The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, February 18, 1876, Image 1

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. . - t. . - - - ' ---- - -
A Journal for the People.
Devoted to the Interests of Humanity.
Independent in Politics and Religion.
Alive to all Uye Issues, and Thoroughly
Radical in Opposing and Exposing the Wrongs
ot the Mosses.
MK3. A, J. Dl'MWAT. editor and Proprietor.
OFFICE Cob. Frost & Washington Streets
One year-
Six months
Three months..
TERMS, IN ADVANCE: '
3 TO ' '
1 00
Correspondents writing over assumed signa
tures must make Known their names to the
Editor, or no attention will be given to the!'
communications.
tbe dish-rag as though it were a scorpion.
"And you won't send that letter to
Lewis & Strauss ?"
ADVERTISEMENTS Inserted on Reasonable
VOLUME V.
I? OTIXL , OREGON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 187C.
Terms.
MADGE MORRISON,
The Molalls Maid and Matron.
Bv Mrs. A. J. DUNIWAY,
AUTHOR OP "JUDITH REID," "ELLEN IKWn,"
"AMIK AND HENRY LEE," "THE HAPPY
HOME," "ONE WOMAN'S SPHERE,"
ETC, ETC, ETC
Entered, according to Act of Congress, In the
year 1875,by Mrs. A. J. Dunlway, in the office of
the Librarian of Congress at Washington City.
CHAPTER X.
Jason Andrews, who had been a very-
reasonable man as long as be was under
legitimate restraint, now that his li
cense of matrimonial power was abso-J
lute, became a petty tyrant of tbe most
provoking and unendurable sort.
There are many men, and indeed
women, who have within themselves
the element of tyranny so strongly im
planted that it will break forth at every
opportunity, to oppress whomsoever
may fall under its baleful influence. To
such, the absolute power which matri
mony, under the present imperfect laws,
places in their bands, becomes too often
a very rod of terror, that falls little
short of a whip of scorpions.
While wo recognize the necessity of
wise, well-regulated, and enduring mar
riage contracts, and would be the last to
abrogate them, we have frequently seen
so much of the worst phases of human
nature, under the system of absolute in
dividual ownership which the one-sided
institution, as at present arranged, im
poses, that we draw these pictures, not
because we love the task, or prefer to
linger amid scenes of human imperfec
tion for tbe work's sake, but that the
perspective, thus brought into tbe
broad glare of tbe public prints, may
reveal causes of human misery that
need only to be generally seen and un
derstood to be remedied, and, in time,
uprooted.
During the years of his widowhood,
Jason Andrews had never been intoxi
cated. Upon his arrival at Molalla
Moorland he had found no ardent spir
its, and so, for a sufficient reason, bad
totally abstained from their use. And
while intent upon a matrimonial alli
ance with the widow whom fate had
thus thrown in his way, he had known
better than to drink, else bis ambition
had been blasted. And so it was that
Mrs. Morrison had never dreamed of
his ever having been addicted to drink;
still less did she imagine that he would
ever become a slave to the appetite after
she had taken him for better or for
worse.
With the exception of tbe undue and
unexpected usurpation of his newly
fledged authority as head of the family,
his wife had nothing special to com
plain of from the beginning of her ill
starred marriage, until tbe following
spring.
Then Jason went alone to The Falls,
under the pretext of bringing home
the mother of tbe first Mrs. Andrews,
from whom he had received a letter
stating that she would be ready upon a
given day to join him at that point.
He had promised to return at the usual
time; but a week, and then a fortnight
passed, and the family began to hope he
never would return, when be came one
night, without his relative, and in a
beastly state of dissipation, bringing
with him a demijohn of the "tarantula
juice," with which the trading posts
were at that time supplied most liber
ally. "Mother," said Madge, as the sound
of approaching wheels aroused her from
a seemingly listless reverie, "what
would you do if Jason should come
home drunk?"
Mrs. Andrews grew deathly pale.
Possibly she had been asking herself the
same question. Possibly she bad not
thought of it.
"You don't apprehend it, do you,
Madge?" she asked, in terror.
"I can see him, with my eyes shut,"
was tbe quick reply. "And he staggers
and swaggers, and oh, my! I'm as
dizzy as if I were drunk myself!"
"I shall immediately discard him if
he does drink," said her mother.
"But how can you ?"
"I'll leave the place."
"Where will you go?"
Sure enough, where should she go?
There was not in all the world a Canada
for fugitive wives to flee to; and even
had there been a Canada, there was no
underground railroad.
