The Ohio star. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1830-1854, 1853-03-02
Pictures Of. a Female siate-RTarket:
bY-N. P. Wills.

Z BY-N. P. WILLS,
find it takes new eyes to be surprised at
thought stirring scenes, sometimes: hut, to give
strong instance of what people may get SO used TO
as to give looking at it with any particular cu-
rio ty will describe sohat sods Sc: out apon faeo
iab;es the opposite sides of the bar-room of my
hotel. Tie reader will perhaps remember the
description given of this drinking saloon vast
. dome like the body of cathedral, around which
the cathedral is built. and to which tseer1s Sec
ondary appuitenanee. It's thronged at the drink
ing hour. and OH the morning I speak of, had
gone down to take lounge through the crowd, in
terested as always in the faces and manners in
strange city but looking for no special novelty be-
yond.5 The day was warm and the drnkers many.
| was amused with the usual contrast, as went
in, the architectural sublimt es commonly erysd
for places ofsacred resort Ia dome sustained by of.
ty columns, and admitting light only from the me- :
rdian sky, inc'osipg throng careless ana live
ly. sirolled along one side, and saw the lunch
table spread out with tefrapin soup, olpes. sand
aiches, etc, aud then with chance turn, crossed
the crowded floor and came upon another table od
the oppsite side, set out with--what does the
reader supposed-ha!f dozen pretty and nfceiy
years of age, seated chairs upon the top of the
table and waiting to be sold at auction!
Ana' 10 this nobody was giving second look.
uroups Oh men stood about on the marble floor Of
the vast area, with bats on, and glasses ia their
hands, conversing gaily. The wihte-aproned wai-
ters laded ont the soup. The gracious and geutIe-
manly master bar-keepers stood braidirg rainbows
across their irnament of decanters as they flung
the ice and the rosy liquor back and forwards into
fragrant contact with the mint. Politics were talk
ed cud, and business was talked low. But it was
not quite the hour; lacking few ninutes when
the destiny Of these other warm dishes was to be
decided ss 3
Feeling themselves TO be wholly unnoticed prob
ably, the negresses were perfectly natural; and
their amused interest in the scene around was suf
fcient TO make them gay as children at a show
The front of tlle'table was on line with the tir1
Gle of columns, and it extended back across the
corridor in The rear, one of the women who had
two children at her knee, sitting back against, the
wall of the dome. This last was the only one
whose face expressed any seriousness OF anxiety,
though nllswere modest in their cheerfuIness and
they were evidently girls Of good conduct, we'll
as in admirable bodily condition. Two of them
were really handsome, thought, and, by the taste
with which their bandanuas were coifed, showed
that they had ahaIed little of the French atmos-
phere of the city.
The aucioreer mounted chair. presently, and
the sale proceeded, too rapidly however, for any
very critical observation. With what could zee
Oft, was exc elingIy interested, though of the
crowd around, one else except the, bidders
seemed to have the curiosity to look on. The girls
seemed bashful more than anything else, dropping
their eyes tho auctoneer told their ages and
qualities. stealing furtive gIances at the low
voiced manners of the dollars they might be worth
their vanity. doubtless, somewhat excited 10
watching the ladder up which their value was SO
Reluctantly aseending Imagination might paint
very touching pictures from this 1t was
over before had got out my brushes and colors''
I just remember that the mother looked pleased
with the destiny of herself and children. The
others were gone without my having been able to
designate their prices, deficient, as of course
YVES, in the practsed alacrty of the market. But
l looked down from the gal.ery above, upon the
two bare tables la'er in the day, and indulgeda
reverie over the contrasted dsposalof the respec-
tive yands, the stomach's digestion Of what had 2
been spread upon one and fate'd digestion of what
had been spread upon the other.-Home Journal: