t FRIDAY DECEMBER 15, 1876. NOTICE. Agents -will please take notice that It Is a great tax upon ns to pay express charges upon small sums, and they 'Will confer a great favor by remitting to us through money orders or registered. letters. COULD YOU HAVED0NE AS MUCH ? The deceased was a kind and indulgent mother, who, by her own energy, has raised and educated thVee daughters, who with many friends, she leaves to mourn her loss. Pausing as this record of a brave and useful life closed with the iibove para graph, we thought of a declaration made by a man hut a few days since in our presence a man, too, of intelligence and position and honor, "that a wom an's place is home; that any attempt to go outside of that to find her work is merely a quarrel with the Almighty because she is not a man, and that wom en never had and never would accom plish anything which required endur ance." It would seem, indeed, that any man who would use his eyes and ears and exercise the common wit derived from his mother might know better than to make such declarations as these, and further, that if persons do not know better that it is of no use to waste argument upon them. Yet, we have hope, sometimes, even for these self blinded individuals and so, while with great effort we preserve our soul in patience, we pick up and cite instances which mayhap fall under their eyes aud cause them to pause aud consider before they pronounce judgment so ut- terly at variance with fact upon the brave, struggling, working women of the world. "By her own energy she has raised aud educated three daughters." Is this, (?) sapient law-giver, a merit, and could you have done so much and kept strict Jy at home? Could you have done as much, indeed, merely by your "own en- ergy" taking the children from their in fancy up, even with your enlarged sphere? Would you not have had to call in the aid of a woman before the children were taught to feed and dress themselves? Could you have toiled at hardest labor for scanty wages, taking them with you and caring in every way for their wants, or stolen time from your sleep to mend aud turn their gar mcnts while they slept? No, but you say you could have hired these things done. Could you, if circumscribed in your sphere of action as you assume to circumscribe the sphere of these toiling mothers? If from political and social disability your place in the financial world was limited to that of mere beg gary only, as with almost superhuman energy you wrung a reluctant pittance from some already over full position, whence would have come your funds to pay for these cares that it were im possible to bestow yourself? Think a moment and tell us if this woman has not done more than you could have done, aud done it in the face of obstacles that you would not contend against for a moment. Use your eyes and your ears and your un derstanding, we beseech you, and never again, in the hearing of a woman who has performed unaided what you would never attempt, declare that no woman has. ever accomplished anything that required steady perseverance aud long continued labor and endurance. Ponder and tell us farther, whether it would have beey more commendable, more womanly, more pleasing to the Al mighty, who gave these to her charge and left her their sole guardian, for this woman to have listened to the senti mental twaddle to which you treat women about staying at home and work ing solely therein, aud helplessly wring ing her hands because she was a woman, when her children were put upon the town or "farmed out" to vigorous task masters, or to have bravely seized upon every opportunity to labor away from home, not stronger in her mother love than in the determination to do any thing she could do regardless of what theorists might say of her sphere. And never, until all women are provided without exertion on their part with homes to stay in, be so unreasonable as to declare "that all women were made to Stay at home." A CHANOEJTO WOEK. We call the special attention of suffra gists to the appeal of Mrs. Lougbary to be found in another column. Her sug gestion relative to the appropriation of the working hours of a designated day for this purpose is good, and we trust will be acted upon by all who can leave their homes upon this important errand Let this day be known as "Woman's Day" throughout the State, aud let. each friend of woman's enfranchisement go forth and work as if upon his or her own exertions depended the great vic tory. Let it not be said that the Wom an Suffragists of our fair occidental .State are lukewarm in the cause, or in different regarding its speedy triumph. We have many earnest, talented, ener getic friends in Congress friends who will be glad to aid us when 'we show a disposition to aid ourselves. Let us prove our earueoiucos by our endeavor in