"What makes you think he's drunk?"
the mother asked, abruptly.
"I feci it in my bones!"
"Did you ever hear of his drinking?"
and the mother trembled like an aspen
But Madge was gazing away into va
cancy, and seemed suddenly oblivious
to everything that human eyes could
see.
"If Madge had lived fifty years ago,
she would have been hung fora witch,"
said her mother, to herself; "and yet
I Know that she possesses some third
sense or strange intuitive power that,
though vevy unusual, isn't all faney."
Mbe soliloquy was cut short by the
sudden appearance of the family head,
as he emerged from the covered wagon
and came staggering up the walk, re
vealing all too plainly that Madge's in
ner sight, in this case, at least, was no
mere hallucination.
Madge had succeeded, with much la
bor, and all the help she was able to
command from the younger members of
the household, Jn bordering the walk
from tbe rude door to tbe still ruder
gate with a brilliant display of flowers
and shrubs.
Jason Andrews, in his attempts to
keep his equilibrium, fell sprawling
among her choicest selections as he was
approaching tbe bouse, and there he
lay, like an over-fed pig, rolling over
upon the flowers, and frightening every
member of tbe family with his strange
behavior.
Mrs. Andrews was as one turned to
stone.
"You'd better see to him," said
Madge.
"I cannot," said her mother, with the
indifference of despair.
"But he'll ruin my flowers."
"I can't help ft! He's ruined me,'
and all of us. The quicker we're dead
the better."
"But we can't die till our time oomes,
unless we commit suicide, and that's
both cowardly and wicked."
"I've tried to do my duty," said her
mother. "I've always been honest and
upright in my intentions, but I've
wronged my poorchildren beyond repa
ration." "Better say you've wronged yourself,
my mother dear. Sure, if you can stand
the present outlook, the rest of us ought
to," and Madge stooped to caress her.
"May I do just as I please with him,
mother?"
"Yes, child; anything, so you don't
bring him near me."
"Then I'll cowhide him !"
"Madge!"
"I will !"
"Do as you like, child. But be care
ful. It's against the law for you to
strike him."
"He never stops to think about law
when he wants to strike one of the chil
dren." "But they belong to him."
"You don't mean to tell me that my
father's children belong to that wallow
ing sot?"
"In the eyes of the law they do."
"O, mother! And you have done
this!"
It was the last time Madge ever at
tempted to reproach her mother. The
poor woman fell upon the floor in a
death-like swoon, from which she
awoke at last in a raging fever, and for
many days she lingered between life
and death.
The unavailing sorrow of Madge was
pitiful to see. Every duty that a loving
daughter could perform was willingly
attended to; but the weary, dragging
drudgery of the sick-room failed to tell
upon her spirits as did the remorseful
truth that tbe last words her mother
had heard her utter during her con
sciousness had been a bitter reproach,
which owed tbe most of its acrimony to
the fact that it was true.
When Jason Andrews had sufficiently
awakened from his first drunken stupor
to realize that his wife was dangerously
ill, he betook himself afresh to bis cups,
alleging, when sufficiently sober to talk
coherently, that he was drinking to
drown his troubles.
"What would everybody think of
me, if J should drink tddrown trouble?"
said Madge, to herself, as she redoubled
her exertions to make her mother com
fortable.
"But you're not a man !" sagaciously
suggested her brother Sam.
".Being feminine, and therefore a
weaker vessel,' I am supposed to be
strong enough to endure any amount of
affliction without stimulants. If I were
only a man I should need pshaw! T
don't have any patience with any of the
mawkish nonsense that I bear so much
about. If it's necessary for a man to
drink to drive sorrow from bis brain
and heart, I'd think a woman who had
married a drunkard should at once
plunge herself into the deepest oblivion
possible."
'One would think you were a married
woman, and your husband was a drunk
ard, to hear you talk," said Harry.
"Catch me getting sick and giving up
in' despair if I were married to such a
curse !" and Madge shook her fist men
acingly at the head of the family as he
lay insensible from drink upon one of
her clean white beds, while her mother
lay insensible, because of her great sor
row, upon the other one.
"What would you do if you had such
a husband?" asked her brother.
"Do!" cried Madge. "I'd do anything
I'd dare anything! If a woman makes
a matrimonial contract and it proves a
fraud, she has no more moral right to
abide by it than a man has to consider
an agreement valid and binding where
in he has been defrauded by a payment
in counterfeit coin !"
