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VOLUME -V.
PORTLAND, OREGON, 3TUEDA.Y, JT-A-NU-AJaY 14, 187C.
NTJTMCBEIfc SO.
xerms.
MADGE MORRISON,
The Molalla llald and Matron.
By Mrs. A. J. DtJNIWAY,
AUTHOR or "JUDITH BEID," "ELLEN DOWD,"
"AUIE AND HEMBT LEI," "THE HAPPT
KOMI," "ONE WOJtAH'S SPHERE,"
ETC, ETC., ETC.
'Entered, according to Act oC f!nnirrs In tli
year 1875, by Mrs. A. J. Dunlway, In the office of
iuo Lioranan oi (oncre&s at Washington City.
CHAPTER V.
The house became mournfully still.
A cat purring Id the corner, or a bevy
of crickets singing upon the bare, adobe
hearth, would have been a relief to the
lone watcher by the invalid's rude bed,
True, the babies In the rough cradle
breathed audibly now and then, or
stirred beneath their covering as if a
busy dream possessed tliem; and the
sick wife sometimes moaned faintly in
her sleep, despite her dreams of home
and the mother whom she was destined
never again to meet in earth-life; but
the solitude was oppressive, and the
paiu-muffled sounds that occasionally
disturbed the stillness grated upon the
widow's nerves, and weighed upon her
.heart like a premonition of some Im
pending evil.
Mrs. Morrison was not a literary
woman. Like her invalid charge, she
had become a wife and mother while
yet a child, and the hard struggle of
maintaining, or assisting in the mainte
nance, of a constantly increasing family
had precluded the possibility of adding
culture to her limited stock of crude
knowledge. She was unused to episto
lary efiort, too, and the task of writing
cramped her band, and aided to perplex
her thoughts. But the promised letter
must be written ere the babies should
awaken, she thought, or the other chil
dren would return from the woods and
interrupt her; so there was no time for
hesitation, still less for preface or apol
ogy. "Let's see," she soliloquized; "I'm
to imagine that I'm sick among strang
ers, with a husband that's cross, whom
I musn't blame for any of his wicked
ness, lest "my mother will imagine that
I'm sorry I ran away to marry him.
But I'll want my mother to forgive me
and love me, and if I don't live to rear
my children, why she must I waut
her lo know I love her bye-bye, baby,
darling" shaking the trough cradle
with her foot, and thereby breaking the
thread of her thought, which stubbornly
resisted all of her eflorts to mend it
again.
The waking baby refused to be com
forted, and it was long before she could
coax it into quietude. "When, at length,
Its powers of resistance to further sleep
were overcome, the other baby was
awakened, and the older children bad
returned from the forest, bearing their
bundles of sticks, and clamoring, after
the usual manner, for their regular sup
ply of food.
To prepare food, even in primitive
ways, without conveniences of any kind
for the work, for a family so large as the
Morrison-Andrews household, was no
light task; but the voracious bipeds
must be fed three times daily, and Mrs.
Morrison was .duly thankful that tbey
were supplied with plenty of food and
were amply able to regularly partake of
It. She was patient, too, under her
many privations, revealing such hero
is rn as would everywhere receive due
guerdon, were it not so common In al
most every household as to cease to ex
cite general comment.
"The brindle steer's down with the
murrain," was the cheerful news im
parted by Jason Andrews to the busy
woman, as he came stalking in with a
gun on his shoulder, without pausing
to free his boots from the black loam
that adhered to them.
Depositing bis gun in the corner,
with an admonition to seven or eight of
the children not to touch it, he dropped
himself heavily upon a stool at the
bumble table, and began a vigorous on
slaught upon the roast venison, which
now constituted almost wholly their
regular bill ot fare. A few bushels of
wheat had been purchased from some
nomadic Indians a short time previ
ously, but boiled wheat was not to be a
staple article till after harvest, as it
would be necessary to reserve the most
of what they bad for seed.
Mrs. Morrison carved briskly at the
roast and made no answer to the gloomy
commencement about the ailing steer.
Jason Andrews continued: "If one
steer gits the murrlan, they'll all take
It, an' the cows Ml die; then we'll all
tarve."
"Troubles nevercome singly," said the
widow, and the shadow of a new terror
dawned upon her senses, as she dropped
Wearily upon a stool, half deafened by
the clamor of the hungry ones, In their
eagerness for food.
"Don't worry, mother I" cried Madge,
her eyes flashing with a wlerd brilliance,
that lit up her homely features with a
gleam of beauty. "Mr. Andrews is
pever happy unless everybody else is
miserable. Cattle will not generate in
fectious diseases when tbey have pure
water and clean rich grass to live upon.
One of the oxen's a little stiff In his
joints, that's all. Eat your dinner and
don't blubber."
"I hope you're a true prophet,
Madge," said her mother; "but I have
my doubts."
"Of course you have 1"
''Why are you so saucy, Madge?
Alice never talks to me like that"
"Alice is a paragon! Guess I'll do my
hair In curl-papers and play lady, and
then I'll get complimented. She went
out with the children to gather fire
wood, and she only bossed the job. Pity
there wasn't a pair of us !"
i'There ought always to be one lady
in a family for respectability's sake,"
said'Alice, tossing her head imperiously.
The quarrel might have proceeded to
greater length, but for the noisy clamor
of the children that drowned the Bisters'
voices. Mrs. Andrews moanlngly begged
them to be quiet, but nobody could hear
her entreaties.
"How's Mary 7" asked the invalid's
husband, as he re-filled, his plate from
the bountiful roast before him, and took
advantage of a lull in the noise to make
himself beard.
"Very poorly, Indeed, sir. I see little
prospect for her recovery," replied the
widow, in a guarded tone.
"No wonder she's bad off, when she
won't make an effort to get well," said
the husband, petulantly. "If I wellna
I am should give up, an' go to bed, an'
slay there, I'd soon be sick, too."
"Sh-se-sef she'll hear you !" said
Madge, in a whisper.
"'Twon't hurt anything if she does,"
said Jason.
"Your wife is not able to be up, Mr.
Andrews, and I doubt if she ever will be
again," said Mrs. Morrison, trying to
speak in a low tone, but falling to make
herself heard, until compelled to repeat
her words in a loud key.
Jason Andrews looked very thought
ful for a moment, but ate more vora
ciously than ever, as he answered -never
a word.
After a weary while every ravenous
mouth was filled, and Mrs. Morrison
commanded every child, excepting Al
ice, that was old enough to toddlp, to
repair again to the woods.
"Why can't I go too? PJague;on-it-
all I" petulantly exclaimed the gracious
exception.
"Because you are needed to wash
dishes and mind the babies, so I can
write a letter."
"Who do you want to write to?"
asked Jason Andrews, with a show of
interest
"Your wife's mother."
"Beg your pardon, ma'am, but you
won't do anything of the kind."
The widow looked astounded. Her
own husband had never in his life-time
addressed her in that peremptory man
ner. "Why should another dare to do it?
"What do you mean ?" she asked,
wonderingly.
"Just what I say!" answered the man,
in a towering rage. "That mother-in-law's
a devil ! Mary's hard enough to
manage now, an' there'd be no living
with her any more if once that old hag
got ascendency over her again I"
"0, Jason !" pleaded the wife, "don't
say hard things of my poor mother,
please ! She never did you any barm,
aud I cannot bear to hear you talk so !"
"Then, madam, never speak her name
in my presence ! She kicked up a devil
of a row because I married you, and
she'll be raisin' Cain again just as soon
as she gits a chance. I brought you to
this country a-purpose to keep you from
ever settln' eyes on her again. You'd
just as well stop whlmperin1. I've got
enough to do without bein' bored by
you blubberin' over your old devil of a
mother. The cattle's takin' the mur
rain, an' there's more work to do than
you can shake a stick at It's just as
little as you can do to keep still an' stop
your frettln'."
"I never fret, Jason, if I can. help it.
Don't speak cross to me, please. And
don't say anything hard about my
mother."
"Jason Andrews 1" cried Madge, "you
haven't the sensibility of a ground
hog 1"
"Madge !" exclaimed her mother in a
terror-stricken veice; but ber words fell
upon the child's ear unheeded.
"You're more than a brute!" con
tinued Madge; "for the brutes always
respect their helpless ones. Mrs. An
drews' mother shall be written to. Jf
mother doesn't write, -Twill.
"A precious missive you'd scribble!"
sneered Alice.
"I knew somebody that couldn't as
sist me any !" snapped Madge.
"There's no use in quarreling," wisely
suggested Andrews. "You couldn't
post a letter, anyhow."
"Then why do you command us not
to write?" asked Madge, defiantly.
"The truth Is," she continued, In spite
of her mother's attempt to restrain her
torrent of words, "you've been a mean,
despicable, petty tyrant over that poor
chUd ever since she committed the
great mistake of leaving her mother's
home for yours! 2m not afraid of you,
because I'm not your wire or child,
either, thank Heaven ! I'd like to be
your wife for one week, though!
Wouldn't I turn a new pin in your
nose ?"
"Madge, for pity's sake, don't be
saucy I" pleaded ber mother.
"I'm only telling the truth," was the
indignant reply.
"Don't blame Jason," begged the
poor, weak wife. "He does have a hard
time of it, and It's only his way. He
don't mean half he says."
"I never saw a husband yet who was
a fool but had a wife to match him !"
was Madge's contemptuous answer.
"Your experience has been exten
sive and varied, and yon ought to be
a capital judge!" exclaimed Alice.
"Again I'm happy to know that
there's a pair of us 1" was the ready re
joinder. "Children, this wordy warfare must
ttopl" cried their mother, as she hur
ried the younger children away.
"Mr. Andrews," she continued, speak
ing aside, iq a whisper not Intended for
the invalid's ear, but more audible in
reality than if her tones bad been
pitched In a louder key, "your wife Is
very dangerously 111. She has requested
me to write to her mother, and I shall
do It How the letter is to reach its
destination Is not clear. You will par
don me, but you are not as kind as you
ought to be."
"Kind,eht Don't I always give her
an' the young oues enough to eatf
Haven't I worked like a gPey slave to
git 'era a shelter t And don't I expose
myself every day, in all sorts of weather,
to git aarm open ? I haven't a bit o
patience with a whinin, sickly wife !"
After Jason Andrews had slammed
the rude door and departed for his la
bors, taking with him the ax and gun,
he strove earnestly to justify his con
duct with excuses.
"I always have a tough time of it,
and I never was known to grumble," he
muttered.
But somehow the vision of Mary
Parker as she once was only seven
years ago; she was fourteen then, quite
large of her age, and gave promise of
being very beautiful a vision of the lit
tle vine-embowered cottage where she
and her widowed mother had lived in
ease and comfort before he had entered
and 'enticed away the one ewe lamb; a
spectacle of the pale face and fast-falling
tears of the lonely mother, who, being
bereft of her lambkin, was bereft in
deed; In spite of himself the contrast be
tween Mary's former life and her pres
ent one of illness, privation, and dis
comfort, was in no wise flattering to his
vanity.
"Hang it all !" he exclaimed, aloud,
"if she'd only forgit that she ever had a
mother"
Ah, Jason Andrews, you are only one
man among a score of thousands of
mistaken ones, who have foolishly im
agined that a few words spoken under a
contract, bound by the strong arm of
human law, was necessary to bring
you present and abiding happiness, de
spite the violation of a natural law,
which designed that the holy ties of
consanguinity should never be broken
in this world or the next.
Strange that you and the thousand
others like you do not realize that hu
man beings of fourteen or fifteen sum
mers are necessarily just as Immature,
when the gender is feminine, as tbey
are at the same unripe age when the
gender is masculine. The average well
kept woman of forty appears quite as
youthful as does the average well-kept
man of the same age; and yet men con
tinue to make the blunder, over and
over again, that mismates them at ma
ture years with fledglings from the ma
ternal nest that are yet children, vainly
imagining that by so doing tbey can
ever after depend upon legal restraints
to imprison spirits that, because of vio
lated nature's laws, will necessarily fret
their weary, bruised wings against their
cages, the poor prisoners themselves of
ten unaware of the causes of their dis
content.
"What, good sirs, would you think of
a woman of forty who should inveigle
a boy of fourteen Into matrimony?
Would you not say, wheu the boy had
grown to manhood, and consequently
had outgrown the premature fancy of
an unfortunate precocity and become
unhappy under the yoke of 'an unnatu
ral union, that the fates bad served him
right? If you are unhappy, you deserve
your misery, for you have committed a
great indiscretion, and are only reaping
as you have sown.
Mrs. Andrews, for a few weeks after
her marriage, had been in a delirium of
excitement The endearing words by
which her husband bad wooed add won
her were repeated dally until the nov
elty of the honeymoon was over, and
then, the husband forgetting that his
wife wasyetachlld, had failed altogether
in the manifestations of an affection for
which the child bad married him, al
though unwelcome maternal cares came
thick and fast to worry her.
The little house was once more cleared
of noisy occupants, and Mrs. Morrison
seated herself beside the bed to renew
her epistolary exertions.
"Do you want to confess that you
wronged your mother in disobeying her
wishes while a child, and that you long
for ber forgiveness and blessing?" she
asked, kindly.
"Oh, dear, no; Jason would never for
give me. You needn't write at all."
"Why?"
"He said I mustn't; and I promised
to obey him, you know. I am going
soon to meet my Ood, and I don't want
to brak His commandments."
"Then I must insist that you obey
the command to 'honor your parents,'
dear."
"But you remember the command to
wives, don't you ? Thy desire shall be
thy husband, and be shall rule over
thee.'"
"That was a cure, or a prediction. It
was not a command, dear child."
"I do not understand !" exclaimed the
poor woman, as the tears soaked ber
pillow like rain.
" 'When man earns his bread in the
sweat of bis face,' and 'eats the herbs for
meat,' he is fulfilling a prophecy which
his imperfect surroundings have ren
dered necessary; but he rises above the
condition as soon as he can. Many
men, indeed, never meet the condition
at all. So, when a woman, as in your
case, has been 'ruled by ber husband,'
she has not by submitting obeyed a Di
vine command, but has simply aided in
fulfilling a prophecy, which you may
see literally carried out among the In
dians, where the women bear all the
burdens and the men bear none."
"You take me beyond my depth,
good friend. I wish I could be sure
that I was doing right to tell my mother
the whole truth, in spite of what Jason
says."
"The fact is, It's none, of Jason's busi
ness, dear. You have an Individuality
of your own, which' God gave you, and
which no husband has a Divine right,
and ought to have no human right, to
trample upon."
"I'd have to deceive him."
"Not necessarily. You needn't tell
him anything about it."
"But he'll ask me."
"You can decline to answer. Shall I
write the letter?"
"Do as you like. I wash my hands of
the responsibility."
To be continued.
EELIGI0N--IDEAL AND PBA0TI0AL,
TEUE AND FALSE,
The Carthagenians were Indebted to
the Tyrians for their origin, manners,
customs, laws, religion, and language,
which was the Hebrew tongue, or at
least a language said to be entirely de
rived from It The Carthagenians wor
shiped five or six orders of deities. Ju
piter, Juno, and Apollo; Hercules,
Iolaus, Mars, Triton, and Neptune, Ce
lestis called also Urania, or the moon,
and Saturn, known in Scripture by the
name of Moloch, were their chief del ties,
to whom they paid particular adoration.
Human beings were sacrificed to Saturn,
and those persons who possessed no
children would purchase those of the
poor, that they might enjoy the merit
of such a sacrifice. Diodorus states
"that there was a brazen statue of
Saturn, the hands of which were turned
downward, so that whenever a child
was laid on them it dropped immedi
ately into a hollow, where was a fiery
furnace." Mothers considered It a mer
itorious act, and a strong proof of relig
ious fidelity, to view this soul-harrowing
spectacle without a tear or a sigh,
believing that any emotion on their
part rendered the sacrifice less accepta
ble to this deity, and consequently of
no effect.
