Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-04-04


very time when we begin fully to appre
1ciate their worth. The young heir wa
scarcely three years old when his mothe
tdied. There was grief, and, 1 believe
heartfelt grief, up at the old hall for ;
while,- and then came the intelligence tina
|Mr. Wentworth had determined to travel
and that, meanwhile, the young heir was tt
be left at home with a nurse, and suitable
attendants.
Two years passed away. At length ru
mors reached the servants that their master
would soon return, accompanied with a
new. bride. Before long these reports were
confirmed, and then, after few days de.
lay, the newly welded pair dashed up to
the hall door behind chariot and four, dec.
GRATED with bride favors.
The new conner was certainly magnif
cent woman, but oh! what contrast to the
sweet angel who had formerly filled hel
place. The first wife was rather petite
with soft blue eyes, and an expression oi
countenance almost seraphic; her successor
was a tall, splendid looking woman, with
dark flashing orbs, and a face whose haugh
ty beauty was the very impersonation Of a
Juno. know not why, but with all hel
majesty, never liked the second Mrs. Went
worth.
In due time son was the fruit of this
marriage. The babe, like his mother, was
beautiful, and it seemed to. met may
have been only fancy-that, in the rejoic-
ings at its birth, the eldest son, and un
doubted heir, was totally forgotten.
1t soon became evident that the new wife
was paramount in her influence over hel
husband: but, in one thing she was foiled
she could not ALLEVIATE his affections from
his eldest son. She dared not openly speak
against the young heir, but it was evident
that she hated him, because he would ex-
clude her own child from the estate; and
though the fortune of a younger son of the
Wentworth's would have been in inde
pendence to any one else, yet this grasping
woman coveted all for her own darling. Or
this point however, she knew that her hus.
band would iprove inhexible, and that hi
family pride would be too strong even fol
his wife's persuasions. She did not there
fore, make the attempt But in every posi-
BILE way, especially when her husband was
absent, she contrived to make the life of her
step-son, irksome and intolerable. A thous
and petty vexations, such as are easier fell
than described, and which no one knows SC
well how to inf1iot as second wife, soured
the early life of the young heir, and des-
pite his amiable disposition, made him the
most unhappy of beings. The sum of bis
misery was filled up, when, his father hay-
ing been chosen member of Congress, left
the family at Wentworth Hall, while he
proceeded to Washington. From tina
hour, whether at his estate or at the capita
of the nation. Mr.. Wentworth was SO oc.
cupied by ambition that he found no time to
unravel the domestic transa ctions of hi
household so that, deprived of the CHECK
heretofore existing on her conduct in the
presence of her husband, the new wife COM
menced a more open and oppressive series
of petty persecution on the young heir
which effectually broke the spirits of one SC
delicately constituted. I never saw great
er change in any one than took place il
Herbert Wentworth, between his fifth and
eleventh years. From being used to con
slant exercise in the open air, he was re-
stricted to the school-room, the library, and
the garden. In short time his health
gave way, and he became pale, weakly, ano
melancholy. And this was the once gay
and happy boy, with a heart as light as the
carol of a bird! Oh could his saintec
mother have foreseen on her death-bed the
destiny that was to overtake her child, how
bitter would have been her parting hour.
Meanwhile the younger son-the darling
of the mother-was INDUCED in everything
His slightest wish anticipated. He was
taught every manly accomplishment of thu
day, and at IL, was already nearly a:
large as his delicate brother. He was ;
skillful horseman, and the best sportsman
on the estates. But he was wilful, passion
ate and imperious.
So matters went on, until the young hei
was nearly eighteen years of age, when hi
father took him to Washington with hin
during the session of Congress. For tn
first time emancipated from the thraldon
of his step-mother, Herbert began to be aw
are Of the Importance ofhis situation, and o
his home. He returned to Wentworth
Hall an altered being. When his father
about this time, received an appointment tt
an embassy to one of the South American
States, he solicited to accompany his parent
but his request could not be granted, ane
the young heir was left at home with Mrs
| Wentworth and her son.
The change in the character of Herber
soon became evident to his step-mother
But in nothing was it more percepible thai
in the resistance the young heir made to tn
restraints attempted to be imposed on him
| but from which his brother was exempt
Privileges which Herbert felt were his, equal
ly with his brother, or to which he, ifeither
had the better right, were no longer surren
der without expostulation, or in some case
without struggle One of the great cause
OF difference arose from the determination
expressed by the young heir, to shoot on th'
estate--a privilege no rational being woult
. have dreamed he was not entitled to-bu
which his pampered brother, habituated t,
:, seeing himself INDUCED, and Herbert re
1 strained, in every thing, took on himself on
: day, in ft of passion, to dispute. Ha,
f Mrs. Wentworth been present, even sh
E would have seen the folly of her son an
! would have checked him; but, unaccustom
E ed to be opposed, the wilful boy, when h
/ saw his brother with resolution as unusus