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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 1879)
May, 1879. THE WEST SHORE. '39 I ut on liia hat and went out. Just at nightfall an express wagon drove up to the iloor, and Mr. Conaid's portly form hove into view at the oorner. Mrs. Conard ran, more like a aleepy, happy child than a woman, out to the atepi, to nuet the men carrying in a sewing machine. "I am quite willing, KUen," auid her hua band, " to indulge you iu any reaaonahle whim, but a parlor organ waa a little too ahaurd. I propose that you ahall give up teaching, for which you must teo you are totally unfitted, ami take in aowing. Indeed, I have already engaged work, Mra. Strumpf, at the saloon, saya she will aend you up aome pantaloona to make, for her hoya, and aee what aort of a tail oruss you are," When 1 went to number 311, a fortnight afterwards, I found a little tin aigu at the door, " I'l mi Sewing for Ladies and Gents." Mr, Conard atood on the atepa hruahing a new heaver hat with hia arm. "Kathor neat that!" he said, "Practical; to the Hiint. I compoaed it. Couldn't promiae line work. Fact ia, Kllen'a not capable of it. Her ability ia mediocre throughout." I found Mra. Conard at work at tho machine, a pilu of cloth beside her, the children akirmiah iug over the Iloor. She waa tho aame gentle, affectionate, anxioua little creature to them and toiler huebaud; but ahe aeomed, aomehow, to have lost all vitality. I do not rememlier that I ever saw a ainile on hor faco after that disap pointment. "I do not think that I ahall ever he able to help the children aa 1 wiahed," ahe aaid. "Hut Hetty will do it. Hetty haa entered the high achool. In two years aha will be ready to teach. Then aho can help Mr. Conard aupport the family." "And you!" "Oh! yea I I had forgotten that I would bo here," with an inexplicable expreaeion on her face. Silly and weak aa ahe waa, ahe had been able for a year to keep aeciet a wearing diaeaae. She thought then that ahe would not live to aee Hetty graduate. The murdemtia aewing machine rapidly de veloped the weakness. Thia ia an aUolutoly true atory, and not a cheerful one. I aee no reason, therefore, for dwelling on the detailaof how one little woman died with her reaaonahle, pure hopea unfullillnd. Many womon who read theae worda will dio with their work half done, and I really do not believe her atory will help them one whit to liniah it Hut then ia a reason for telling Hetty Hoard's atory, and 1 wiah to do it aa plainly aa 1 can. She waa a girl (like the majority of achool girla) of very moderate mental ability. She had a weak power of verbal memory anil no mathe matical talent Hut ahe had a vivid imagina tion and a firm hold upon ideaa, when once they were gained. She had, like her mother, an energetic, loving, loyal aoul; and, like her father, a firm will, all of which would have made her uarful to children in the world, either aa aiater, teacher, or mother. A yaar'a akillful training by a teacher who understood tin- girl would have fitted her for this life work, instead of thia, ahe waa put into a maekine. Her father entered her at the High School. "Our objoot," aaid the principal, "ia to fit the pupils to take plaoas aa inatractora in the pnbho schools. There ia gnat competition for theee plaoea. Conatantly the ataudard of scholarship ia regulated by the ability of the brightest pupils. Wt acknowledge that I bill girls have no chance. No time for pulling them up here, Mr. Conard. Down they go in Dm raoe." " I have no idea that my girl will go down, if. In fact, ah can't afford to go down. 8ba haa her own living to make " Yea. This ia the system. Our eiamioa ti'm are searching. It depends ntua the grade which the girl receives whether she oaa receive an appumtmcnt aa teacher or what kind of ao "- la akurt her future position and salary depend on her examinations. Do I make myself clear !" "Perfectly. Do yON understand, Hester!" sharply. " Yes, Father." Hetty had never been reckoned a clever girl by auy teacher, and ahu knew it now. She die covered that hur chances of helping her mother depended on her cleverness. The girl cared for nobody iu the world but her mother. They stood alone, together. She resolved to do this thing, "if there waa life enough iu her body to do it" She brought home that day 1:1 tmt-booki They were literally textbooks, whiuh she waa to teach again. There was no meaning in his tory shown to her ; no principle iu any study made clear; no line of thought opened to her iu them ; no development for her of character, taste, judgment, ur even intellect ; nothing but a maaa of unoouiprehonded facta, which ahe waa to commit verbally to memory. There was, in credible as it may aoem, not a single elrirt made by her teachers to train her mind or eveu to explain theso facta. The lessons were simply recited at school and studied at home. Sharp girla, who had the ability to remember words and cared little for ideas, accomplished the task with comparative ease ; but Hetty worked at them until late at night, slept dreaming of them, woke to begin them again, her brain heated, strained. When the two years drew to a close, her mother's health was broken, anil Hetty hail dis covered tho caose. It aeomi'd to her aa if, in the breathleaa race ahe waa running, aim hail not even time to weep. " You will have to take my place, Hetty," said her mother. " You can do more for the children by teaching than I can at the machine. " "I'll try, mother." She was on her kueee, with her head on the dear little