"Madge!" cried her mother, from the
bed, and tbe daughter, delighteTat tbe
prospect of her patient's returning con
sciousness, was at her side in an instant.
"Do you feel better, mother?"
"Where's Jason ?" was the shudder
ing response.
"Never mind 7am, mother, dear. Is
there anything I can do for you ?"
"I'm very ill, darling."
"But you're better now, sou know."
"I might be better if I were free."
"Then free yourself. I'll stand by
you."
"But yon said there' wasn't any Can
ada."
"Did I?"
"If you didn't say so I dreamed it.
And I know there isn't any."
"It was all my fault that you married
him, mother."
"Was it?"
The mother caught eagerly at some
prospect of palliation for the great
wrong she had brought upon herself and
family, as a drowning man might
clutch a straw.
"I persuaded you to pay that visit to
The Falls that threw you in bis com
pany. Forgive me, mother."
"But you warned, me, child."
"I know I did, but you didn't com
prehend the warning. Pdidn't myself,
at first."
'Madge, my daughter, Is there any
balm in Gilead?"
"What, mother?"
"Is there any remedy for my sore dis
tress ? Is there any prospect of release
from my state of bondage?" I
"You took that'.'man for. better or for
worse, you know."
"But I didn't mean to take a drunk
ard."
"Was It so stipulated in the bond?"
"I didn't think of it, Madge. It never
once occurred to me that he might
drink."
"Do you know what Fd do, if I had
him? I'd sew him in a blanket and
wallop him till he'd get sober. Catch
me getting sick because the bead of the
family was on a drunk !"
The mother laughed.
"You're not as far gone as you think,"
said Madge, stooping to kiss her fore
head.
"But IcanH live with Jason!" said
the mother, as the sonorous sound of
drunken snoring from the bed adjoin
ing disgusted her finer senses.
"Then ship him."
"And break God's law ? That would
not do, you know, Madge."
"Mother, don't be a fool !"
"What do you mean, my child ?"
"Just what I say, as I always do. Do
you really think God married you to
Jason Andrews ? Such an idea is a li
bel upon tbe wisdom of Omnipotence.
It is a flat denial of our Heavenly
Father's love. It is a direct violation
of the command of Jesus." '
"I don't comprehend you, child."
"Jesus would say to you to do by that
man in all things whatsoever as you
would have him do by you. Now,
what, above all things, would you pre
fer that he should do unto you ?"
"Pack his traps and leave the coun
try," said the mother, decidedly.
"Then you're duty is plain, if you're
a Christian."
"Do you really think so, Madge?"
and tbe sick woman arose to a sitting
posture, with an expectant gleam in her
eyes.
"There's one serious difficulty in the
way, mother; but it isn't God's law, it's
man's."
"What is it, child?"
"You haven't got any 'traps' to leave
the country with. Your property, that
you and I and the boys have earned,
Isn't yours and ours. It's Jason's.
When he married you, he married your
possessions."
"There isn't anything fair about
that."
"Fair or not, it's true."
"Well, I can't live this way much-
longer."
"I don't see how you're going to help
t, unless we strike across the prairie
some dark night -in search of a home
for the free. And then we wouldn't
find it, for there isn't any such place for
fugitive wives and children."
To be continued.
A Mother's Home. The most per
fect home I ever saw was in a little
house into the sweet incense of whose
fires went no costly things. Six bund
red dollars served torayears living ot a
fatber, motber, and tbree children. Hut
the mother was a creator or home, and
ber relations with her children were the
most beautiful I have ever seen. Even
a dull and common-place man was lifted
up and enabled to do work for souls by
the atmospbere wbich this woman ere
ated. Every inmate of ber house iuvol-
untarily looked into her face for tbe
key-note of tbe day, and it always rang
clear. From the rosebud or the clover
leaf which, in spite of her house-work,
sbe always found time to put by our
plates at breakfast, down to tbe essay or
story sue band to be read or discussed in
the evening, there was no intermission
of her infiuence. She always has been,
and always will be, my Ideal of a
motuer, a wile. Jt to ber quick brain.
loving heart, and exquisite tact had
been added the appliance of wealth and
the enlargement of wider culture, hers
would nave been absolutely the ideal
home. As it was, it is tbe best I have
ever seen. it has been more than
twenty years since I crossed its thresh
old, l do not Know whether she is liv
ing or not. But as I see house after
house in which fathers', mothers, and
children are dragging out their lives in
a hap-bazard alternation of listless,
routine and unpleasant collision. I al
ways think with a sigh of that little
cottage ny tne sea-snore, and the woman
who was the "light thereof," and I find
in tne lacesot many women and cbll
dren, as plainly written and as sad to
see as in the newspaper columns of
"Personals" "wanted A Home."
