St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-08-25


Not plain, shy, thin, cllin-looking
Esther Truman--thc scoldcd of her
stcp-mothcr, the waiting-maid of her
half sister Belle, the nurse of IL brood
Of Younger Trumans, the Stunned of
visitors, and at length the stunned of
her father, Richard Truman not that
shy, strange girl, with her shyer,
stranger black eyes, who always crcpt
away from the parlor when company
came and the great piano was heard
and Bellies voice rang ont in song,
and all was mirth and laughter not
Esther, oh ! no: but gay, beautiful,
hlue-cyed, gcldcn-haired Belle Tru-
man, whom everybody carcssed and
pcttCd--she was 1.-The flower of the
family
Everybody said it of Belle visit
ors said ST. Mrs. Richard Truman
said so concerning her eldest born,
who grew up, tall and quccnly. to
ovcrshadow her elder half sister, the
child Of Mr. Truman's first marriage ::
even Richard Truman at length. not
!
stand, the shy. sensitive nature of the
child of her whom he had lain away
early from his heart to her rest under
| the gravc.sod, grew to lavish all his
patclnal smiles, and moments of Icis-
urc from his business, upon the gay.
beautiful Belle. When she came
out " in society, in her sixteenth win
ter, there were plenty to praise her
beauty" her freshness and art
lcssncss :" half the beaux of " her
set went "dcad in love" with her :
even portly, grave Squire Stanhury,
who had always been the friend of the
family, privileged guest in the first
Mrs. Truman's day, and quite father
in his way to the baby Esther, whom
he trottcd on his knec--lattcrly seemed
to forget that Esther was ripcuing
into womanhood, and almost the age
Of her mother, when she gave birth to
her only child, then died, to leave a
vacancy which Richard Truman sup
piled in less than a twclvcmonth by
the Mrs. Truman Of to-day even
Squire Stanbury, say, came to neg
lect the quiet, timid Esther dropped
in often to play game at chess with
"ncighbor Truman" or listen to his
sprightly daughters singing and,
one day, hc was heard to declare
stoutly to his aw-studcnt, Ellis Loring,
that Isabella Truman was young
lady of uncommon clevcrncss, amia-
hility and beauty indeed. in his es-
timation, she was the flower of the
tamily!'
In which opinion the law-student,
Ellis Loring, expressed his assent, re-
marking, "When | came home from
the academy, and used to drop in of
ten of evenings to have game of
chess with Mr.. Truman, got slightly
interested in Esthcr-wc used to con
strue Latin and French together, but
she was always too sober; and when
Belle came home from school, full of
life and vivacity, found the house
very different Esther is clever lit
tie thing-small of her age she must
be eighteen, OF SO, now but Belle
quite bears away the palm. | agree
with YOU, sir, in yonr opinion Of Miss
Belle Truman
Upon which unqualified approba-
ton of his ideas, old squire Stanbury
forthwith grew very uncomfortable,
and, remembering snndry acts SAVIOR
ing strongly of lover-attention of his
student - evidently accepted with
pleasure by their recipient, the young
lady in auestion--thc old gentleman
growled in an unwonted testy tone,
IIumph /! yes. Knew you'd think
so All the youngsters grow crazy
after pretty girl She'll soon be
spoiled, I'll warrant it Id rather "a
daughter of mine would be as plain
and quiet Us little Esther, than get all
the ilaitcry and soft NONSENSE that'll
be poured into her ears. You don't
find girls nowadays with pretty faces
and sober minds combined after all,
amt sure but little Esther Will stand
her chance with the handsome ones.
Strange sort Of girl she ls--quccr and
odd-lke. Don't feel acquainted with
her us much as ought with Richard
Truman's daughter. Nice girl, her
mother was. Was young bachelor
then, ch, Loring . and used to call in
often to spend social evening with
] the married folks Always delicate,