The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-02-17
: DoNALDsoNvILLE, LOUISIANA, SATURDAY FEBRUA
OUR NEW ORLEANS LETTER

Items of Interest from the Crescent Cit.
by Our Regular Correspondents.
New ORLEANS, February 6, 1882,
ED1roR CK1KF:
On Thursday morning last, Samne
Wakefield, late State Senator and re
Gently an employee of the Naval Office
committed suicide by shooting lsimsel
in tho head. 1t appears that he had ,
large family and was financially embar
rassed, and being much given to drink
softening of the brain had set in and dcatl
and destruction followed. Mr.. Wakefield
was man of little education, but strong
impulses, yet WAS generally found on the
right side. He was we'll endowed Will
what has been termed good horse sense.
The city is comparatively quiet, al
dlrougA large and numerous parties o.
visitors arc here awaiting the great
Tuesday, and the calm will cnlmnate to-
day in II burst of splendor, il the great
preparations of the past two months do
not fail i'll their object. The pageant ol
the Knights of Proteus last night was
unfortunately not up to the mark on ac-
/ count Of the outfit ordered from Paris not
having arrived. The steamship Dryburgll
Abbey, IL Newcastle bottom, upon which
the costumes were shipped, unfortunately
went aground on the Noselle Shoals,
near the Bahamas, thereby losing few
days, aud SO Protel,s must be excused for
not appearing in his best. But the sub
ject matter choser-France, from pro-
historic times until tho present day-is a
thing very dear to- the heart of every
Lonsianan, and the people who saw the
procession will no doubt be aroused to
further study of the history of the fonn
lcrs of their State. The gorgeousncss in
which Rex appeared rivals any thing
ever represented here before and deties
description. His retnue were perhaps
four hours passing through the principal
streets, and the line was at least mile
and half in longth. The crowning feat
ure of the event WAS the graphic repre-
scntation of the Moors in Spain by the
knights of Momns. The dusky occu-
pancy existed abost 800 years and no
doubt had great deal to do with mould
ing the Spanish character, yet, as with
all Southern races invading Northern
climes, sooner Or later they must vacate,
and tho "East -sighof the Moor" brought
% train of thought as regards ou1 own
beloved Ssate which We will not forget
for gears. The signs Of the times are
proptious and our Marli Gras professions
arc casts ut the future history Of our
pcople-hints 80 plain that ho who runs
may read. 1t is well to educate the peo-
pie by such kindergarten methods as
this. The Impressions of oar yearly fcs-
tivitios arc carried back to the forests to
be talked over and treasured up i'll tho
minds of folks who otherwise could not
be reached. The future will show the
benefit of causing the people to think.
The illuminations about town were very
pretty. Among the best may be men-
toned that of the Lsilertafel, now occu-
pying the old stand of the Piokwiek Climb,
tho. Times Democrat and Iicaynne offices,
and the Boston Club, but to our liking,
Mr.. ID. H. Holmes pelican feeding its
young, was by far the comcliest. The
gas Jets were so arranged that they
changed color in every ripple of the
breeze, which produced a charming
effect. We do not think that our city
WAS ever visited by more people, and as
far as we can learn, all declared them
selves we'll satisfied and carry away with
them y good opinion of our people
Many expressed themselves as being
surprised ut the extraordinary latitude
which our people enjoy. 1t scemed quite
foreign to their Northern views.
Yours very truly,