A corresponnent of the Boston Adver
tiser says that several young women
beard the university lectures, Leipslc,
during the semester just closed; among
mem, one lrom jnow xorK, wno is at
tending iu the medical department, and
whose treatment by the students has
been marked by entire respect and con
sideration, In sharp contrast to what
young women nave bad to endure in
.hdinburgh, New York, apd Pbiladel
phia. In fact, while she was in a hos
pital sick with scarlet fever, several
students made extra copies of their
notes for ber, that she misbt not lose
the lectures she had missed. Something
iiKe an .indication ot tne mture, no
aouot, nere, as wen as mere, 'mere can
be comradery (to convey a French
word) between man and woman, despite
tne JLineneums incredulous sniu.
PB0PESS0E 0EAWF0ED AUD THE
WILLAMETTE TJHITEESITY.
Many of our citizens will remember
a controversy in relation to the resigna
tion of Professor Crawford, who, for a
long time, held an honorable position
as a member of the Facility of the
Willamette Uuiversity, and whose
resignation was the result of one
of those peculiar circumstances that
are often connected with the diplomacy
that, for private reasons, prevails in
high places. The following petition,
signed by all of the more advanced stu
dents of the University, and the action
of the Board in relation to it, will, we
presume, explain itself. The New
Northwest, being always open for all
sides of every question to have a candid
hearing, cheerfully publishes the peti
tion and response, and leaves the public
to draw its own conclusions. Ed.
PETITION OF STUDENTS.
Salem, December 14, 1873.
We, tbe undersigned, students of the
Willamette University, deeply regret
the resignation of Professor T. H. Craw
ford. We have ever regarded him as
very superior instructor, and a
gentlemau of high moral character.
Feeling that his place cannot be filled by
any other person known to us in Oregon,
we regard his leaving as a great obstacle
to our advancement in our studies, and,
oh this ground, do hereby humbly peti
tion and solicit that the Trustees of this
University may, in their good pleasure,
reconsider what has lately been done,
and favor us with a reinstatement of
our desired teacher.
L. H. Wells,
Miles Starr,
John E. Payton,
A. N. Moores,
H. N. Steeves,
Robert Harrison,
Charles Johns,
A. P. Stansbury,
William Mace,
R. J. Nichols,
C. Vr. Miller,
T. W. Bryant,
R. D. Allen,
A. J.Shelton,
Pierce Mays,
Charles Ford,
William McCawley,
Eugene Willis,
J. D. Klrkwood,
Thomas B. Cornell,
Heuben Boise,
Lorenzo Shirley,
Andrew Harrison,
Jasper Coovert,
Stephen Chadwlok,
William J. Clarke,
Allie Brown,
M. C. Hewitt,
Ross E. Moores,
C. N. Graves,
W. A. Graves,
W. E. Rlnehart,
L. O. Nelson,
E. M. Graves,
Miles Hendrick,
Charles Prim,
E. L. Irvine,
E. G. Clarfe,
D. P. Stoufler,
Wlllanl Herren,
Albert Downing,
M.W.Hunt,
G. O. Ashby,
W. a Allen,
J. II. Bird,
K. M. Johnson,
Cyrus Woodwortli,
& Rlggs,
Wm. E. Woodworth,
Edward Harrison,
J. R. Hughes,
Arthur Held,
Claude Gatch,
Whitney Boise,
Percy Willis,
J. W. Bybee,
Bertha Moores,
Angle Belknap,
Addle Belknap,
Anna Lawrence,
OHIe Chamberlain,
Ada E. May,
SjiI lie Clarke,
Ella L. Prine,
Althea Moores,
Alice Shirley,
EllaGruble,
Ella Hendrick,
Mary Strong,
Leonora Ross,
Ella Wright,
Belle Payton,
Ella Mooney,
Mary E. Starr,
Nettle Cooke,
Lizzie McNary,
Maggie Skaife,
Emma Jones,
KalllePatton,
Nancy Swegle,
Viola Johns,
Dorcas Johns,
Maggie Gllliland,
Eva Bice,
Georgia Hunt,
Alice Downing,
Nellie Hall,
Mary Woodworth,
Victor Shaw,
Retta Yocum,
Emma Hovcuden,
SallieGesner,
Maria Starr,
Allie Clarke,
Rosa Stannus.
