The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1884-05-03

OLD Town, April go, 1884,

40 TIE Lake OHhIles ECHO
"We hope to have reports from the
other gins IN this parish soon, so that
we viii be able to show to the world
that Calcasieu parish raises cotton as
well as other products, and to as great
an advantage as any of the other
parishes. "-Lake Charles Echo
The above is my text, and if not too
late, ] open with, "DOn't." Friend
EoHo, have you ever suffered from
malady known as "cotton on the
BRAIN" or cotton feverT' 0r,--the
next best thing to it,-looked on in
silent anguish while neighbsrs, friends
and relatives dragged YEARLY, pain
fully through each successive tOrtur-
ing stage of that fatally Elusive mala-
dy! No!
Well, have. "have been there"
and "know how it is myself" Mumps,
measles, or hopping cough, cholera,
lumbago or toothache-friend Echo,
if you really and truly think mild
temporary affection or penance neces-
sary for the moral welfare of the peo-
pie, distribute one or all of the above
among us, but spare, oh, spare and
save us from cotton on the brain.
AT the present writing, this delusive
disease is only sporadic in this sec
ton. Nothing more deplorable for
the agricultural element of our parish
can occur than that it should assume
the character of an epidemic and be-
come localized 1t is one of those
tenacious maladies that slowly and
surely sap the vitality of the gentle
granger's pocketbook and make him
even wish he were dead. A tOlerably
correct prognosis as to the malig-
nancy of the type may be reached by
observing the quantity of ground
planted in cotton, proportionate to
cereals and esculents.
The first stage of febrile action ap-
pears with the stand" In the hal
Inclination superinduced by good
stand" the patient begins to see visions
in the near future of ease and wealth,
such as a syborite of ancient days
might envy. But these visions, delusive
and unsatisfying, vary with every ap-
proach of threatening weather, keep
ing the deluded victim in a state of
alternate citation and depression until
the second stage, that Of the
squares" sets in. If there has been
hitherto any doubt as to the case
being of malignant type of cotton on
the brain, acute credit system mania
always latent in this isease,-will
now serve to characterize the dis
temper
With the third stage there is a
marked aggravation of unfavorable |
symptoms. This comes on simultane-
ously with the picking season. Calico
and molasses, new hats aud bacon
alas, alas, what beats it to name them
The self-deluded sufferer is rapidly
nearing the awful close when he will
learn, to his sorrow, that some things
sublnnary are not always what they
seem. The fourth and last stage, the
apyrexial ends in final collapse. The
unhappy victim of Elusive visions now
sees things as they are. An autopsic
investigation discovers lin malignant
types) All extreme attenuation, and
hollowness of the remains of the
haplcss granger. Incredible as it may
appear, this idiosyncrasy extends to
the pantry and the smoke house, all
"hollow, hollow, hollow "
But it is the pocketbook that
shakes the inmost soul fIom centre to
circumference. rhe hearts of the mil.
dewed weather-beaten statues standing
quand in the lawns of our naughty
miened nabobs would bleed, could
their stony visual orbs be brought to
look upon that empty, fiat, out-and-
out starved pocketbOok. 1t has
hungry look a touching hide-me away
aspect worn out, weary expression
Of desparing disgust at being pc.
manipulated in a vain search
for just one more nickel. There is,
however, one thing the remains is
pretty sure of holding in possession.
A few sheets of foolScap covered with
writing and figures, the balance struck
10 a T. and that balance will not only
wait right there for the next crop of
the staple, but will goad the debtor
INTO another attack of the same de-
1ltallzing malady.
In conclusion, permit me to humbly
leprecate all desire to hurt the EoHo's
ceilings, or to excite it, or still worse,
give offense. Candidly, i am SILVER
ne with the dread of al out-pouring
# editorial wrath upon my devoted
lead (my bump of reverence inva-
iably expands eutwardly with ex-
RENE prominence in the editorial
presence yet, even with the dire al
ernative of "coffee and pistols for
wo," repeat, "DoN'T." BEE.