The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-10-20
From the Chicago Times.l
Scene in Real Life.

mental; but, occasionally, in our walk.
our attention is called to events happenin
before US, which leave an impression upo
our minds, and leads US to thoughts and re
Elections which it is well we, as all othe
men, should indulge in at times.
We had been on the North Side to see a
acquaintance at his hotel, and returning b
Clark street, found, as is generally the cas-
when man is in hurry, one Of those littl
busy inventions, steamtug, had passed u
the river with small feet oivcssels in tow
one efwhich had been cast of, and had haul
ed in just west of the bridge. Seeing n
hope of getting to our Office for some time
and knowing that our compositors could no
be in any worse temper an hour later thar
they were then, we resolved 10 bear il meek
ly and fud mehtal occupation by observin.
what was going on about us. We little ex
pected what did occuf. F.. r
The vessel we have mentioned had beer
moored or made fact outside Of several ca
nal-boats, and as we stood looking at the
men upon her, one of them approached fe.
male, who had been crouched upon the
deck, and addressing her, pointed to the
shore, then to the BRIDGE and then down to.
ward the thronged and busy streets Of liy-
ing, moving, headlong Chicago. She rose,
picking up small bundle, from which she
drew forth coin. which she rendered to the
hardy sailor. He refused it whatever it was,
and lending her hand, helped her from the
vessel to the dock, and from the dock up to
the bridge. BY this time large crowd of
persons thronged the north end of where the
bridge would be, if it was always bridge,
and in contemplating the new faces, and
the representatives. of the various classes
there assembled, we had almost forgotten
the incident we have related. Our atten.
ton was called from a vain endeavor to dis
cover some hope of cessation of tugs 60
ing up and down, and schooners and briggs
pulling in and out. by hearing most audi
Bile sob from some one t,edr us. 1t was not
the sob of childhood, caused by some sudden
change from gayety to grief; it was the sob
Of some maturer breast, filled with sense
Of loneliness and despair. 1t reached other
ears than ours, A lcdy, dressed in man.
ner which bespoke wealth that could graf
ify taste and elegance, and who, like our
selves, was detained at that place, stood
near, accompanied by three children, whose
desire to get al the extreme edge Of the plat
form she with difficulty repressed.
With woman's tenderness her heart rec
ognized the stified ebulition of sorrow, and
approaching the person from whom it came
who was none other than the woman we had
just seen land from thevessel, she quietly,
ahd in that soft, sweet voice of woman
which none can resist, inquired il she stood
in need, or was she i'll, or was her sorrow
such that could be relieved? A position of
the railing near us was vacant, and tow ard
that, and almost at our side, these two wo-
men came to converse, The stranger was a
fair, handsome girl ofabout seventeen years,
neatly but cosrsely dressed, with shoes not
only well worn, but heavy, and unsuited as
much for her sex as for the season. The
poor girl, in honest simplicity, and with an
earnestaess which despair alone could i'm
part, related her history, uninterrupted by a
single observation from her companion, but
often accompanied by the tears of both. We
have not space for it at length. and we will
give it, changing its order just enough to en-
able US to state it briefly.
She said that she was born ih Boston, she
had no brother or sister nowj she rethem-
bered that she had sister-the oldest, whose
name was Lizzie; that sister, years ago, a
gainst her fathers will had married, and
with her husband, having been banished
from the fathers sight, had gone off and had
not been heard of since-no doubt was dead.
At the time of her sisters marriage her pa
rents were wealthy; the pride which drove
away Lizzie had brought silent regrets, and
after awhile came melancholy complainings
by the mother, signing for the embrace Of
her first-born. These soon led to anger and
ordinations at home and designations by the
father abroad. Losses came upon them. and
at last gathering the few worldly goods they
possessed, they left the proud city Of theil
birth and settled; five years ago, upon land
purchased Of the government, in Wisconsin
Her brothers, some older and some younger
than herself, one by one dropped and died
and SOON the mother, calling in agony upon
her long exiled daughter, joined her boys in 4
happier cline. None were now LETT but the
father and this poor girl. He too was hum
bic, and stricken by that slow but certain
dlssnse which lights up the cheek and fire.
the eye with the brilliancy Of health, ever
when its victim is on the confines Of eternity
he would sit and tell to his surviving chilt
the acts Of winning love and sacrificing de-
votion which had raade his Lizzie the yer,
object of his life. He would talk Of he
sweet smiles, and her happy disposition, un
til memory would lead him to the hour whel
he bid her depart, and not let him see he
face again. His decline waslrapid, and thi
lone child saw the fFst flowers which th'
warmth of springhad called,from the soilo
her msther's grave. disturbed, uprooted an
tAvr,,,r ev,s3A that bia ashHw s,iukt m;nul