this matter. One hundred copies of "David and Anna Matsou" are on the way to this State, aud will arrive m a -lew days, Specimen copies will be Immediately forwarded to various localities. We will mail the books postpaid on receipt of price, for which see advertisement. There is nothing later from Mrs. Dun Iway than the "Editorial Correspond ence" published in this issue. It will be seen that she talks "home" and we still expect her by Christmas. A law has passed the Spanish, cortes making education obligatory. BEPOEM EXTBAOEDINAEY. The bogus economy, retrenchment and reform inaugurated last winter by the Democratic House of Representa tives for political bluster and purpose will be judged in the proper light by the "dear tax-payers" when they see how this year the appropriations must be doubled up in order to meet last year's deficit and pay current expenses of running the government. Detailed estimates of appropriations required for all branches of the public service for the next fiscal year have been furnished by the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress. The Pacific Coast estimates all far ex ceed the amounts grauted last session, but are all recommended as absolutely necessary to bring up arrears in work. The people will readily admit that the kind of economy that degenerates into absolute parsimony, scrimping and cramping the civil service of a great Re public for one year, only to be doubled in order to bring up arrears the next year, is, to say the least, doubtful econ omy. And when, in addition to this, we take into consideration the millions of dollars demanded on rebel claims by the same economical House that with vir tuous show of retrenchment went even into the kitchens and laundries of the nation to curtail the wages and slop the supplies of government employees, we are enabled more fully to understand the motives that led to such pretentions and loud cries of reform. AVhile count ingwith eager and ostentatious parsi mony the nation's dimes, and doling them out with grumbling protest to pay necessary expenses of carrying on the government with even a show of re spectability, these champions of reform were devising means or hearkening to projects that would scatter like chafl before the wind the nation's double-ea- gels and keep her coflers empty for de cades to come. In view of these things it is no wonder that the more practical and intelligent citizens of the Republic are ready with loud acclaim to cry: "From such reformers with their re trenchmcnt schemes may the good Lord and a loyal Concress speedily deliver us." THE BEOOKLYN HOEEOE. If there is anything more horrible than a swift, suddeu, aud merciless dis aster that tnves ocean sepulture to hundreds of - human beings by ship wreck, it is a holocaust fed by writhing, struggling humanity that but now was listening with pleased attention to the rendition of the drama. Such a horror as this last burst upon the city of Brook lyn on Tuesday evening of last week and nearly 300 charred and dismembered bodies were afterwards taken from the ruins of Brooklyn Theater. The fire broke out upon or about the stage, the alarm was given, and the hundreds that thronged the edifice rushed with frantic haste toward the entrances, only to find them completely blocked by prostrate human forms piled so high as to prevent the egress of the panic-stricken crowd that shrieked aud struggled behind, But few minutes elapsed between the alarm and the death by suffocation, pressure aud heat of several hundred persons. The details are sickening. The instinct of self-preservation, height ened to a frenzy of selfishness by the appalling danger, caused the weak to go down before the strong, and even these in many instances were totally un ible to save themselves. The morgue for two or three succeeding days presented a spectacle that in its awful melancholy admits of no description. On Saturday 1,00 bodies of unrecognized aud unrecog nizable dead were deposited in a circular trench opened in Greenwood, whose pitying clods never before covered such harrowing calamity from mortal sight. me entire city seenieti to be in mourn ing as the ghastly procession proceeded through the streets to the cemetery, the flags flying at half-mast, and rent with the bitter winds that seemed singing a solemn requiem. Dispatches giving with horrible minuteness the fearful de tails have filled the papers for a week past, and yet the dreadful scene is but imperfectly described. The catastrophe will, lor a time, at least, cause the multi tudes to turn away from places where insufficient means of exit are provided in case of the ever possible calamity of fire. THE PUTTY MANOF THE SENATE If there is one man more execrated than alt others in this State at present that man is James K. Kelly. Instead of being in