Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1853-08-11

q ny p"POio'
! Little Ellen soon recovered th
shock occasioned by the loss Of he
mother, and before We had passe
r Vicksburg, had resumed with tn
happy elasticity Of childhood, he
Il "prattling parties" as the passenger
, termed them, and her long conferen
/ ces with the Captain.
Fl By this time the old man had join
led his heart to hers with feryo
that was absolutely painful to OBJ
serve. He made her sit by his sid'
lat the public table -unpreeedentec
violation of steamboat rules! took
1her upon the hurricane deck ant
wheelhouse with him; and it leaked
out through the steward, that after
her mothers death, the little or
phan even shared his berth and slept
in his arms,
Well, We got to New Orleans and
discharged our cargo; took on anoth-
er load: and advertised to Pittsburg.
| looked every day to see little Ell
lens father come and take her away
] watched every uniform, and there
was plenty of them in those. days,
and listened to every inquiry; but
to my surprise no one seemed inter
ested in the orphan but Capt. Seeley-
found out, by his watching the pal
Il pers morning and evening, that hf
was afraid of seeing some notice of
her there; but nothing turned up; hf
made no advertisement himself about
her or her msther, land back We went
to Pittsburg with little Ellen in
company.
Our next two or three trips were
made between Pittsburg and Cincin-
natl. AS Captain Seeley vned a
large interest in the boat, he had
pretty much the whole control of
her movements. and l verify believe
he was afraid 10 go lower down the
river for fear he would meet with Ell
lens father. He hired a female
teacher to accompany her On the
boat and instruct her in suitable.
branches. But while Ellen was en-
gagged in the lessons, Capt. Seeley
was generally sitting near, with his
eyes fixed as if enchanted upon her
innocent face.
You know what a misfortune we
met with being run into by the Lown-
des, and how many lives we're lost on
our boat got ashore in my night
clothes with great difficulty after
seeing a score Of women and chill /
dren perish; and the first object that !
met my eyes on the boat was old /
Capt. Seeley, chatting the eold. hands
Of little Ellen whom he had borne
ashore at the imminent hazar of his
own life. After that, the chill seem
I'd more dear to him if poseiBl lie than
before; and when the owners built I,
our new boat he had a state room inI
The ladies' cabin fitted up purposely
ror Ellen and her school-mistress. /
But there was an end to all this as
here is to every good thing on
earth. Freights got Gull in the Gin
,iDhati trade and in the St. Louis
.rahe; and there was nothing for, It'll
out to go TO New Orleans again. So
We started witha good heavy load; but
here was nothing SO heavy in all
,ur load as the weight that seemed
o be on Capt. Seeley's mind. He
vas under the impression he said,
hat some evil impended over him
md we could see, he couldn't drive the
hing off He moped and fretted all
he way down, and when we got in
light of New Orleans, looked towards
t as though he was to. be hung,
md there was the gallows ready.
Sure enough his forebodings were
ealized We had scarcely been a
hore two hours and the passengers
itirly cleared ent, when gentleman
anne on board dressed in a captains 9
inform, whose resemblance to little /
Glen was too striking to escape no. q
ice; Capt. Seeley turned as pale as
ghost when he saw him, and imme-
lately sent a message to Ellen t
7hich had no difficulty in under IA
tanding, that she should remain in /
he ladies' cabin while the officer was Il
here. 1
The individual enquiring for Cap i
ain Seeley, introduced himself as
;aptain Winslow of the o. S. army,
nd said he learned from runor that Ft