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About The west shore. (Portland, Or.) 1875-1891 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 16, 1890)
WEST SIIORK. POR WOMEN -' V. 2 - & BY ELLA H1G0INSON. AFTER THE ALU 1ST RAIN. The tears of hMf no lis in th Jiljr nnu, And til the ir with new-born sweetness reels; Along the lanoa iind thro' the pastare fields. One untile the warm, wet sunlighton the ferns. The see hu wrniied of her lore, the mitt, And Hung hie pale face from her throbbing breut, The while ehe wuue the red nun in the west. Until their lip hme met end, llaminit, kieeed. The birde shake little, quireriug trills of fire AeroM the scented yellow of the air; Here llainea the plumy golden-rod-and there Greet, eweet. wet oumnt-ilobee hani laiily. Here the vine-maple reachee blood-red palma To the f lad eon; and purple thistles bloom In the brifiht places, shunning cold and gloom And 0, the winda are aoft among the balma! Now home ! Wet roee tines drench mi window-pane, And smiles chase tears from her face wailini there, A while ago olonded with Jealous care;- And all is sweet after the August rain. " You see liow It la, my dear," he said, taking her Bolt hand which had never done very hard work, and patting it reassuringly ; " I'm poor only a thousand a year, dear and we shall have a struggle to get along at first " " I don't mind that in the least," (he interrupted, stoutly, rubbing her cheek softly against his hand. " And," he pursued, graciously having allowed her Interruption" we hill have to come down to strict economy. But if you can only manage as my mother does, we shall pull through nicely." " And how does your mother manage, dear T" she asked, smiling but very happily at the notion of the mother-in-law cropping out already. " I don't know," replied the lover, radiantly; " hut she always manages to have everything neat and cheerful, and something delicious to eat and she doe it all herself, you know I So that we always get along beautifully, and make both ends meet, and father and I still have plenty of spending money. You see when a woman Is always hiring her laundry work done, and her gowns and bonnets made, and her scrubbing and stove-blacking done, and all that sort of thing why, It just walks Into a man's Income and takes his breath away." The young woman looked for a moment as if her breath was also In clined for a vacation ; but she wisely concealed her dismay, and, being one nf the stout-hearted of the earth, she determined to learn a few tilings of John's mother, o went lo her for a long visit the very next day. l'n the termination of this visit, one fine morning John received, to his blank amaaement, a little package containing his engagement ring, accompanied by the following letter : 1 hare learned how our mother" manages," and 1 am going to eiplain it to you, since you hate contested you didn't know: I Iind that aha is a wife, a mother, a housekeeper, a business manager, ahimlglrl, etaundreaa, a eeamel rets, sounder and patrher, a dairy maul, a coot, a nurse, a kitchen gardener, and a general slate fur a family of tire. Bhe works from tit in the morning until ten at night i and 1 almost wept when I kissed her hand -It was so hard and wrinkled, and ounlrd, and unkisetd ! Whan 1 saw her polishing the stotee, carrying big buckets of water and great armfnla of wood, often splitting the latter, I aekril her why John didn't do such things for her, "John!" she repeated, "Johnl"-aiid she sat down with a perfectly dased look, aa if 1 had asked her why the angels didn't eome down ai d scrub for her, " Why John "-ehe said in a trembling, be wildered way-" be works in the ollioe from nine until four, you know, and whan he comes home, be is tery tired, or else -or else-he goes down town." Now, I hate become strongly imhutd with the eonticton that I do not can to be so good "manager "as your mother, If the wife must do all lorleof drudgery, eo must the husband; if she must took, he must carry the wood; if she must scrub, be must carry the water ; if she must make butter, be must also milk the cows. Vou bate allowed your mother to do etery. thing, and all that yon hata to say of her is that she aa " oiceilent manager." 