyNtbe %
Jay GouIds, the Vanderbilts and the Ar
mours-the sooner we move out and leave
them the country to themselves the better.
Stanley says there is room for a large pop
plation on the Congo. Tasmania and New
Z l.