The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-12-01

StutiC plIdlG SelLeS hil LIE great avenues OF
news; others get possession of our only
means of light: one gets all the oil and the
other gets all the gas. Even the tailow dips
are levied on, and, worse than all, an or
ganized band of robbers have seized upon
all the highways over which the very means
of our life must pass. and they levy merci-
less toll on everything we eat everything
we drink, everything we wear: the whis-
key and beer that make us sick, the physic
which don't cure us, the coffin we are buried
in, and on the tombstone that record our
limited virtues. How are we to live? that's
the question.
Yours truly, BROADBRIM
VlLLETTE'S VlVAClTlES.
Water and Politics - End of the Long
Drouth-Discoura.ing Outlook for Cot
ton Raisers-A Thrice Told Tale-Reno-
vation of Grace Church.
WEST FEL1cIANA, Nov. II, 1885,
EDITOR CHIEF:
There are but two topics on hand at pres
ent writing in which the average West Fe-
llclanian takes any considerable interest.
The first is the long expected and gladly
welcomed rain, the second, politics. OF
both [ am happy to say that we have now
a qudntum suDfcH. A little of the latter
with me is like the small boys first essay
at tobacco, it goes a wonderfully long way
Party feeling here runs high, and one might
as well hang ones self and be done with it
as to swear neutrality; one side or tip other
you must take; it is impossible to "run with
the hare and hold with the hounds, +" say
the dominant spirits of the parish, and ac-
cordingly We are pretty impartially divided
into Ogdenites and McEneryites, the sheep
and goats, as either side may class itself
and opponents. [ imag inc that never be-
fore since he was a wee child, has either
gubernatorial candidate been invested with
SO many admirable attributes; or scarcely
could worse qualities be imputed to either
we're he a regular out-and d-out villain; that
Is, of course, as the sympathies of the re-
spective followers incline AS for myself,
am proud to utter what Il good many would
like to say if they only dared to:
| How happy we could be with either,
We're the other man out of the way
| Of water, at present we have enough and
to spare, for which We are duly thankful
OF all famines one of water assuredly is
| l.
| ly long experience to truthfuliy testify.
| There are several springs around town,
and upon these the citizens of st. Francis
/ vile and vicinity had to depend mainly
for supplies of the fluid SO dear to the
heart of the temperance man. To any one
at all inclined to indulge in romantic re-
trospections the crowd which for three
months nightly gathered around these nat
urai water works, afforded food for fanci-
full thought: Rebekahs with their jars,
pitchers, and often with pots, kettles and
pans-as useful but less esthetic utensils
and Labans with fiDcks of-muias and
horses, tone is sometimes obliged to sacri-
| fee sentiment to truth since in our day
| camels, etc, are-well, rather scarce y were
as plentiful as raindrops are to-day. Hap
PLY, all this is past; the carrying to and
from the spring is at an end, and we have
| gone back to the prOSaic cistern. During
the drough even the steam gins were
obliged to draw upon the springs and ba-
you for water for ginning purposes; and no
one can conceive the strait i'll which the
der-loving housekeeper found herself
when water ran short. TO illustrate: o.e
/ lady said that she found that she was COM
PEELED to limit herself to one pan of water
per diem to use in washing vegetables. Ac-
/ cordingly, the cabbage received the first
| benefit; next. the sweet potatoes were wash
| ed; finally, the Irish potatoes were cleaned,
|
water was emptied into the goose-trough
There was economy for you. Another lady
OF my acquaintance, after washing the
breakfast hominy strained the water into
the dish-pan to wash the dishes, and SO on
at mfnit'tm. The make-shifts were all
laughable and amply proved what an in
ventlve people we are.
am sorry to say that the cotton crop of
this parish is wofully short. Only the plant
ers who rent will come out ahead and
even some of those may be weighed i'll the
| balance and found wanting, if the cullud
brudder" " has not made enough to pay his
annual rent. The outlook for winter,
is dreary indeed. There is only one crumb
of comfort to those who ''from seeming
evil can still educe good, " and chat is. that
the present deficiency may lead them here
| after to place less reliance upon cotton,
| and more upon the manstays. corn, pork,
and potatoes. AS the Judge said to the
man whom he had Just sentenced to be
hanged, :" May this be lesson to you - in
| like manner we hope this failure of the
crops may be a lesson to our planters, but
we fear it has come too late to benefit the
sufferers. So many times since the war
| the same thing has occurred short crops and
following distress, and still our people have
not learned wisdom; year by year EphraiIn
has returned to his idols, year by year the
old story without variation is repeated, cot
| ton and credit, failure and poverty. Are
we less qulck-Witted than other pc ople that
we can not see what is running us, or have
| determined never to alter our present reck-
/ less course!
t Our pretty little church here is under
/ going thorough renovation under the able
direction of Mr.. A. T. Gastrell, VINO has. in
the last few years, executed some fine and
| lasting work in this and adjoining parishes
When Grace Church shall be once more
thrown open to the public, which will be
some time III January. we will challenge
/ any parish outside of New Orleans to show
a more elegant or handsome place of wor-
ship. For years it has needed repairs, bat
the congregation coul Id not afford the red
uisite outlay. Lately, however, through
the generosity of a person whose body now
| reposes III our cemetery. the amount was
donated, and to her noble bounty we owe
| the restoration of our sacred edifice, whose
walls too long have borne the marks of
war 5 sacrlleglou3 hand and the more InSid-
ious inroads of time. We take an especial
pride in Grace Church. It is the building
above all others i'll town. All new corners
are first taken there to admire its chasta
beauty and the surrounding grounds where
! the - forefathers of the hamlet sleep -
! With pardonable pride we exuit III our bean
tiful stained windows, our marble me-
MORALS, the caryen pulpit ana lecsurns aud
the relics of our once glorious organ, which
was partially destroyed by Federal bomb
shells. To this church in ye olden days,
the sunny, prosperous days of ante bel
l"nl time, the wealth, the beauty, the
chivalry and the pisty Of West Feliclana
would meet on the Sabbath. What elegance
and loveliness have passed down those aisles,
upon whose floor the checkered sunbeama
$ fall i'll dim religious light" The inno-
cence of childhood has oonsecrated the
marble font: the holiness of innumsrable