The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1884-01-12

grateful for packages of useful, much
| needed things mysteriously left at their
doors. Judge Allison, as is his won't, gave
a sumptuous restaurant dinner to the boot
blacks and newsboys. He lent his cheer
ing presence and made speech. "Don't
drink liquor, boys" said he. "Don't play
cards, don't go to theatres. Save your
money-try and educate yourselves 80 as
to become good, useful citizens. Be kind and
considerate to each other; be polite to every
one." The Judge began this praiseworthy
custom in 1877. Then he had only twenty
six guests-this time there were about one
hundred, who had their appetites satisfied
with turkey, chicken, oysters, celery, salads,
cranberry sauce, all kinds of vegetables,
plum pudding, mince. pies, cake, Vienna
bread and coffee.
There are 1900 employees at the saw
| works of Henry Disston's Sons, and every
| one of them who was a housekeeper received
big turkey for his Xmas dinner from the
| firm and the others received the equivalent
| in money. John B. Stetson, the halter,
gave his men either hats or turkeys, ac-
cording to choice. I might 1engthen out
the list of such instances of kindness and
consideration for the poor and working
class.
There was holiday even in the prisons,
but the poor wretches who exc out mis-
| cradle existence therein preferred the usual
roufina nf uort fa ;dIonooa II, 4ho;- o.11,
Had the joyous church services been pro-
vided-had an earnest missionary told them
the old, old story of redemption and par
don, who knows but that some stony heart
had been touched, some soul moved to re-
pentance, and saved.
We have had all sorts of weather this
week-snow, sleet, rain, fog and sunshine.
Wednesday was clear and moderately cold.
All day, the music of the sleigh bells greeted
the ear and the Park presented gay scene.
Rather an expensive pleasure. that of
sleigh ride, when the least cost is $40 an
hour. After Wednesday came thaw, snow
slides from the roofs and slush under foot.
The beauty of the snow had vanished.
There have been some dreadful fires here
this winter, large loss Of property and mar
row escape of life. Mr.. Benson of Chest
nut Hill was aroused by the servants at /
O'Clock at night, and he and his family just
had time to escape in night-dresses and
bare feet. The house, valued at $1OO, GOO,
burned to the ground. Another instance
VINO uhoro n rnop or,<a his ~v; 70 ,rx,o S7;~:.,o
out. In their absence their house caught
fire. The nurse found herself surrounded
by fames-no egress by the stairway. She
appeared at the window of the second story
in despair and showed the two little chill
dren to the crowd below. Let them DROP"
cried out a man. He opened his arms She
aimed we'll, dropping one little tot, then
the other. The stout arms caught them.
"Thank God, sshs oried, I. they are safe" !"
And what could bs done for her? A blanket
was gotten and four Of the strongest men
held the corners. She jumped. The grip
was firm. She, too, was saved. The par
ents returned to find their beautiful home
| in ashes, but their JOY and gratitude for the
safety of their little ones and the faithful,
heroic nurse drowned.ali thought of its loss.
There are no longer any volunteer fire.
men here-they are paid and very efficient.
There is never any ringing of bells and you
don't know FIRE is going on unless you see
or hear the engines. The department re-
ceives the alarm and on the instant the en-
gines are tearing ahead like fiery demons,
and close behind them the Chief in 81
buggy. Everything of course clears out Of
the way as fast as possible. To-day saw
an engine coming down street that was
blockaded by number of coal wagons
Did it stop and wait for the way to be made
walk for near the distance of block. Just
think of it! Why it was the most reckless
thing ever saw done. w.
Mr.. John Mccullough is filing two
weeks engagement at the Chestnut Street
Opera-House. He is great favorite here
and draws good houses. So far, he has
confined himself to Roman tragedy. He
certainly excsls in heroic, warlike charac-
ters. As Virginius he is perfectly splendid.
In that role he has opportunity to show Off
his dignifed, majestic bearing. He played
Virginius the first night of his appearance
and received the warnsess greeting. Three
times after this scene where he kills his
daughter to save her from the fend, Appius
Claudius, he was brought before the cur
| tain. That was remarkable, as Philadel-
phians are not much given to noisy demon
stration in theatres. To his credit be ii
said, Mccullough was poor lad and by
dint of hard work attained his present de-
gree of scholarship and fame. People tell
under their breath that he came from the
lower walks of life. What if, by misfortune
he found himself poor, and being honest
began his earnings at . trade-did it make
him common? Can any one look at his pa
trieian head and face and call him plebeian
Could common grade of intellect achieve
such success and win the laur els he wears
upon his brow? All, NO. Good blood ran
through his veins, and coupled with i. was
grand intellect, brain-power that all the
poverty and circumstance in the world couIc
not keep down.
at the Arch Street Theatre 'tVim" is a
great success. 1t is a playful satire on New
England strong minded women, and the
great novelty is to see man personate {
woman. Mr.. Neil Burgess, the writer O.
the comedy, takes the part of Mrs. Tryphe
MIA Puffy to perfection. In fact, in tha
role he has become as distinct and conspic
uous as Owens in Our American Cousin O.
Jefferson in Rip Van Winkle. There i
much laughter in Vim, and it is good an