1 do not care for such a reputation, unless my husband earned the name also ; and Judging from your lack of consideration for your mother, I am quite sure that yon are not the man I thought you were, or one whom I would oare to marry, As the son is, the husband is, is a ate anil happy rule to follow. So the letter closed, and John pondered ; and he la pondering yet. that man cares to have-when he stood radiant and crowned with fame, l or an! love (and I do not place love last because it belong, H ere, ut becau-e so many men hold it there)- n that moment Death d to him, " Come." Another friend had I whom I loved rt.ll more tenderly perhaps-who knows 1-because he was many rounds beneath me on that weari-ome ladder : at least 1 spoke more softly to him and often and often when I could tear my blinded gaze from that friend above me, and looked down at the one below, I found that my eyes were wet and my hand went out to help him-I wish now that it had gone out to him oftener, oftener. Long years he climbed, or tried to climb ; but love failed him, and Borrow came to him, and hope left him ; his tired hold would loosen, and he would slip a round lower, but still he hung on, and tried-Oh I my heart aches with thinking bow he tried I Gradually I, climbing away a little higher, holding it better to keep close to the friend above rather than the one below, tet sight of the poor, disheartened straggler down in the dust and heat J and Death claimed him in the same hour he claimed the other. Dead-both of them I And I, standing between-I sent to the one who had reached the topmost round costly flowers to be laid on his honored bier ; but to the one who had failed 0, bitterest word that we speak l-I gave my tears and my heart's best Borrow-only I gave them too late. 0, yon who are climbing, look often at the one above for that will bring you near to the eummit j but look olten, too, at the one below-for that will bring yon near the best in life. You teach your children that they must not lie ; that they must not swear; that they must not steal; that they must not break one of the ten commandments. But how many of yon teach your children that jeal ousy and envy are two black sins ? Jealousy 1b to the woman what drii.k, or a passion for drink, Is to the man ; it drowns her BenseB, and conquers her reason, and often and often leads her to crime. If yon would only pause and reflect, you would see the ntter absurdity, as well as sin, of al lowing such a passion to control you. Either you are jealous with cause or without cause. If without cause, summon your will to your aid and look your foolishness squarely in the eyes, and laugh at it ; let a little eong that you used to sing to your baby sister, or a little tender prayer that you used to whiBier at your mother's knee creep into your heart and remain there you don't know how much good that will do. If you are jealous with cauae, let me whisper a little bit of truth in your ear ; you may not Bee the truth in It now, but the day will surely come when you will say I am right. The man who will give you cause for jealousy isn't worth two cents bo far as sweethearts and busb tnds are concerned and, although, if you are a true woman, it will hurt you to tear asunder the ties that bind you to bim, yet it will be Infinitely better for you to do so, firmly and kindly, and at once. It doesn't pay to yield to any evil passion and jealously is one of the most evil for the sake of one who is unworthy of your love or trust. Love strongly, purely, passionately, for that is divine ; but never blindly, for that is foolish. The summer young man is making himself scarce this year ; so scarce, indeed, that the enterprising managers of fashionable resorts are hiring him ' by the quantily-as they do their waiters-and all that is required of him is to part his hair in the middle, play tennis, and flirt with the fair gueets. lie "draws " better than a soda spring or mountain air. Now here is something right down interesting to young women, of course. It has been decided in a French court that a woman is entitled not only to the engagement ring, but also to all articles of value presented by a lover before marriage. Perhaps the same diamond will not be seen on so many different fingers now. Only think of the million of flowers that bloom their little hour in the depths of the wooda and the solitudes of the forest, and are never Been of men ; their lives seem as watted as that of the woman who dies unloving and unloved, yet there is a fragrance about them that is all their own. Marlon ll.rland, Christine Terhune llerrick, und Mrs. Hungerford have all rcs.gned their editorial positions on the Home-ilaktr.on accountof a dis agreement with Mr. Carnrick, owner of the magazine. Mr. Carnrick will not easily find three women to fill those three vacant chairs. A friend I had whom 1 loved and we started out In life together ; where I despaired, he hoped ; where I doubted, he truited ; where I Idled, he woiked ; where I failed, he succeeded. Step by step, steadily going upward, he mounted life's ladder lo the topmost round, and I stood lielow and looked at hlut In the Rush of hia youth, strength, and power, and-yea, I envied him I Hut lo ! that moment of supreme happlneee, when he had all IVath Is a nardener who goes about with a slow, stately Iread cuttlnn