his seat in the United States Senate when that body convened, where he is paid to sit, although the seat, for that matter, is better vacant, "he, at tha behest of party tricksters, doubled upon his traces and returned to Salem to further outrage the people of the State he has for six years disgraced by his im becility in the Senate, in attempting to defraud the majority of their rightful vic tory. His career as a politician is about ended, and it is supposed that a knowl edge of this fact induced him to listen eagerly to a proposition that promised pay in any quarter. His new Centen nial catalogue, "A woman, a dead man, and a criminal," is a fitting close for his brilliant (?) public labors. The Corval lis Gazette thus sums him up and dis poses of him: Acting for six years as the "figure head" or Oregon in the U. S. Senate, without accom plishing anything of importance for the State, beyond voting, like a putty man, he has now rendered himself ''notorious" and odious, and In a few weeks will vacate the position he has disgraced and sink Into oblivion. The report of the Superintendent 'of the State Penitentiary for the quarter ending November 30, 187G, shows the income of the prison from all sources to be $3,015 56; amount paid for main tenance over and above this, $2,699 43. The Senate has confirmed the follow ing: Henry W. Wright, Register of the Land Office at LaGrande, Oregon, and M. II. Kaign, Receiver, THE SILK INDUSTEY IN AMEBI0A. There Is no other article of feminine apparel in which women are so univer sally interested as the different silks which are displayed in the shop win dows of all the principal cities, labeled with attractive figures which attest their quality and price. It is intimated, in an introductory chapter to an interesting work under the caption tbat heads this article, that when our mother Eve draped herself in the broad leaves of the banian fig, she must have, inaugurated the silk dress mania; and, if we are to carry out the.simile toits conclusion, as we be hold the effects of that act observable at the present day, we must admit that the desire for silk, like the original trans" gression, increases according to the de- maud. Belonging to the feminine order, and lacking none of the hereditary fondness for silk which mother Eve so univer sally transmitted toherchildrcu through hurrying up the process of manufacture by appropriating her first installment in the fig leaf state, rather than wait for worms to eat the fibre and spin cocoons, and having outgrown the hurry while enjoying the fondness, behold the writer at the Cheney Silk Works in South Manchester, where millions on millions of dollars, scores aud scores of looms, thousands and thousands df spindles, and hundreds and hundreds of opera tives are employed in improving upon the original fig, or mulberry leaf, which the persevering worms of China and Japan have died to manufacture, or es caping death, have pierced aud gone forth to propagate, leaving their former homes to be gathered up by a patent process and taken through a hundred different Btages of treatment, bringing them out at last in the elegant gros grain fabrics of commerce, which are such an improvement upon the original ng leaf as to cause the beholder to won der why it is that croakers are always harping upon the good old times when there were no Corliss engines to drive the spinning jenuy and no Chenev Brothers to build South Manchester Mills. These brothers are the sons of farmer in South Manchester, Connecti cut, and cultivated a few mulberry trees and reared a few silk worms in their boyhood; but, as they grew up, they became scattered, after the manner of American boys. They were a good old-fashioned family, too, of seven or eight brothers, most of whom distin guished themselves in some branch of trade or the professions before engaging in the silk business. Some became ar tists, some farmers, one a merchant, and the younger ones remained at home with the parents. t Years after, and while these brothers were in the very prime of successful life, they were attracted again to the old farm, the homo of their boyhood, an un dulating tract ot wood and field-land, well watered aud in high state of culti vation. Here, in January, 1838, Ward, Bush, Frauk and Ralph Cheney started the Mount Nebo Silk Mills. After a while the mills were temporarily closed, when Ward, Bush aud Frank removed to Burlington, New Jersey, where they established mulberry orchards, cocoon eries, etc., and conducted aud published from July, 183S, to July, 1810, the mag azine known as the Sill: Growers' Man ual. Other members of the family es ..I I!.! 1 . it lauusueu muiuerry plantations near Augusta, Georgia, also in Florida, aud at Mt. Healthy, Ohio. Reopening tho MouutNebo Mills in South Manchester, they commenced the