As Agathocles was about to besiege
Carthage, the inhabitants, aroused by
the extremity of their situation, im
puted their danger to the anger of
Saturn; and to propitiate the wrath of
this insatiate god,-sacrificed to him two
hundred children of the noblest families
of Carthage, besides more than three
hundred citizens, from a sense of guilt
in defrauding him by offering ignoble
gifts, voluntarily sacrificed themselves.
Plutarch pertinently asks, "Had it not
not been better for the Carthagenians to
have bad a Critias, or a Diagoras, and
such like open and undisguised atheists
for their law-givers, than to have estab
lished so frantic and wicked a religion?"
Such were the sentiments of a heathen
concerning the excesses and horrid
crimes of these infatuated worshipers,
and they, too, possessing the language
of the people to whom bad been deliv
ered the commandments written on
stone by the finger of God.
The Greeks, so refined and polished
in their philosophy, were yet actuated
in all their undertakings, both private
and public, by the spirit of divination
from the multitude of their tutelary
gods. The Athenians, the most exalted
among the people of ancient Greece,
were proud, haughty, and inconstant,
"wavering with every wind," and car
ried to the most extreme excesses, in
the name of their gods, and the oracular
expressions of their attending priests
and priestesses. These gods and god
esses were in many instances those who
had once inhabited this earth, and
whom, .irrespective of character, tbey
considered worthy of being worshiped
after their decease. While they Insisted
upon the most delicate and ardent at
tention in their worship, Insomuch
that Socrates fell a victim to their sus
picions, they yet permitted their poets
and comedians to attribute the vilest
characteristics to their Juno, Venus,
and Diana, and it is no wonder that
Plutarch, even from his standpoint, as
a heathen philosopher, should declare
that It were better to believe there are
no gods than to worship such as these.
Open and declared impiety Is surely less
profane than so gross and absurd a su
perstition, and it would certainly seem
to a reasoning mind that the latter
could not be more impious than the
former. Indeed, it is impossible to read
the record of their blind faith without
the csnviction that those most zealous
In this idolatrous veneration united
"the most odious vices, professed im
modesty, breach of faith, injustice, and
cruelty," with the hope of a certain im
mortality. It is impossible to notice,
in these narrow limits, other than those
nations acknowledged to be most en
lightened and refined among the
heathen, but look where we may, we
find the same record, with perhaps
slight modification, the result always
grossness and superstition.
The Romans, with all the pomp and
magnificence that adorns their history,
were no exception to this rule. We now
turn from the Bomans as pagans to the
Bomans as Christians, bringing with
them as they did, the mass of mysteries
and groveling superstitions, -wbloh they
mingled with the new faith, at the in
stance of each fresh convert, until the
elements of the new became thoroughly
leavened with the idolatries of the old.
Following the history of later religious
movements, we find much that is mys
terious and visionary, spreading a pall
over divine truths, which were so clearly
enunciated that none need have been
led astray, bad they listened to the
voice of God, rather than to the voice of
man.
As we approacnthe present time, the
multiplicity of ideas becomes more
complex, presenting to the thoughtful
or speculative mind an idealistic en
tanglement, of which philosophy has
thus far failed to furnish a satisfactory
solution. Astrology has come down to
us through the dim ages of the past, to
offer its assistance In revealing the hid
den things of the future. Spiritualism
lifts its aged form, though clothed in
modern garb, to direct those willing to
yield to its claims. Sciences of every
shape, form, and name are presented to
thinking minds, ever searching for
ideas, and claim the attention of those
who are willing, nay, desirous, to ex
amine before condemning, as every per
son capable of research should be will
ing to do. Prejudice is a despicable ele
ment, though a strong one, that should
be banished from the thoughts of intel
ligent persons! Ethnology, compara
tive philology, and comparative theol
ogy are made a basis of speculation
that is declared to reach back Into an
immeasurable priority of the scriptural
chronolgy. Yet these sciences assure
us "that nations most widely separated
and totally different in physical charac
teristics, had a common origin," all oC
which is in exact accordance with
Scriptural testimony. Philosophy,
whether it emauates from the minds of
Chaldean, Egyptian, Greek, or Roman,
Indian Veda, or Iranian Avesta, glow
lug with the subtle force of speculation
aud poetry, dims not the lustre of di
vine imagery, the truthfulness of Bib
lical inscription.
