April, 1879.
THE WEST SHORE.
99
less fretting and incessant scolding. I front parlors. Now these parlors arc
Care-laden fathers return home at not to he lived in, they are solely for
ni'ht, and, feeling that in some way "company." They may he sat in oc-
thc whole world has gone wrong, they casionally and respectfully gazed at, hut
Bcek relief for themselves by giving no familiarities may he taken with the
harsh expression to their ill-natured im
patience, and the little ones in the
family circle arc the sufferers, Elder The chairs are always on dress parade
brothers and sisters, too, visit their They never stray an inch from their
furniture. Thev do not invite loung
ing. 1 hey comer little sense 01 ease,
troubles upon delenceless heads. At places. the hooks on the tahle are
school it is too often the case, that likewise accurately and regimentally
sick, overworked teachers make their disposed. Everything hears the im
innocent little charges feel the heavy press of the last funeral. It is a sad,
weight of their own physicial and men- solemn, and often gloomy place. The
tal anguish. The fact, that all this Is I front blinds, with the exception of
unintentional, does not diminish this "cleaning day," are never opened. A
cloud in Fairy-land, nor does it leave dim, sepulchral light straggles through
upon its darkness a single rainbow them. The sun is an unwelcome in
tint. truder. If allowed to enter he would
I have attempted to prove that there cheer up matters and disperse some of
rn ,-l,wk in fairv-lif... If I have made tne poison 01 na.np.icss mm s... .y
manifest the shadows of a few of these, gather day by day-hut he would fade
I U,l,u, tlmt children, ns Well as the CWTWI
, h.. .rnn,rS n bfi ri.rhted. even life, in the house-keeper's estima
Wrongs, too, which "cannot be effaced triw whc" comwr"1 w',,h
by the changing of a single clause in
the Constitution, nor by the political carpet
eternally sitting wrapped in sombre
contemplation and meditating a dread
ful judgment on somebody. I ompany
can never warm up and be enlivened
in such a place. The inlluence of days
and days and weeks and week of ..
sad, gloomy, brooding solitude is loo
strong. Skeletons ami ghosts haunt
the room. You cannot hcc, hut yon feci
them. Jokes only weakly I1.I0 there,
the pcrpctnity of the colors on her
inlluence of the world's mightiest men.
OUR FRONT PARLORS.
These front parlors are costly shrines
consecrated to gloom, silence, anil ol
scurity. The family live, move and
On a bright, sunshiny afternoon, we endure being in the kitchen The
I....L-...I ...,r nir.p.ilnnr nm strn ed out "rme wuwm " 1
The chairs and tames
. ... ,1 ...1. ...
i : iU,. Mm Viim i ll. I hmvwkh -
..I'M II n. Ill nilVbli UIVIIVV . w .... 1 ...
arc as origin aim suiuy as wncn mtj
cr.mc from the upholsterers. They
up Taylor, and so on, until we had
1 r.it-i.l.i.l n Almtmwum ff kivt v.nitrlit lilnrks.
All of this part of l'ortland is used for have no character. In the compara
residences, is thickly settled, and w
average, with cross streets, which were
constantly in our view,
dwellings to the square block, making
in all aboill -7- residences which came
under our observation. Two
were undergoing a process of calso-
iniuing and painting, and one had a
sign. "To let" on, and can therefore
not be taken into consideration here.
Out of the other 169, only eighteen, in
cluding our own residence, had the ap
pearance of being occupied that is, the
shutten weft OMn and the blinds raised,
to admit Cod's lirsl gift, " Light" The
other two hundred and fifty-one res
idences, many of them the homes of
people who count their possessions by
the thousands, were shut up light, and
we should have believed the owners
were away from town hail not our ring
ing of door-bell! soqaaiated u with our
mistake, for we were always promptly
tivcly few parlors which arc lived in
every household appliance develops ccr
about four Ifatiirci, the result of use and use
fulness. The arm-chair ol pater lamu
ias has a dignity worn upon It the
of these maternal rocking-chair looks tuty,
gracious and accessible ; the tame co
ered with opened looks and papers
seems endowed with mental activity
and rtgOT, t)M pictures mi the wall look
as if Imbued with satisfaction as a
ouree of constant pleasure n human
eyest the remaining chain scattered
about, even when not eeCUpleH
on sociable Units with each other, and
the oK-ned piano 11 ""I"
tality of harmony.
But for the perlOT which i not lived
in, the shut piano suggests a screwed
down cotlin. The ever empty arm-
wclllricl fluff
1. 1 1
mourner, the other chairs arc pall
liearcrs. The pictures are without
heart or soul, ami the table might as
it splutters and dies out, humor is
frightened ami lives, because the room
and its furniture have not been educated
in their parts.
It is but an upholsterer show.
Hundreds of these domestic tombs are
lurrepUtlouity kept up in our city.
I'hev may be known at once by the
Ioiil' rows of closely shut blinds on the
niter walls. Occasionally they are lit
up like the little tomb ehapell in Pcre
la Chaise on All Souls Day. Men
and women buy from lime to lime out
if their hard earning some new orna
ment and dedicate it to the fetich of
the sad and gloomy front parlor. Hut
they live in the kitchen. The kitchen
is the stockholc in which much of the
work is performed to man the dignity
of the sepulchre.
The family lives inthcalmosplictc ami
rattle of stoves, Hkcra, scuttles, longs,
pumps, suds, frying-pans, peeled pola
Iocs and buckwheat halter. The eiw
tiro family mind is ever crammed full of
things. Hccausc even when away from
the StOck boll for a limited pet iinl the
stoves, pokers, tongs, scuttles, peeled
poi.itors, miiK, trying pans ami inn k
whe.it battel IN still in 1 emembi ante
w i preeenl realltiet The ml use of
a front parlor is that of n chCCrm
ichigc and rest llom these things. Hut
a prevail ol CUetom has loim iinl it
into a tomb. These pat bus need only
a gravestone crcitcd in the centre to
make them consistently complete. On
it should be Inscribed i "in memorj M
l.iic, Light end Cheerful rate, who
tfarrrd to death In this pi ice long ago,
long s,o !"
iiakaJ ' ' I'i.. nisliL'd laill-
ly sepulchr... otherwise known a. j well be HP' Bwylhing seems
(,. ildcnd.de, in Washington Terri
tory, is growing rapidly. It has doub
let 111 population within s year. The
inhabitant of the town number Jjno.
The farmers in thai section are putting
in more wheat than heretofore, ami
have an excellent season so far. Sim k
buyers are driving oil a great deal of
stock to market, and paslursge is green
ml mvitniK lo iIk- many herd of
tie abounding there.