manufacture ol sewing silk aud twist, to which they shortly added ribbons, handkerchiefs, aud eventually-broad goods. They also made the first successful experiments in the production of spun silk from the pierced cocoons, floss, silk waste and whatever 6ilk canuot be reeled. This they soak, boil, card, spin and weave, with machinery especially adapted for preparing it, aud it is now made into substantial, durable dress goods, for which there is a large and constantly increasing demand. Of these silks the writer is in constant receipt of the most favorable recommendations from ladies who aver that they will wash and iron like muslin and outwear any otherother goods in market. These silks are some what wanting in luster, having the ap- leuruucu 01 xrencn popnn, out are much cheaper, of better width, and vastly more durable. In addition to these lusterless, or spun goods, they have manufactured limited stocks of dress goods from reeled silks, that have for the past three years excelled all Im poneu iaorics oi ineir class. Tuey are also, at present, large manufacturers of of pongees, lining and trimming silks handkerchiefs, twist, etc., etc., gener ally making only such goods as are or dered by large dealers. The brothers occupy elegant mansions on the old farm site, with numerous tasteful dwellings for the operatives in view of the mammoth mills, where em ployes are paid for their labor according to the work Instead of the sex of the la borers. The employes are unanimous in thei appreciation of the kindly interest of the Cheneys in their behalf. Their two great establishments at Hartford and South Manchester are models ot con venience aud ventilation, and their manufacturing village at South Man Chester has not been surpassed in this country in its abundaut appliances for health, comfort, instruction and enjoy ment of their operatives. The cottages for the married have ample room, with water, gas, and garden plot for each There are no fevers throughout the vil lage. Commodious boarding-houses are erected for the unmarried, and there is a fine hall, library, and reading-room well sustained by employers and em ployed. A first-class school, an armory for the military company, and ample opportunity for religious worship, are also provided. The work is not severe nor the hours long, while the pay is iairiy liberal. America is more deeply indebted to the Cheney Brothers than all other agencies combined for the present stage of the silk industry within her borders. Their attention has been directed not only to the manufacture but the growth of silk, the mullicaulis, or French mul berry, having been largely imported and propagated by them for the subsistence of tho worms. Each brother has eo largely contributed to tho success of the various branches of their mammoth en terprise that it is difficult to point to any one portion of the work and say who did it. Tbey have co-operatecf heartily in all interests, yet each has his private property separate from the mutual fund. Two of the brothers, Charles and Ward, are now deceased, their death making a melancholy gap in the harmonious family's ranks. Although we speak from personal knowledge of the Manchester Mills, we have not hesitated to write this article principally by authority of L. P. Brock ett, M. D., who has prepared a hand some and comprehensive volume upon "America's Silk Industry," to which we refer the reader for further historic information. WOMAN SUITE AGISTS, ATTENTION! we nave been appealed to by our valiant co-laborersiu the East to canvass the State of Oregon for signatures to a petition to Congress which reads thus : PETITION FOB W03IA2 SUFFRAGE. To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled : The undersigned citi zens of the United States, residents of the State of Oregon, earnestly pray your honorable Bod' ies to adopt measures for so amending the Constitution as to prohibit tho several States from disfranchising United States citizens on account of sex. It is necessary to do at once what we do in this matter, as the petitions must reach Washington by the middle of Jan uary. Printed petitions will be sent to all active workers as soon as possible, but do not wat for these. Clip the above from your paper, paste it at the head of a sheet of foolscap aud begin the canvass at once. I would further most earnestly and respectfully urge of the friends of uni versal suffrage and equal rights through- out the State to set apart and devote to this special object Monday, the 18th day of December, between the hours of 9 o'clock A. sr. and 4 p. sr. If this su gestion were faithfully carried out, doubt not that many thousand names could be enrolled upon these petitions in this State. Come, friends, the exper iment is well worthy of a conscientious trial. As soon as the canvass of your