The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-06-11
Chances and Changes.
By FRANCES D. GAGE.

night, sir.'" was the gentlemaniy reply to the
rough query.
S"Eleven O'Clock and thirty minutes, Go
to Texas! Why, it's zen this very minute.
I'll bet'my boots ugGinsta iacknife the morn
ing express is off," -t
ayes, sir, it has been gone half an hour"
"Whyin nature didn't you get us here
soonerl Fourteen hours in Chicager is
enough to break fellow all to smash
Fourteen hours in Chicager, putting and blow
ing! I've been told they keep a regular six
hundred hoss steam power all the while e
running, to blow themselves up with, and
pick the pockets'of every traveller to pay the
firemen and .engineers! Wall, l guess l
can stand It; I've twenty that's never been
broke, ] think that will put me through
Why didn't you fire up, old brag-give your
old boss another peck of oats. tell ye, this
fourteen hours will knock my calculations
all into the middle Of next week." - n.
Every sorry, sir--we've done our best;
but as we are mot clerks of the weather,
hope you will not l9y your misfortunes to
our account. Snow drifts and. the, thermom.
eter sixteen below zero, are enemies we can
not readily overcome" '.g ,.. . e. '1 81
"Thats So" said the first speaker, with
broad emphasis, and good natured, forgiv.
ing smile. "Fourteen hours in Chicager"
The stentorian voice, sounding like a
trumpet, had aroused every sleeper from
elysian dreams into which he might have
fallen after his long, tedious, cold nights
travel. Every head was turned, every eye
was fixed on the man who had broken the
silence. He was standing by the stove,
warming his boots. To have warmed his
feet through such mass Of COW hide and
sole leather, would have been fourteen
hours operation. Six feet four or five inch.
,es he stood in those boots, with shoulders
Ceased in fur coat) that looked more like
bearing up world than you will meet'ordi-
narily, in halfa lifetime. His head Web
-stcrian, his shaggy hair black as jet, his
whiskers to match, his dark, piercing eye,
and his jaws eternally moving, with a rous-
ing 9ud between them, while a smile Of
cheerfu good humor, Notwithstanding his
seeming impatience, attracted every ones
attchtioh. "a >, -y.t
' "Fourteen hours in Chicager, eh? Wall,
/ cfa stand it.iffhe rest can; if.twenty dol
lars won't carry mo throp.h, I'll borry of
Smy friends. I've got the things that'll
bring 'em. That's So" ss,s
And fo thfast his. hand little less in size
than common spadc, down into the cav
ernous depths. of bEoad striped, hashy Pair
of pants. land brought up that great red hand
full as it could hold, of shining twenty dol
lar gold pieces. !, o,., =,
"Don't yer think I can stand these ere
Chicagers for one fourteen hours!" 4s
A nod Of assent from three or four, and a
smile of curiosity from the rest, answered his
question in the affirmative. .s
"tYou must have been in luck, stranger"
said an enyious looking little man. You've
more than your share of gold" t.7u. te'
IL have. eh? Well Z reckon not. came
honestly by it. That's so. And there's them
living who can remember this child when he
went round the p'rarries trapping p'rarry
hens and The IKE, to get him night lodg-
ing, or peir Of shoes. to keep the massa-
saugers from biting my toes; I've hung my
self up more, nor one night in the timber, to
keep out Of the way of the wild vdrmjnts;
best sleeping in the wor1a, in the crotch Of
a tree top! Now, reckon you wouldn't
believe II, but I've gone all winter without
a shoe to my foot;. and lived ON wild game,
whenI could ketch it. That's so.'
"Didn't stunt your growth" said voice
..Not bit of it. 1T !brought, me up right
These p'rarriesr are wonderfal roomy. d"
thought one spell4I / would let myself ou
entirely, but me and mother held corcus
and decided that she was getting old, ant
blind like, it tux too long, and cost toe
much to sew up the legs Of my trousers
and so put a stopto it, and concluded tina
six foot FIVE would do for feller that couldn'
afford the expensive luxury Of wife to make
! his breeches. It was only my love for my
: mother that stopped my growth. If I'd ,
had an idea of sewing machine, there's M
) telling what l might done" ''S''' 81
."You have SO many gold pieces in you
: pocket, you can aforeto get your trouser'
made new. Why dom, you and your moth
er caucus, and see what you can do!' If sht
E would let you expand yourself, you nigh
: sell out to Barnum, and make fortune trav
81 ielling with Fom Thumb, and take the oil
: woman along" . aspa" 20
hE "sranger,' said the rough, great mar
8 and his whole face loomed up with min
t gled expression of pain and pride. "Stran
: lger, Il spoke word here didn't mean to
e slightly word, Ike. about my mother.
3 would give all the gold in my, pocket t.
n bring her back for one hour, to look upol
this country "a tits now. ]. She had her cab
: in here when Chicagere was nowhere; her
she raised her boysw;she,c couldn't give then
z larnin', but she taught US better things thar
n books can'gives te1be. honests'rnf useful
9 and Industrious. She, taught US to be faith
II full and true; to.stand by e.friend J, and b
d generous to. an enemy. It's thirty yeart
n stranger, since wea dug her grave by tn
e lake side with our own hands; and wit