Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1866-11-30
From the Detroit Post
Ruin and Abandonment of a School
Girl.

ular female seminary, where the |
young ladies are kept under the most
careful surveillance, and where one
would naturally suppose a tempter
could not gain admission. Except
On Wednesday afternoon, male Wis
itors are not admitted, and then no
opportunity is afforded for private
interviews.
Attracted by the reputation of this
school, and anxious to afford his child
every advantage in his power, Mr.
John Colwell, a farmer living near
Erie, Pa, sent his daughter Della, a
very pretty girl some sixteen years
of age, to this seminary. For some
time her conduct was such as to COM
mand the respect and esteem OF her
teacher, and to win for her the envia-
BILE position Of the model scholar in
the institution. She excelled both in
scholarship and conduct, and the most
Hattering accounts were forwarded to
lIOI pd1 CiUo'
During one of the Wednesday re-
ceptlons, a young man named Henry
Brand, plausible and well dressed,
yet having no regular occupation. be-
came acquainted with Miss Colwell,
and from the sequel it is apparent,
succeeded in making a favorable i'm
preston. Evading the rules of the
school, stolen interviews were man
aged between the pair, and a clandes-
tine correspondence kept up for some
weeks without detection. They at
last became careless, and the matron
of the seminary discovering the affair,
forbid Miss ColweIl leaving the house
after dark, and put stop to the Wis
its of young Brand upon reception
days. The precaution was taken too
late for the happiness Of the poor
girl, who, loving the young man, had
placed her honor and her life in his
keeping. She determined not to be
debarred from the pleasure of his So
ciety, and rope ladder having been
procured, he was enabled. under the
cover of darkness, to ascend to her
room, which was in the second story,
and there pass hours in her company,
sometimes the entire night.
Excitement, loss of sleep, and the
pre-occupatiOn of mind consequent
upon this course Of life gradually told
upon the spirits and habits Of study OF
the young girl, and she surely and
rapidly refrigerated in her studies
until her position became one OF the
worst and most unenviabic in the
school. Such a course could not be
carried on without exciting suspicion
and remark, and a watch being put
upon her, Mr.. Brand was detected in
the very act of entering her window
After such u discovery it was, Of
course, matter of impossi5iiity that
she could longer be retained III the
institution, and she was. the next day
after being formally expelled in the
presence OF the school, confined to hel
room until her parents could be sum
moned to conduct her home
In compliance with a request which
Brand found means to communicate
to her, Miss Colwell met him at one
Of the hotels in the town, and ar
rangements for an eIopement marriage
perfected between the two, they hay
ing settled upon Cleveland as their
future home. Before this plan was
carried out, Mr.. Colwell arrived and
found his daughter at the depot. wait
ing for the train upon which she con
templated leaving gainesville. He
at once took charge Of her, and after
delivering well deserved chastise-
ment to Brand, started with her
home. The punishment he had re-
celved aroused all the worst passions
in the breast Of the young man and
he determined to succeed in attaining
the object Of his desires at any cost
or trouble. He therefore, unknown
to Mr.. CoIwell, took the same train
with them, finding some means to
communicate the fact to Della. who.
III obedience to a request from him.
managed to eyade the vigilance of her
father, and at Girard, where a train
moving III the opposite direction met
them, to change cars and return with
her lover to PainesviIle, while her
father was being rapidly whirled along
in an opposite direction. At the first
station at which the train stopped
they left it, and, on foot, proceeded to
a place whence they procured con-
veyance to Coneaut, Ohio, and there
took passage for this city on the scow
Sea Bird, which was bound for SAG
NAV for a load of lumber. Arriving
IN Detroit about the first of July.
they procured board at a Germans
on Hastings street, and there lived
together for short time as man and
wife, although they had never been
married and Brand refused to legal
lie their connection. The natural re.
suits having ensued, Brand, either
being afraid Of the consequences, or
becoming tired of his victim. aban-
doned her in strange city, without
money and without friends.
The people with whom she was
boarding would not keep her without
that compensation which it was not
in her power to give. Her situation
precluded the possibility of working
for a living, and overcome by her
misfortunes, she lost her senses and
became Wretched wanderer, without
a shelter and without food. In this
condition she remained until about
two weeks since, when she was dis
covered in an alley near Hastings
street, in great distress. Some char
liable persons in the vicinity took her
to their own home, tended her through
her great trial, and cared for her and |
her infant son until yesterday morn |