town or neighborhood is completed, mail tho petitions filled to the under signed. It is necessary that they all be in by Christmas. H. A. Loughary, ' Pres't O. S. W. S. A Amity, Oregon, December 7, 1876. "WOMEN AT POLLING PLACES. During the recent campaign in Mas sachusetts, when the Woman Suffra gists worked with the prohibitionists many women went to the polls in vari ous places to distribute ballots. We have the testimony of many of these and all goes to disprove the idea once so popular that women would be insulted by their protectors if they ventured in and about precincts heretofore known only to the feet of men. Instead of be ing met with gibe and insult, as many man maligners of their own sex have asserted would bo the case, they re ceived everywhere respectful attention and heard nothing offeusive to decency or morality. One womansays: "Pipes aud cigars generally slipped out of sight in the presence of women; no indignity of any kind was offered them, and I heard no one ooject to tueir presence save one imported citizen, ail aucient Irishman who, when he came in sight of the worn en, turned back declaring, "if the worn en Is comin' here, be gad I 'ou't come; I 'on't voteat all.'" Remembering the fearful pictures of outrage and violence that had been held up before them, the women went to the polls with some trepidation; tbey wen away elated. Thus actual experimen dispels another of the popular objections to Woman Sutlrage, aud in duo time all will vanish by the same convincing power. WE WILL OBEY 0EDEES. A plucky little woman In one of the interior counties, whose husband had ordered her paper discontinued several weeks since, writes as follows : "Please send 'the New Northwest to my ad dres3 again. You must uot think that my husband stopped the paper, because be found fault with its sentiment, The truth is, his wheat crop was a fail ure this year, and he thought he had to economize, aud man like, his wife's pa per was just as convenient as anything else he could retrench on. I had spent all my butter money at that time and was not financially independent. Last week, however, I collected some more butter proceeds, and as money brings independence, I iuformed the head of the family that I had been out of the world long enough and proposed to send for the New Northwest again. He acquiesced very gracefully, saying: 'All right; I suppose you will not rest con tcuted unless you know what mischief the female women of the period are up to.' Of course I won't. What woman of the period would? So please send the paper In my name aud until I order it stopped." Mitchell introduced a bill in the Sen ate making further appropriation of $250,000 for continuing the construction of the canal and locks at the Cascades of Columbia River, Oregon; referred -to committee on transportation routes. The Tribune gives a carefully-pre pared list of the names of all persons ab solutely kuown to have been lost in the Brooklyn fire. This list gives a total of 271. Of these the remains of 217 have been identified. EDIT0EIAL 00EBESP0HDEN0E. ' Dear Readers of the New Northwest: Between conflicting emotions of joy and sorrow we again essay to write you. We are glad because our book is done; glad because the critics like it; glad be cause there is a prospect tbat it will pay its way; glad, thrice glad, because we're going home ! But oh, so sorry that we had to be absent when Willis left the parental roof! It seemed we couldn't live and bear it. The one simple para graph, announcing that the boy who had been for three years foreman on the New Northwest, who had set type on every issue thus far, and who had now plumed his pinions and betaken him self to San Francisco, there to carve a career of his own, meant very little to the general reader, but oh, so much to us 1 Important literary work was before us and we had no time for the luxury of grief. JVhat cares the world for domes- tic.sorrows, and why should we intrude them here? We have been so rushed with work, and had so many important themes to write of which have been compelled to await a more convenient season, that we slull now omit many things we ought to tell you; but we shall do the best we can to gather up the missing links. When again in the shadow of our home, we'll recall every important theme that is now forgotten, and shall have food for thought the winter through. That promised second journey to Philadelphia was long in being made. The work on the book lingered, and we were compelled to check impatience and wait. Finally, when the full time for closing the Exposition had come, we took a hurried journey, and at nigntfali were again the cuest of sood Miss Ihompson, with whom we spent a busy aud profitable week. Mr. Dufur, whose successful career at the Centennial de serves the compensation that a nig