The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1885-02-21
Anxious.

Anxious.
was rejoiced to find that Anxious had
kindly consented to raise the Cannoneers
from the dead and permit them again to Zee the
light Of day. But my JOY was coon turned to
grief when, in the next paragraph, saw him
mass the Ascension Rifles in the person of Bru-
tus and make him thrust his dagger between
the rib" Of every Cannoneer whom he had
huddled up in the dead body Of Caesar. This
was sad enough, believe me, Anxious. to make
both the killers and killed cry. And when Bru-
let the poor Cannoneers alone they might still
have borne this last killing with becoming resig
nation. But he did not. He then makes them
sing their own dirge, and he selects the follow
ing hymn Of short metre:
Canonni6,
En- avan,
Ca Qui mOuri tant pf pour y6.
The dirge ends, but ends not yet their tor
ment. He finally proceeds to make them build
a snug little historical niche where their fame
will live as if cut into a statue Of the rurest
MARBLE"
Now, after all this, if the Cannoneers are not
perfectly satisfied, then indeed they are hard to
please.
His predatory declaration that he loves truth
more than he loves both Socrates and Plato
combined, he'd caused me to expect he would
treat the question fairly. If am disappointed
it is my own fault, for the liberty he takes in
expounding his text should have put me on my
guard. 1t is the keynote of the whole opera.
shall not undertake to tell how Brutus and
Caesar would relish the part they are made to
play in this stabbing affair." but if the shades OF
Socrates and Plato have read the Ascension
Democrat of the 18th instant, and seen for what
purpose their names have been invoked may
venture to say they will not thank Amicus-they
NAV even curse him in much better Greek than
Major Veritas curses Plato in " literally bad
English.
To make an erroneous statement which does
only favor our own interest is not right. But
when, moreover, it is calculated to lnjure the
interest Of another. it is wrong. There are
many who would qualify such an act with a
harsher word. And when such q statement Is
seriously contradicted, to come back to the
charge with facetious reply, Is neither good
logic nor honest argument. hut it has the
great merit of catching those who are ever ready
to applaud whomever makes them laugh. Un-
fortunately it runs the risk of making others
smile at this smart trick to conceal the true is
sue.s
wbo,, Mr.. Gondran publicly affirmed that the
Cannoneers were ,..ccad, l beg leave to assure
Anxious that he was not joking. He was very
serious. And had not answered him seriously,
-, kho T TN him and
possibly to myself.
1 might here end this simple rejoinder and
subscribe myself his respectful servant. But
the same duty which prompted me to contra
dict the original assertion urges me to consider
the no less original reply. Besides, it may not
be kind to pass by unnoticed SO much wit, dis
played for the benefit of the public In general
and the Cannoneers in particular.
The meaning SO artfully inslnuated and at the
same time so modestly concealed under the
form Of a question which after all he forgets to
answer, has the double merit of pointing. with
out positively drawing the following conclu-
sion, to-wit: that the new company has saved
the town from incendiarism at the last election
We are unable to understand the particular
action the boosted eating of oysters the promis-
cuously throwing of the shells thereof exerted
upon the said saving of the town from incen-
diarism. But these two facts are 30 legitimate
put them asunder, however we may fail to COM
prehend tho nature of the relations that exist
between them.
But Nh. Gondran has spared us the trouble of
asking by what further means all this salvage
was accomplished. When he was pressing his
$3.50 claim he said it was done by "their mere
presence"
Endowed with such an eff Gent presence, it is
to be regretted that the Ascension Rifles have
not offered their services to the Queen of Eng
land for immediate passive duty in the Soudan.
Wolseley effectively reinforced and satisfied
Gordon alive and Khartoum Acknowledgement
not dead and Burnaby not killed-while in the
far distance We can just barely perceive the
vanishing form of Ell Mahdi flying towards the
great desert of Sahara followed by his panic
stricken, half naked, yelling rebels. Peace is
restored and quiet relgns along the Nile:
But. the magnificent tableau gradually dis
solves and presents another view. They return
homes They have carried the name of the As
cension Rifles into Africa and carved it with
their bright, bloodless bayonets on the highest
stone of the Pyramids of Egypt-and they have
seen the self-same famous centuries which from
the same heights had contemplated the great
Napoleon and his grand army turn to contem-
plate their gorgeous uniforms and their puts
SAINT presence.
mere glance at those brilliant possibilities
fairly dazzles the imagination. What an oppor-
tunity to make for themselves an historical
niche where their fame would live as if cut into
statue of the purest marble!'
Why, oh! why do they not resolve to do it at
once?2 M.
It is not that oysters are too scarce in the dos
ert and that without oysters they would dwin-
die into so many shorn Samsons.
Time will teach deeper answer-an answer
that may cause both them and those who now
give them their countenance to pause and per
haps to regret. CANNONEER.
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