Epitomizing the cthniclsms of the
past, we have seen the condition in
which its subjects were placed, aud
whether we look to those above enumer
ated, or turn our attention to the exam
ination of the Sanscrit and Vedas, glow
ing, it may be, with the accumulated
annals of Indian tradition uttered
through their Vedanta, which, after all,
only confusedly points out by tradition,
that which is so succinctly expressed in
Biblical lore, we are left to grope help
lessly in semi-darkness, until enlight
ened by the steady, unvarying truths
recorded in the grand utterances of
Hebraic and Christian revelation.
Depth of meaning, lofty imagery, com
pleteness atlorned with unwavering
consistency, is the meed of praise due
their pages. Ethical students are some
times fond of exalting the teachings of
Confucius as superior, but what in his
wandering ideality is comparable, in
the daily needs of mankind, to the
golden sentence, "Therefore all things
whatsoever ye would that men should
do to you, do ye even so to them;" and
this Is taught throughout the inspired
pages by both the law and the prophets.
A great deal of fault is found that God
selected a chosen few with whom to de
posit law and revelation, but a careful
examination of the subject rapidly- re
veals a good and sufficient reason there
for, which none can consistently fail to
accept. Having glanced over the ideal
istic forms of religion, we come to the
revealed, as particularly specified,
concise, and clear, adapted to the un
derstanding of all classes. It is cer
tainly not difficult to understand a fact
simply stated, and that is the style In
which God has chosen to communicate
HIb truths, and we find the first chapter
a rich Illustration of brevity on a sub
ject that, bad man been the author
thereof, he would scarcely have been
able to compress bis account within the
space allotted to the entire Biblical his
tory and revelation. We cannot go
back of the beginning, which we there
find, as relates to man. Light was
evolved from darkness, the firmament
was expanded, the dry land Issued from
its liquid tomb, the luminaries of day
and, night ulearaed forth in their radi
ance, fish aud fowl inhabited the great
deep, and soared In the azure firma
ment, the beasts of the field and every
creeping thing wandered over the grassy
plain, and man and woman stood forth
In the majesty of perfect beauty and
symmetrical strength, with but one
provision, obedience to the bounds es
tablished by the benevolent hand of the
Almighty. If we possess a proper idea
of the Deity such as Intelligence would
lead us to worship it will not be diffi
cult for us to believe with unwavering
faith that he could speak and accom
plish, command and establish. Hu
manity occupying the abode of har
mony, and a free moral agent poised on
the very acme of bliss, fell from this ex
alted position through weak and most
inexcusable disobedience.
Crime and death have since held
high carnival because of that disobedi
ence. Their subjects, unwilling to be
governed by the rule given by Jehovah,
embracing all that is needful to a per
fect life, yet, having broken, the law, are
justly left under condemnation, ran
somed from sin and death by the second
in the universe, the Son, the "Word of
God."
In the majesty of exalted faith in one
supreme God, Moses turned from all the
allurements of Egyptian grandeur,
"choosing rather to suffer affliction
with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season;" albeit
be might have reigned monarch over
that fertile land. Faith'In Jehovah and
the Word "subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, escaped the edge of the
sword; women received their dead raised
to life again, and others were tortured;
not accepting deliverance, they were
stoned, they were sawn asunder, desti
tute, afflicted, tormented; yet faithful
through all, bringing to these later ages
the higher faith and purity, the herit
age of those willing to walk in their
footsteps."
Compare with this the wavering un
certainty and false light of philosoph
ical reasoning and its devotees! Plu
tarch, while he censured the gross ex
cesses so common among the idolaters
of his own time, was yet servile In the
observance be paid to the senseless idol
atrous customs and'usages of priest and
people. Augury and soothsaying, the
sinister flight of birds, accidental ren
counters, the inspection of the intes
tines of beasts, all these and many mora
were made the basis of positive calcula
tion, by both king and peasant.