Sarclla Griffith,
Amney Gesner,
Ida Hutton,
Ettle Dufield,
H. W. Waltz,
G.KWashburne,
V. Gesner,
Richard Kelly,
S. T. Richardson,
Virgil Donaldson,
Robert A. Miller,
Carl Lindsey,
William E. Ilrey,
William Downing,
George Harris,
Frank Irvine,
Koto Yamanaka,
(Japanese).
ACTION OF TIfE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
At a regular meeting of tbe Board of
Trustees of the Willamette University,
held at the chapel of said University on
Wednesday, the 19th day of January,
187C, the following, among other pro
ceedings, were had. The special com
mittee of three, to whom was referred
the petition of students of the Univers
ity relative to the reinstatement of
Professor Thomas H. Crawford, pre
sented their report as follows:
Salem. December 15. 1875.
To the Trustees of Willamette Uni
versity: lour committee, appointed to
consider tne petition ot students to re
instate Professor Crawford, report that
they have endeavored carefully to dis
charge .the duty assigned to them
Knowing, as does tbe committee, .the
social qualities, genteel deportment.
gentle and quiet disposition and kind
and sympatbetic nature of theiToressor,
no surprise is leit on learning the at
tachment of those associated with, or
wbo bave sustained tbe intimate rela
tion of pupil to him.
Having graduated here, and for many
years connected with the University as
pupil and teacher, no wonder that all
Trustees, students, and this entire com
munity are lirmly attached to him.
That the Trustees have as much re
spect and esteem for him, and as highly
value bis sprvices as an educator as do
those whose, names appear on the peti
tion, your committee bave no doubt;
yet, circumstances have much to do in
matters of -business, and tbe Trustees
have a better opportunity of knowing
tne condition and wants oi tins lnstitu
tion. and oushtto be more competent to
judge of the responsibility of those en
trusted with its management than do
the students', though they may possess
sutticient discernment to detect tbe in
fiueuces moral, financial and religious
that atiect its Interests.
Therefore, your committee, with all
due deference to the memorialists, and
sympathizing with them in this, their
affliction, and, without stating their
reasons, recommend mat tne prayer or
tne petitioners be not granted.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
U. W. SHAW,
J. H. Boork,
Elisha Strong,
Committee,
On motion, the Secretary of this
Board was directed to transmit a copy
of the foregoing to tbe students, signers
of the peti tion above referred to.
I certify that the foregoing Is a true copy of
the report of the special committee to which
was referred the petition of students to rein
state Professor Crawford, and of the proceed
ings of the Board of Trustees thereon.
J. A. Stkatton,
Secretary of the Board
A mass convention was held In Den
ver, January lOtb, by tbe suffragists, to
secure Woman Suffrage in the new con
stitution.
"YOTJES TEULY" MAKES A BAB-
GAIN.
From the very moment Yours
Truly became a subscriber to the New
Northwest, the governor had been
boasting that he wouldn't read it.
There was nothing in it, be said, but ti
rades against the tyrant man. Women
wanted the pantaloons, and, for his
part, he was willing they should have
em, if they'd only make the living.
He would always take the butter and
poultry and eggs and dried apples and
soap and stocking-yarn mother's earn
ings to market, and pay dry-goods and
grocery and brandy and tobacco .bills,
and bring home tbe rest to pay taxes,
and would continually condole with
himself about the hard time he had in
supporting his family. The wheat crop
has always gone to pay tbe hired men,
and buy new wheat fields and machin
ery; though what tbe governor intends
to do with these last, after he's got '.em
all paid for, isn't clear to Yours Truly.
He bad always been so badly opposed
to tbe New Northwest, that it wasn't
considered necessary to keep it out of
his sight; but the sequel proved that
"white man's mighty uncertain." Did
you ever know a deaf man, Mrs. D. ?
Not a mute, but an elderly gentleman,
whose sense of hearing was so obtuse
that you'd feel compelled to half blow
the top of your bead off to make him
hear? And did you ever try to speak
low in the presence of this man, when
addressing something to somebody else
which you didn't want him to hear,
only to find that he could bear as well
as anybody when it suited his purpose
to listen ?
