The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-06-30
TRe DoQaIdsoQlHe ClieiG'
I, Dollars b Year.
vlLLETTES VlvAciTlES.
Fabrics of Fact and Fancy Fashioned
the Faeite Faber ola Fair Feiicianian.

the Faeits Falser ola Fair Felicianian.
WEST FEIIeIANA, La. June 8, 1888.
Ep11oR CuEr:
Every day there passes beneath my win
dow the bent figure Of an old Negress.
blue striped apron filled with drift-wood
the Aotsam of the river, rests CAREFUL,
npon her head, where q plaided turban con
CENTS her grizzled hair. No mere passer-b,
would ever imagine that that bent body
contains a heart to which king might pay
honor that those crippled fingers, black
and knotty though they be, are such that
He who gathered His disciples from the
fishers hut apd the carpenters bench, will
one day clasp in loving hold with His own
royal hand. She was once a slave, but
when the equalizing touch of war had
stricken off her shaekIes and deprived her
mistress of property and the means of SUBJ
sistence, this old Negro gave to her former
owner of her own substance. OF the weekly
pittance gained at the Wash-tub, one-half
was spent for "Old Miss'o tea and sugar.
while she herself was content with the
coarsest fare. Day after day, month after
month. year after year, old Hannah minis
tered to her Mistress comfort; the house
was rs cleanly swept, the bed as neatly
spread as ever such service had been in
Reb time.o Finally there came day
when for the last time the old woman
waited upon her whom she had never
ceased to reverence, and whom in her
simple and faithful heart she had always
regarded rs being wiser and better than
other people. Her faithful and toil-wrinkled
hand for the last time brushed the gray
hair softly and Strengthened the sheets over
the still form, and no more sorrowing heart
followed the hearse to the grave than that
OF the old Negress. When I see her pass
day by day honor her for her simple I'M
questioning loyalty. Her friendship was
something sweeter and nebIer than that of
Jonathan's for David, since love given
when sought is good, but given unsought
Is better. How many times she closed her
ears to the tempter who told in specious
language that such attendance dis she rem
dered to her former owner was servile and
unworthy of a Daughter of the Republic,
may never be known. Brave old Hannah,
noble odd friend ! would there were as
many more such true hearts in this world.
Summer has been tardy in coming this
year. Winter lingering chilled the lap of
May so effectually that we really began to
despair Of ever seeing the rosy bloom Of
summary June. II this kind of weather
Keeps up shall become convert to that
theory of certain scientists who contend
that the world is gradually parting with its
heat; certainly its seems as if some COOLING
ga process had commenced, or that the |
sunny South has protracted attack of
chills, since never knew the season for
barefoot boys and creek swimming to be SO |
late. But if such summer pleasures ara |
'a'e puttlng III an appearance the contrary
must be affirmed of those fascinating aiobt-
e,Taats, the beetles and creatures of like ;ll
which most do haunt the night. A Casual
view OF my room, as sit reading or writ;no
by the midnight OIL" would give one the
impression that am an ardent Epyptolo-
glst, such hosts of scarabmi adorn the
l frequently regret that the
natural bias of my mind does NOT ;ncl;,e
toward entomology, since such wide field
1or research presents itself gratuitouslv IN
my notice. There are big beetles and little
beetles; beetles with horns and others that
might properly be classed as mullen haat1os
' - 'liose excrescences are seemingly lack
ng IN their "make-up;' pretty beetles
pretty In comparative sense; and home,v
'eeties whose ugliness is of decided order
apparently justifying the yard-lonp and
scientific name which T
Aho" Is lacked ON to them, as a tail is to n
''.het' beetles with pretty, shiny backs like
'ohshed mahogany; beetles shod with lob
Ter claws; beetles with suicidal MANN
orever precipitating themselves toward the
turning lamp, kind of insect A,to dn is.
hecllonate beetles whose clinging DISPOSE
IONS lead them to stick closer to their
unan victim than brother: beetles i,
weeds; beetles that resemble violin
ases ana are not quarter as musical. and
! hae' specimens of all the family name
Jung ana Old, handsome and hideous: how
hey lily and crawl and dance: how thew
UNI ana buzz! The Negro minstrels of
"e-uoEn, Dim Grow beetles, first upon theirI
aeis anu then upon their toes. What eter-
III htness OF things leads them invariob,v -
Seiect my unhappy head and shoulders Ct
u their promenade ground?
Ahe greatest sensation in Bayou Sara re- in
may, has been the Alligator Show-a show al
at all enjoyed without money and without at
ice. His mighty and serene upliness is tn
w eh route Tor Cincinnati, bound for the VI
Srpsl1ion IN that city; but before he left 49,
interviewed him, much to our satisfac- -,
'h ana his disgust. 1t has always been M
atter OF puzzle to me to account for +ha to
cation OF certain objects common to in
.'af'l history, prominent among which
lhe thoso greater and less lights. the e
lsator and The mosquito-creatures whose
~ point of resemblance is their blood f.
rstlness, which sight of the former has
no means solved. 1t may be that both ,h,
se their uses i'll the economy of nature. ba,
beyond furnishing material for sachels cas-
holsters, and matter for establishment wa
curious Northern tourists, it is dificult to Tn
the 'a'son de're Of the alligator. This son
''icular saurlan was about ten feet !, the
gun ana ugly in proportion; such hide. nc UT
Tx looking as brick-wall, such yicions s aa''
aiming, dangerous eyes, and sncb r n;.
u1n, with it's dagger-like rows of teeth the
.,,o,,a e. creature, excepting its eastern r
igenef, the crocodile uoss assa. L