gardly Legislature should be heartily ashamed of having denied him, again obliged us by many favors. Tho regu lar exhibition was over, but thousands still visited tho grounds, where police men stood guard over all the foreign de partments and pushed their noses and fingers into every bundle and lunch bas ket, and Anally capped the climax ol caution by refusing to allow us to pass the doors with a single copy of "David aud Anna," which a, gentleman at the far end of the great building had pur chased, aud which we were compelled to leave at tho Commissioner's room, where somebody stole it, and thereby protected the rights of the American government from smugglers. Not having seen the People's Paper regularly for a longtime, we can't re member what has been written up, but guess we haven't riddled that "Woman's Pavilion" yet. Plainly the work of a disfranchised and pauper class it looks and has looked all summer. As com pared to the great hall where the men displayed almost everything of utility as though it were their own, although two-thirds, at least, was the work ol women, every thinker was reminded ol the mansion of the slave owner as com pared to the hut of the slave the most pitiful part of the whole melancholy farce lying in the fact that a fewsno.bby women were perfectly satisfied to thus celebrate their own serfdom without protest in order to get their names in the papers, reminding every one that took time to think of the principles of equality which that pavilion helped men to trample upon, of the snobbish darkie in white gloves aud livery who had ail the rights he wanted when he was massa's footman and belonged to him, soul and body, in his good clothes. " Oh, that God the giflio gi'o us To see oursel' as ithers see us ! 'T would from many a bluuder free us And foolish notion." Oue dear old lady, blessings on her memory, held aloft a drooping banncron the closing day a revolutionary relic and bowed her head aud wept, the only sensible thing the women of that pavilion have done this summer. The Tories of the revolution are not oue whit more de serving of execration and contempt than are the Tories of to-day, who inveigh against the principle which our fathers fought for, that "resistance to tyranny is obedience to God." But we have not time now to write further, and have little encouragement to trust this to the mails, as yoU don't get half we do write. Hoping the miss ing links of "Edna and John" have come to band ere this, and praying tbat we may very soon be home again, we bid adieu to New York and start on the westward way in the morning. ' A. J. D, New York, November 23, 1870. P.S. We don't often add a postscript, but it is necessary to state that the Na tional Woman Sutlrage Association has changed our name, or, rather, resumed a part of our maiden one, and with the first of January the New Northwest will do likewise. "Indignation meetings" have been in order since the executive judicial farce was euacted at Salem last week. Reso lutions condemning in strongest terms the action of the Governor and Secre tary of State iu attempting to override the popular vote have been unanimously passed in many places.' His Excellency has been repeatedly burned in effigy, in token of the people's co'ntempt and in dignation. While we deprecate this manner of proceeding in any crfse, as being impotent and undignified we feel that the people have just cause to express themselves as doubly outraged by the recent action of the Governor aud his sneak-thief backers. Major Shroeder has called a meeting of the different relief committees to take action iu regard to persons who have been deprived of their support by the Brooklyn theater fire, and suggests that ladies should visit the houses of suffer ers, and asks tbat a collection be taken up in the churches next Sunday. LETTEE FBQMWASHINGT0N. To the Editor of the New Northwest: Excitement having reached the ex ploding point, has begun to subside, and with genuine Anglo-Saxon calmness all classes seem inclined to await the issue of events. Meanwhile bogus telegraphic dispatches continue to keep the bail in motion, and furnish newspaper para graphs and bar-room conversations. The lower class of Irish are counting upon Tilden's election to suppress the negro, force him to the cotton fields, confiscate his property, and teach him the difference between white and black. The Southern gentry hail Democratic rule as a harbinger of good. They count upon the payment of war claims, a happy release from carpet-bag officials and negro Congressmen and Senators; they chafe Under Yankee rule, and are t . i- . . as nrmiy pieugeu to states rigbls as they were before the first gun was fired at Sumpter; and the negro trembles at his coming fate, for whichever way the tide turns, his danger at least seems im minent. The