Well, the governor couldn't be per
suaded to read the New Northwest as
long as anybody wanted him to read it;
but, like the deaf man about bis hear
ing, he was ready enough to read when
he wasn't wanted; and so mother's
brown merino was "yak lace" to him no
longer, and the five dollars at Lewis &
Strauss' would answer in the bill as
"sundries," nevermore.
Yours Truly expected a scene when
the governor got that paper, and she
saw it. You should bave witnessed his
rage, Mrs. D. Mother was half fright
ened out of her wits, but Yours Truly,
not being tbe governor's wife, held
half, at least, of the advantage, and sbe
planted ber feet firmly upon the ball of
carpet rags she was winding, and, toss-
tossing her frizzes defiantly, laughed In
his face as she said, pleasantly,
"What do you propose to do about
it?"
I propose to cut off your credit, Miss
Saucebox ! D'yesee anything o' that?"
As he spoke, he handed over a letter
which he bad just written to the above
named firm, forbidding them to trust
Yours Truly on his account, as he would
pay no debts of her contracting from
and after that date.
Yours Truly read tbe letter, and, gaz
ing earnestly into tbe governor's eyes,
quietly answered,
"Well ?"
"What do you mean by 'wellf'"
asked the governor, sternly.
"Fifty dollars a month, and found!"
demurely replied Yours Truly.
Mrs. D., you ought to have heard the
governor thunder out,
"What?"
There's no description that can do the
subject justice.
"I'm of age, sir! My labor is worth
fifty dollars per month to you, clear
gain. I am a plain and fancy cook,
laundress, dairy-maid, chamber-maid,
seamstress, carpet-maker, fruit-dryer,
poultry-raiser and dish-washer. I bave
enumerated nine different trades, as you
see, sir. Mother has filled these posi
tions, with the occupation of nurse-girl
thrown in, for forty years; and now, she
is too badly worn-out to labor, and she
has nothing to live upon as a product of
all her years of industry except what
you are pleased to give her, after you've
grumbled about it till you've almost
crazed her."
"Hold your tongue !" cried the gov
ernor.
"These old pantaloons that I'm tear
ing into strips to make a carpet for the
governor's feet have soiled my fingers,
and I can't !" said Yours Truly.
"I won't give you fifty dollars a
month, or any other sum, for doing
nothing, you baggage !" exclaimed the
governor.
"Very well, then," said Yours Truly,
rising. ' As mother says, she's a chip of
the paternal block, and her temper is
none of the mildest. "Very well, then
If you've cut off my credit at tbe stores,
and refused to pay living wages for my
worki it's quite time I was looking out
for myself."
"Oh, daughter!" said mother, with
tears in her voice.
She couldn't leave, poor thing, and no
wonder the prospect troubled her.
"A pretty out yovfll make earning
your living!" said the governor, con
temptuously.
"You gave Dick and Phil a hundred
dollars a month each, as long as they
worked for you, sir; and a farm apiece,
when they got married;, and neither of
them worked half as hard as I have.
With tbe exception of three twenties
that I earned teaching school between
seasons, once, I've never had a dollar,
unless it was doled out to me as though
I were a beggar, sir; and, like the darkle
in the tale of 'Dred,' I prefer to possess
in the future a little more that is mine,
aud a little less that is ' massa's.' "
And you think that I'll give you&
lift, do you ?"
"No, sir ! I know you better than to
imagine anything of tbe kind. I bave
some costly trinkets, for which I have
from time to time run your face iu the
stores' of Portland, and I'll sell them
and set myself up in business. I may
not get rich in. a year or two, but I
won't feel like a beggar, sir; neither
will I be compelled to submit to your
overbearing ways when I must have my
dues."
With this, Yours Truly left the room
and began packing her dry-goods. Once
out of sight of tbe governor,- sbe in
dulged in a good cry that relieved her
vastly. But how was motber to get
along ? Dear soul, sbe was neither able
to work nor employ servants, and how
was the establishment to be kept run
ning without Yours Truly ?
After an hour spent in packing finery,
it was necessary to stop and get dinner.
Tbe governor is very punctual about his
meals, and tbe hired men would be in
doors at twelve, to the minute. It did
look a little mean to cutoff their rations
without any warning; so Yours Truly
descended to the kitchen aud hurried
up a dinner fit for a court.
"You may make much of this meal,
for it's the last you'll get from these
hands," said Yours Truly, holding her
digits to the light to show that one was
badly burned with boiling grease.
The governor didn't eat much dinner.
Motber was in .bed, sick and weeping,
and her consort blew his nose freely,
though of course he wouldn't shed tears,
for that would compromise his dignity.