"What!" exclaimed Hannibal to
Pruslas, whom be had advised to give
battle, but who was diverted from It by
the inspection of a victim; "have you
more confidence In the liver of a beast
than in so old and experienced a captain
as I am ?"
Socrates, noble in intellect, profound
in philosophy, than whom the pagan
world has never produced a greater; bis
soul enligntened by glimpses of divine
truth which caused him to detest, in se
cret, the senseless Idolatry of the citizens
with whom he held dally Intercourse,
acknowledging at bottom one supreme
Divinity, yet worshiping that multitude
of infamous Idols, which superstitious
imagination bad heaped together
through successive ages, holding pe
culiar opinions, yet followed the multi
tudes in the temples.
Seneca was of the opinion that the
citizen might not worship "as agreeable
to the gods," but as enjoined by law.
Thus be himself acted, and Socrates,
while secretly entertaining no faith in
pagan dsitles, yet dies in the bosom of
idolatry, professing to adore all the gods
of pagan theology. There were sophists
In those days, as there are now, who
professed to teach everything, claiming
to know everything. Indeed, there was
nothing they did not profess to under
stand. Theology, ethics, mathematics,
astronomy, physics, music, poetry, rhet
oric, philosophy, and eloquence were all
under tribute. Pupils, then and now,
learned, chiefly, to entertain for them
selves a silly esteem, and a lordly con
tempt for everybody else, so that they
gained less in knowledge than In im
pertinence. The narrow limits of this article ad
mit of nothing more than merely touch
ing the surface of this deeply-interesting
subject, but to sum up, we may
properly ask: "What has ideal religion
accomplished for Its most devoted fol
lowers? Have they presented a lofty
morality, such as their professed admir
ers' would wish their own offspring to
Imitate ? Have the inhabitants of India,
through all the ages that scientists de
clare have been devoted to the wonder
ful productions contributed to theolog
ical literature, served to uplift the most
faithful adherents of their teachings to a
plane of pure and upright life and prac
tice? Do the disciples of Buddha, or
Confucius, present evidence of enno
bling virtues and elevating conceptions,
as regards the creature and bis relations
to the Creator, inspiring them with cor
rect principles for the fulfillment of
duty, as manifested by purity of life,
both public and private? Do those who
most admire this literature and its
teachings find all these exemplified in
the countries of their origin and con
firmed adoption? Is it a truth that
morality is the outgrowth of man's own
nature? Neither history nor our own
observations tend to encourage the idea.
In opposition to Idealism and the
practice of idolatry, Biblical utterance
furnishes a steady, unfailing guide to
direct its followers into purity and
truth. Not an emotional religion, but
a tangible faith, that holds the sincere
student and disciple to a rule that wher
ever and whenever practiced, never fails
to produce a most highly satisfactory
result, of which even Its bitter oppo
nents cannot conceal their admiration
as they witness the effects of the beauty
of holiness.
God affirms of those people who, in
their willfulness, forget his work,
"Every man is brutish in his knowl
edge, every founder Is confounded by
the graven Image; for bis molten Image
is falsehood, and there is no breath in
them. Tbey are vanity and the work
of errors; in the time of their visitation
they shall perish."
Christ, in the grief and agony be felt
as he gazed on Jerusalem, filled with
pride and violence, where if they had
not chosen to imitate those who haa
long slnee given themselves ovar to
blindness, instead of love of the pure
and true, uttered the sorrowful ejacula
tion, "O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou
that killest the prophets and stonest
them that are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered tby children to
gether, even as a hen gathereth ber
chickens under her wings, and ye would
not" "What a depth of tenderness
there ! Regarding the day of His visi
tation, He warningly tells us, "And be
hold, I come quickly; and my reward is
with me, to give every man according
as his work shall be."
Olive E. McCohd.
Oregon City, December 27, 1875.
TEMPEEANOE W0EK.