South has waited long and staked its all upon this issue; it cannot and will not. brook disappoint ment quietly, nor must the North ex pect these people to abide by any decis ion that is adverse to their interests. But the greatest excitement exists amongst department clerks, nearly all of whom are Republicans, aud depend upon that party for a living. Even women, although debarred from a polit ical exercise of opinion, nevertheless have strong feelings upon the subject, and uot unusually pay the penalty of expressing their sentiments by dis missal. For the most part, however, they are a prudent, quiet, hard-working, much-abused class of the com munity, always trying to do a man's and woman's work at one and the same time, write all day, sew all the evening, and entertain their acquaiutances hall the night. Very many of these womeu are counected with families moving iu fashionable life, and often feel them selves compelled to keep up appearances, dress to the full extent of their means, and exhaust their strength and brains by a senseless, hollow, frivolous round of receptions and evening entertain ments. Several attempts have been made within the last few seasons to in troduce a higher tone to the society in Washington, but alas! for ten who en joy .Horatio .King's soiree literaire, twenty call to see Mrs. Williams' last Parisian robe, or listen to Mrs. Robeson chatter to diplomatists iu a language uot ten of her guests can understand. It is presumed that several quite fash ionable houses will be closed this win ter, and all who failed to see Mrs. Shep pard's "white drawing-room" will have lost their chance, perhaps forover. Uni versal regret is expressed at the failure of Alexander R. Sheppard, for whatever may be his failings, ho has beautified Washington Ijeyoud conception, and laid an everlasting obligation upon its inhabitants. Many other failures are expected, should Mr. Tilden be declared elected; for tho most part government clerks support the. commercial houses in the city, and as a general thing are creditors to a greater degree or lesser extent, aud should these clerks be dismissed sud denly, they will be unable to meet their liabilities. The pardon of William O'. Avery has been hailed by the majority of people as a simple act of justice. Few who were personally acquainted with Mr. Avery ever believed him guilty of the grave crime to the extent of which a chain of circumstantial evidence seemed to encompass him; that he was weak enough to allow himself to be made a cat's paw of cannot be denied, but it is also true that he was shaved out of the chestnuts. His wife, who, since his conviction aud imprisonment, has been employed in the Interior Department, is to-day a happy woman, and looks for ward to rejoining the husband she has never ceased to love and regard. Mrs. Avery has been untiring in her efforts to promote her husband's release, and Mr. Avery may well be proud of many a name and endorsement which is sub scribed to his application for pardon. Amongst these are the signatures of Seua'tors of the United States, judges of the courts, members of Congress, and a legion of personal friends aud acquaint ances. Whilst the uncertainty of who the next President will be is agitating the public mind, every one takes comfort in the fact that there is at least oue thing certain in the campaign. Peter Cooper is defeated, no one attempts to deny that, aud all men, too, concede the elec tion of the widow Butler, the life and spirit of the House of Representatives. A prophecy made by an old 'Quaker lady at least a century ago is being passed from mouth to mouth, and is creating great excitement in old cliques and in families who are the happy pos sessors of the old document. Tho war of the Rebellion was an especial point in this prophecy, and the details were fully accomplished according to the oracle. The next incident of import ance was, that after eight yeare of peace under a great military chief, who would during that time fill the Presidential chair, another war ruore bloody than the first would follow; then long years of anarchy, followed by a monarchial form of government, which would be overthrown and succeeded by a Re public more stable, more upright, more judicious than any heretofore known. We hope the old Quaker lady is mis .takeu, "yea, verily," we believe she is, and consider the anarchy part of the prophecy to be the result of madly try ing to learn by heart a verse of a favor ite meeting psalm (do Quaker's sing?) which we think runs thus: "Dear friends and fellow-mortals, We'll all turn to rattlesnakes and snapping turtles." Cactus. Washington, D. C, November 14, '70. Jacobs' official majority in Washing ton Territory is 223. CHILD'S PLAY WITH UTES. THE STAT- To the Editor of tue New Northwest : Did you e.ver play at