'You can wash the dishes, governor,"
said Yours Truly. "The train will soon
be in, and I must go to the depot. I've
engaged a team to haul my trunks.
There's a big churning to do, but tbe
cream's all ready. I put it in the churn
a-purpose. Tbe yeast's up to make the
bread, and there's a lot of butter to be
worked over in the cellar. The pickles
are soaking in tbe sink, and there's a
jar ready to put 'em in. The vinegar's
down cellar, in a barrel. There's mince
meat ready for pics, and the mop-stick's
in the back yard. You'll have to clean
tbe floors, you know. Aud there's some
ironing to do, and some socks to darn.
If you have any spare time before sup
per, you can sew carpet-rags. The
chamber work's all done for to-day.
And stay ! There's a jowl Iu the smoke
house that you must soak and wash and
have ready for to-morrow's dinner.
The souse-meat is in this crock. It's to
be boned and chopped and seasoned,
you know; and don't forget to renew
your yeast when you make the bread."
Mrs. D., you ought to have seen the
governor. Such a helpless, pitiable,
humble, abject object as he was, stand
ing there with arms akimbo; eyeing the
mountain of drudgery that every woman
performs daily, while man, who
"bosses" out of doors, imagines that he
"supports" her such an object of pity
was he as he stood there, that Yours
Truly laughed till she cried.
"There's no seuse in all this," said
the governor.
It's all necessary," auswered Yours
Truly. "You'd think the work wasn't
half managed if any of the particulars
were omitted by the women."
"I don't mean that! Hang it all !"
"Then what do you mean ?"
"That thero'e no sense In your leav
ing home."
"Self-preservation is the first law of
nature, sir, and you refuse to pay me
for my work. I must bave a living,
and I must lay upsomethingfora rainy
day. How do I know but 111 marry
some Incompetent mortal, aud have
need of my earnings to support him ?"
Tho governor was determined he
wouldn't yield. He took off his coat
and laid it on a chair. Yours Truly saw
the sleeve lop over In a frying-pan, full
of greasy water, but she had reasons for
saying nothing. Then he began to
stack the dirty di9hes, and, per conse
quence, dropped a dozeu plates on his
toes.
"Thunder!" he roared, desperately.
"Trv acain," said Yours Truly. "It
is lucky you didn't break but four."
"What shall I do with the cold vict
uals ?" he asked, as he eyed a dish of
baked beans with one side scooped out,
a tureen of cooling cabbage with a
spoon sticking and blacking in it, two
plates with solitary pieces of pie, two
ditto with bread, and yet others with
mashed potatoes, etc. etc., adhering to
them in bulky fragments.
"Put them away separately, on clean
dishes, and use them judiciously in
working up subsequent meals, sir. A
good cook always plans ahead in this
way."
"Botheration!" yelled. the governor,
as he cut his thumb with the butcher-
knife.
"You're doing bravely," said Yours
Truly.
"Get me a rag and some sticking-
plaster, quick !"
"I always help myself, sir."
"I can't do this work !" exclaimed
the governor.
"Why?" asked Yours Truly,
"You've always said a woman's work
was nothing. You ought to do it, and
not half try."
"How much would you take to stay
at home, did you say ?" he asked, as
though a new idea had struck bim.
"Fifty dollars a month, and found!"
"It's a bargain I" he cried, dropping
'No."
'Aud'you won't act as though mother
and I were beggars, any more ?"
"Not if you'll stay at home."
"Then you can tell the expressman
that mother's sick, and he won't be
needed to-day. I'll try you, a month
longer, and see how you deport your
self."
A week has passed, Mrs. D., and
Yours Truly is getting on famously.
The governor is as gracious as a gay
gallant. The work goes on as of old,
and when the month is up and she gets
her fifty dollars, ten of It shall go to aid
the publisher In sustaining the New
Northwest and woman's wages..
If all wives were as independent as
any daughter may be, mother might,
many years ago, have made as good a
bargain with the governor as tbe one
above-mentioned by Yours Truly.
Mr. Bradlaugt 'Woman's Eights.
Our readers are aware that Mr. Brad- ,
laugh, in consequence of ill-health, has
returned to England. In one of his re
cent letters to his paper, the London Na
tional Reformer, we find the following :
I hardly know whether or not to make
an announcement of my belief in mira- -cles.