To the Editor or the New Northwest:
On the evening of the 28th ult. we
held a public temperance meeting in
Bishop's Hall, at Brownsville, which
was well attended, and was called to or
der and opened with prayer by Rev. W.
R. Bishop, of the C. P. Church. The
young friends furnished us with excel
lent vocal and instrumental music, and
ail seemed to enjoy the meeting.
On the next evening' another public
meeting was held under the same man
agement, and the attendance was
double what it was the evening before.
After the lecture, assisted by Dr. "W. H.
Rowland, of Valley Lodge, and O. H.
Byland, of Crawfordsville Lodge, I or
ganized a lodge with sixty charter ap
plicants. G. A. Dyson is "W. C. T., A.
W. Stanard, W. S., and J. F. Hyde,
Lodge Deputy.
Brother B. H. Allen came up with me
on the 28th, but had to return on yester
day, and was therefore not present at
the work of organizing.
W. F. Ross, who has for some days
been confined to his bed with sickness,
is able to sit up a portion of the time,
and will join the lodge as soon as he Is
able to be out
I wish to here publicly express my
thanks to the kind friends who, during
my absence to the Waldo Hills, pur
chased and placed upon the Christmas
tree for me at Halsey some articles of
value, that I prize very highly. The
names of the donors I do not know, but
tbey may be assured that their act of
kindness will be long remembered.
"What Brother Bart Allen plucked
from the limbs of the tree with bis
name attached I will not now tell you,
hoping that he will have it properly
cared for and present at the next ses
sion of the Grand Lodge, when we can
all admire its beauty, if not its useful
ness. It Is some larger, perhaps older
than one of the same species that in
days gone by was so kindly sent me
through the mails by good friends of
Silverton.
During my stay at Brownsville I met
many friends, and among others, had a
most pleasant visit with Father and
Mother McKinney, who are now living
there. I am also under many obligations
to my old friends, A. E. Ellis and wife,
for kindness shown.
Leaving Brownsville on the last day
of the old year, I rode through the
driving rain to this place, in order to
comply with the request of some good
temperance people of the neighborhood
to deliver a lecture.
That evening the appointment was
given out by means of the school, and
on last evening (New Year's) a goodly
number of the citizens came out to the
meeting, and after the lecture was over
I obtained the names of twenty of the
very best ladies and gentlemen in the
neighborhood as petitioners for a char
ter, and was ready to proceed with the
work of organizing a lodge, when a
"onr, hungry-looking, coarse-haired
scrub, (who Is derimental to the best in
terests of the district) olothed with a
little brief authority, as school di
rector, arose and objected to having a
lodge organized In this locality, and es
pecially in that school-house. Of course
this brought the matter to a terminus,
as there is no other house In this region
that could be used for the purposes of a
lodge room.
This man, who claims to be one of the
servants of the Lord, is, I am told by
many of his neighbors, a most efficient
instrument of the evil one, and is the
cause of all the ill-feeling and conten
tion in the neighborhood. He is cer
tainjy standing in the way of the ac
complishment of much good. His own
son a member of the church is, I am
told, frequently under the influence of
strong drink. Some time I fear this
father will feel the fangs of the scorpion
he is so madly warming into life feel
it when It shall be too late to crush out
Its life feel it in all bitterness when be
shall see loved ones plunging perhaps
into the very lowest depths of drunken
degradation.
The people of the neighborhood are
greatly incensed at the action of this
man, after such respectable citizens as
Gamaliel Parrish, a pioneer of 1844, R.
C. Miller, C. "W. Richardson, R. E.
From, H. E. and G. E. Parrish, T. B.
and E. Cleaver, W. Dodge, Clifton
Cleaver, and ten others desired and ar
ranged for a lodge here. Poor allow, It
would indeed seem the evil one he pro
fesses so loudly to battle has got blm in
his clutches, and is making a good use
of him. Yours In F., H., and C,
W. R. Dunbar.
Rock Hill, Oregon, January 2, 1876.
Wyoming has Woman Suffrage and
no debt Boston has no Woman Suf
frago and owes $40,000,009,