Star of the Kanawha Valley. [volume] (Buffalo, Va. [W. Va.]) 1855-1856, 1856-01-09
BUFFALO, PUTNAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA. WEDNESDAY, JAl

Lit was the sob Of some maturer breast,
filled with o sense Of lonliness and
despair. 1t reached other ears than
ours. A lady dressed in a manner
which bespoke a wealth that could
CRAFTY taste and elegance, and who,
like ourselves, was detained at that
| place, sstood near, accompanied by
three children, whose desire to get at
the extreme end Of the platform she
with difficulty repressed. - 4
With q woman's tenderness, her
heart recognized the stifed ebullition
of sorrow, and approaching the per-
son from whom it came, who was none
other than the woman we had just
seen land from the vessel, she quietly,
and in that soft, sweet voice Of wo-
man, which. none can resist, enquired
If she stood in need, or was she i'll,
or was her sorrow such as could be
relievedl A portion Of the railing
near US was vacant, and that and al.
most at our side, these two women
came to converse. The stranger was
affair, handsome girl, about seventeen
years old; neatly but coarsely 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 ear
nestness which despair could alone
impart, related her history, uninter.
rupted by single observation by her
companion, but often accompanied by
the tears of both. We havenot 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 in Dos.
ton +! she had no brother or sister no,c;
che remembered that she had a sister,
the oldest, whose name was Lizzie;
that sister years ago, against her faith
er's 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 parents were
wealthy; the pride which drove away
Lizzie had brought silent regrets, sand
after a while came melancholy COM
lplainings by. the mother, signing for
the embrace of her first born. These
soon led to anger and ordinations at
home, and dissipation by the father
abroad. Losses came upon them, and
at last, gathering the few worldly
goods they possessed, they left the
proud city of their birth. and settled
| five years, ago upon land purchased of
1.-THE government, in Wisconsin. Her
brothers. some older and some youn.
ger than herself one by one dropped
and died; and soon the mother, cal
ling in agony upon her long exiled
daughter, Joined her boys in q happier
cline. None were now left but the
| father and this poortgirl. He, too.
was humbled and stric ken by that slow
| but certain disease which lights up
1.-THE cheek and fires the eve with the
brilliancyl of health, even when its
victim is on the confines Of eternity.
he would sit and tell to his surviving
child the acts Of winning love and
sacrificing devotion which had made
his Lizzie the very object Of his life.
He would talk Of her sweet smiles.
and her happy disposition, until mem.
DRY would lead him to, the hour when
| he bid her depart, and not let him see
her face again. +.
His decline was rapid, and this lone
child saw the first flowers which the
warmth Of spring had called from the
soil other mothers grave. disturbed,
uprooted, and thrown aside, that his
ashes might mingle with those Of the
mother Of his childred. AT his death
he charged her to pay of as far as she
might be able, the necessaries Of life;
the land, which for want of culture
had not increased In value, was sold
and left her but q few dollars. These
she expended in rearing some boards
to mark the spot where she had seen
buried one after another her beloved
kindred. She had heard Of Chicago.
She had heard that in this city there
were offices where strangers wishing
employment, by application, could
| find work. She had on foot travelled
many miles until she reached Mil
waukie, and thence by the kindness
tof q poor sailor, who had seen her on
the dock watching the steamers de.
part, had enquired. and ascertained
| that she wished to. come hither, but
had not the money. He brought her
Ito Chicago on his own vessel, and told
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