That Charles Bradlaueb, tbe '
wicked heretic, could ever be called out
from a back seat in a public meeting,
Dy a real, oona jiae, live ortbodor
bishop, to deliver an address, seems so
near a miracle that I hope my readers
will not think me romancing. I at-
tended the recent Annual Convention of
the Woman Suffrage Association at
Steinway Hall. There was a very re
spectable audience of probably 800 per
sons present, aud as I knew it was to be
a very orthodox meeting, I dropped
3uietly into a side seat about half way
own the hall. Proceedings were
opeued by prayer, by. the Bev. Charles
Burleigh, and then Bishop Gilbert Ha
ven, or Ueorgia, delivered the opening
address, in which texts abounded. The
bishop is a portly, well-preserved man,
and made a good chairman in all things
save one his opening speech was too
long. The first lady speaker was Dr.
Antoinette Brown Blackwell, a rather
tall lady, with au intellectual face.
dressed in plain dark silk, and wearing
her hair smoothly on the slues of her
temples, and twisted in a plain Knot be-
hind. She spoke quietly, earnestly, and
to the purpose, but elicited very little
enthusiasm. Mrs. Lucy Stone followed
in a cnarming speecb. X described this
lady last year, in my account of tbe
Boston Convention, and can only now
say that ber power of quiet satire, and ,
ner cnauge to equally quiet yet passion
ate earnestness, was shown to much '
more advantage in Steinway Hall than
at Boston. At tbe conclusion of Mrs.
Stone's address, it appears that Miss
Mary E. Eastman called the bishop's
attention to my presence, aud to my as- '
tonlsbment iiisbop Haven tben said :
"I understand there Is among the audi
ence tbe famous Democrat of England,
Uharies Jiradiaugb, and I win call upon
bim to say a few words." This was re
ceived with considerable cheering by
the meeting, and 1 take what follows,
with slight correction, from the New
York World:
"Mr. Bradlaugh at once came forward
from the rear of the ball, where he had
been sitting and, mounting tbe plat
form, said : I only come forward in
obedience to a call which it would be
impertinence to refuse here to-night. I .
came to be a listener, and with no sort
of intention of making any speech at ,
all, and tbe right I should have on this
platform is, that for tbe last twenty-five
years of my short life I bave pleaded for
those rights which are now pleaded for.
(Applause.) The woman question is no ,
American question, no national ques
tion; it is a question for tbe whole
world, and tbe best men of every coun- .
try and of every age bave held but one
view upon it, while the worst men have
naturally held tbe other view. It is not
a question of mere taxation; it is a ques
tion of thorough humanity; a question
not of mere geographical limitation, not
of America, not of England, not of
France, not of Italy, not of Spain; but
were it a qucstiou iu any of these coun
tries, iu each a woman's Tecord would
stand out to show you that woman can
do aud has done woman's work of mak
ing man truer and purer (applause)
and there is no age of the world, how
ever confiued tbe page of its history, r
that you caunot find some woman who s
has shown out through the darkness of .
night to show you that, though such
stars were obscured by foolish socleta- '
rian regulations, sbe could still shine; '
and .whenever Woman Suffrage is de
bated, my voice is at their service, and .
this in no sense of doing favor, but be
cause tbe grander woman is made the :
purer man will be. (Applause)."
i S
Another Chesterfield. I think
it was Mrs. Caudle, of curtain lecture
fame, who was led to exclaim, "Oh!
what a brute a man is!." I used to '
think she was a bit severe. I bave,
however, seen, and heard so much to
sustain her sharp assertion that I am
beginning to think that she was not so 4
very far wrong, after all, as witness the
following: A dear little woman, after a
good deal of management, by way of
making one dollar do tbe work of two, '
got ready an elegant Chrismas "gift for 1
ber liege lord, a most comfortable and .
stylish dressing-gown, in fact. -He put ,
it on, and found it just the thing, of -course.
A passing friend was called in "
to admire, which she did, telling him
be had a most elegant and serviceable
Christmas gift, -etc. "Yes," he said,
"a very nice gift, bought with my
money." The little wife standing by
was rather depressed, and her friend
was thoroughly disgusted by the unfeel
ing remark, knowing, as sbe did, that
"my money," or mostof it, was brought
Into tbe concern by the little woman
aforementioned. '
Thoughtful. "Poor dear!" sighed
Mr. Smith, stirring up bis roaring coals,
and referring to the late lamented Mrs.
S-, "how she did enjoy a good fire !
Ah, well I let us hope she's gone where
they keep them."
The French exhibitors at the Centen
nial will number more than two thousand.