FLEMING'S HOTEL.
In the year 1785, as, also, prior and subsequent to that time, there was a
hotel situated in one of the less frequented streets of Pittsburg, then the
largest town west of the mountains, and kept by one Fleming, whence it
derived the name of "Fleming's Hotel." This house, a small one, and
indifferently furnished, was a favorite resort of the Indians who visited
the town on trading expeditions. Fleming had two daughters, who possessed
considerable personal attractions, and that pride of a vain
woman--_beauty_. History does not, to the best of our knowledge, give us
the first names of the two girls; and we will distinguish them as Eliza and
Sarah. Unfortunately for these young females, they had ever been surrounded
by unfavorable circumstances, and exposed to the vices of bad associations;
and that nice discrimination between propriety and politeness, which is a
natural characteristic of the modest woman, had become somewhat
obliterated, and the hold which virtue ever has by nature in the heart of
the gentler sex, had been somewhat loosened. In short, the young Misses
Fleming failed at all times to observe that degree of propriety which
should ever characterize the pure in heart, and were, by many, accused of
immorality. How far this accusation was true, we shall not attempt to say,
but, doubtless, there were not wanting many tongues to spread slanderous
reports.
In early years of womanhood, Eliza had given her affections to one who
THE WORLD'S FAIR
Or, Children's Prize Gift Book of the Great Exhibition of 1851
Describing the Beautiful Inventions and Manufactures Exhibited Therein;
with Pretty Stories about the People Who Have Made and Sent Them; and
How They Live When at Home
London: Thomas Dean and Son 35, Threadneedle-Street, and
Ackermann and Co. 96, Strand.
What a pretty picture we have in the first title page, of the Great
Exhibition in Hyde Park! This gigantic structure is built of iron,
glass, and wood; but as, at a distance, it seems to be made entirely
of glass, it is called the "Crystal Palace." Does it not look like one
sought her love under the guise of a "gentleman of fortune." He proved to
be what such characters usually are--a libertine, whose only motive in
seeking to win her confidence and young affections was to gratify his
hellish passions in the ruin of virtue and a good name. Under the most
solemn assurances of deep, abiding, unalterable love for her, and the most
solemn promises of marriage at an early day, which if he failed to perform,
the direst maledictions of heaven, and the most awful curses, were called
down upon his own head, even to the eternal consuming of his soul in the
flames of perdition, he succeeded in his design. Virtue was overcome, and
the jewel of purity departed from the heart of another of earth's
daughters. Vain were the tears of the repentant girl to induce a
performance of the promises so solemnly made; false had been and still were
the vows of the profligate; but he continued to make them all the more
profusely; and hope, at first unwavering, then fainter and fainter, filled
the heart of his victim. Once conquered, and the victory was ever after
comparatively easy; and having taken something of a fancy to this lady, he
was for a long time attached to her, and, in his way, remained faithful.
Such were the mutual relations sustained by these two toward each other,
when, one day, the betrayer entered the presence of the betrayed, and, in
some agitation, said:
"Eliza, my dear, you have always been a kind, dear girl to me, and I have
resolved to repay your constancy and devotion by making you my bride in a
few days; but first I must demand of you a service, an important service.