breast. The machine hail stopped for a moment. "You're sure to pass, Hetty!" "Oh ! I must, mother ! Nobody haa studied harder than I." Tho examination day came. She did tint pass. "Do yon mean to say," blustered Mr. fotiard to the principal, " that aho has no chance of an apHiiutment ? " " None whatever," " Wh..t i she to do!" "Try for another year, if you choose.'1 A wfiola yar I " I cannot last so long,' thought Mrs. Conard, as she worked the treadle harder than ever, Hetty began agaiu. She sat up iu her garret room until two and three o'clock 111 th morn. ing: and then could not sleep, the 1 Is of her brain wr so gorged with blood. She had no time for exercise. The girl hail no appetite and at little; but she began to grow enormously stout. Kvery week girls, manifestly her inferior in character, in manner and in intellect, passsd her in th struggle. It waa a raoa in which hardihood, shrewdness and ths lowest quality of memory won; and in which every nUier power which would make a man or woman use Mil in life was crushed down sud snd In Id 11, alx-yanca. Two months before her final eiaminaliou her mother died. Th timid little woman smihssI to hav no (ear in going out of the world; neither of th fat which waited for her be yond nor of that which waited fur her children here Old Mr. Vaughan, sitting hy hr bedside, looked around, dismayed at th rough, disorder ly craw. " Hav yon made any arrangements (or four children, Mrs. CihuisI!" he aehesl, "Who will tak charge "I them ' " Hotly, perhaps, thoagh I asn not 1 m aura,' sh said (ebly. "Bat 1 prayed lor them all th tune -all th Urn, lit will r mmbr." Vhn she waa g-ne Jlstty rkt with a unnatural energy sh. "paasad through wilh bat moderate cradit A situation wa promises! her la a few months, but beliar lb. tiase nam th. girl was dead of aa hereditary dues. A th lungs, dev c,,,d bv th excessive nervous strain and over-work of th last to year. s s . . This happen, d four or flv year ago. Young girls and Isiys ara going through th earn null log process in th public schools of mot o( ottr cl tie. "Only the toughest and sharpest will stand it," ia the testimony of one ol th principal teachers. " I'll rest are thrown asid aa r. (use Whether w hav learned th first prim npls el education is yet ail npcu i)UstioU," 1 met Mr. Yaughan a few days ago in th lit tle cemetery where Hetty aud her mother lis aide by side, "Couard, did yon know," he aaid, "married a woman with proierty, who has 110 children of hor own, and has adopted his aud takeu them well in hand. She is a little vulgar) but kindly, thrifty, and honest a managing womau, in fact She bought a farm iu Iowa, took them all out to it, drove Conard to plowing, to signing the pledge, and, they do say, iuto III lunch However that may be, he la uow a moat re spectable, decent, hen-pecked man. The chil dren are well taught, industrious, and ohedieut They will uever tie of the aain class aa lliair mother waa; hut this Womau has davlnwd the good material that waa 111 them lar Utter than their mother could have done. The work la finished, you see, whether we do it or not, aud the order and justice iu every llf oolite to light some tun. " In Conanl's and hia children's, yss, perhaps. Hut in Iter's! The calm, dateless siinshins resting on Iho two ouiet graves gave the only anawsr. HtUtea llimmy Aim, m A'. )', mlrwsslrat. nisi Talks hit a Woman. Th N York coiresmiiilent of the Nprlnglleld Ittimkllean writes. Iu the religious world ws ara having a fashioaahle sensation of an ex.lusit sort, iu Mrs. Hottome's Ibble Talks. They were Ugun in an up town parlortwo years ago with Iff) ism til; at the last meeting the parlor of ou of the largest Kifth avenue houses would not hold the audiences, ladies filled ths hallways aud cov ered the stairs. Among her audience an noticed such ladiea as Mra. K. 8. Jeffrey, Mrs. II M Sehieffelln, Mrs. C. O I'.ysler I odd. Mrs. .Ismes W. (iirsrd, Mrs. Willlsm K Dodge and Mra. Willie l'iat Mrs. Itottonie Is a good liHiking, muldle aged lady. Nhedrsas plainly and sfieaka sweetly, but very distinctly so that sh Is heard without difficulty! and sh ill in an arm chair, talks with aimple, fervid, rnajas-tu- eariieatiiess, putting pertinent anecdotes slid pleasing similes in her addiessss, and using language sometimes homely and sometimes poetical, but always fieah and to th point She 1 ths wife of a Methodist clergyman who has Issen stationed at Tarrytown, on th Hud son, and It wa there that she began the in formal addraaasa. They hav proved very pop ular there, sometims In strtrsl being lined (or a long distance with carriages, ,;,, naa , son, an Kpisrnal curat in Kngland, and an other in collage Her success in liitsrrting 1 allies, and making a real impression uti them, show what an earnest woman with telent can do without ant. ami without turning lb world upside down cither Her InuUml 11 t Is .'atom. . I in tbw oily this spring. Kaanaa It ia a popular sanitary error la think that ths mors a man eats th taller and stronger ha will Isscoins. To bshsv that Us more hours children study, the lasler they learn To in lud. that, if essre.es la good, th nor violent Use mora gutal la don. I no agine that every boar takeu from alsiep is aa hoar gained. To act oa the prasurapliua thai th smallest rtsom in th. boas is large saessgh tn sleep In. To imagta that waatavef remsaly causes oa to fel immediately Utter le goal (car Ik system, ailhoat regard to th ulterior effects. To sat a itboat an appaiilai r a asv Uaae altar it ha Uam satis bed, surely to gratify th tost.