the childish game of cob-house? I remember back in the old Buckeye State that while the larger members of my father's family were passing the long winter evenings shelling corn by the wide kitchen fire place that we little romps frequently amused ourselves by constructing min iature houses, pressing the long corn cobs together log-cabin style. This was unprofitable employment, but it cost nothing and, to us, it was rare sport. But when father or big brother, in utter disregard of our feelings, would ruth lessly kick these tiny monuments of ouringenuity iuto the blazing fire well, we would build others. Now I. have been reminded of this childish pastime by the abortive attemps of our law-makers to frame a law preventing the vice of gambling. Our statute touchiug this subject previous to the meeting of our last Legislature had been mercilessly kicked into oblivion by the Supreme Court, and the Legislature of the cur rent year proceeded to enact another law from which lovers of good-order ex pected much. But I see tbat it, like its oblivious predecessors, ' proved but a child's cob-house, and Judge Shattuck hurled it into smithereens with his lit tle boot. Pray, how is this ? Other States have succeeded in framing laws effectually preventing this ruinous vice; laws, too, that -have stood judicial tests. Are our courts more acute, or are our law-makers more obtuse than those of other States? Or may it be that saloons have been rearing these cob-houses merely for the sport of witnessing their destruc tion at the hands of our courts? (Al most everyone prefers being considered knave rather than a simpleton, therefore, I shall charitably adopt the last as the probable key to the mystery.) Still none but men are capable of acting as law-makers. Why not admit the other sex to the rights of citizenship, allow' them to assjst in making laws, and I'll guarantee that tbey will at least have sense enough to copy the statute of another State on this subject, and then the courts will kick at it in vain. ALfEC. Albany, Oregon, December 9, 1S70. Out from the forests of Oregon has is sued a new female poet, bearing aloft an elegant volume of verse, entitled "David and Anna Matsou," by Abigail Scott Duniway (S. R. Wells & Co.) Her por trait, which serves as the frontispiece, shows that she possesses uncommou force of character, and preparqs us to believe the accouuts that are given of her success in various walks of life. A perusal of the poem will euable the reader to form u judgment upon the propriety of her continuing to pursue this line of literary activity. It is a nar rative poem, based upon a strange aud touchiug tale of the Euoch Ardeu sort, once told by John G. Whittier. She expands and elaborates tbesimplestory, developes the three characters that ap pear iu it, aud clothes its scenes and iu uidents with the haudiwork ofJierfaucy. There are higher powers of characteriz ation, emotion, aud imagination than those which she displays; but yet her poetic narrative is suited to the minds of a multitude of readers who would feel ill at ease if takeu up to the intel lectual pinnacle's upon which a few gi- auts have disported themselves. In short, there is no doubt that Mrs. Duui way's poem will interest aud please many people, and even critical readers will find iu it passages which must command their attention. The main poem of the volume is followed by some shorter pieces that possess such poetic qualities as warrant us in awarding her a place among the attractive aud popu lar poets of the day; and of these "Tho Dirge of the Sea" aud "West aud West" are marked specimens. After a life of successful labor iu other fields, Mrs. Duniway of Oregon has, at this time of her life, made a beginning that gives promise of future achievements. There are many pretty and pleasing illustra tions in the book, which has been set out in beautiful style by the publishers. JV. Y. Sun. The following squibs on the political farce last week enacted at Salem are from the New York Tribune: "Grover has already been called Beu Jict Arnold 1,707 times, and Judas Is cariot 1,053 times. It seems to be a case of a unanimous verdict without consul tation. Even Democrats fail to defeud nim, which is the most startiiug con demnation possible." "The spectaclo of a party trying to steal one President and to impeach an other at the same time, has been re served for the Centennial year. Tho success of tho experiment will undoubt edly be so lamentable that a second trial will not be made for another century." "As between Croniti, who takes cer tificates that do not belong to him and fills vacancies which do not exist with men whom lie has no right to appoint, aud a postmaster, wicked and depraved though he must be, wo have no choice. Let Croniu bo content there is a post mastership vacant, and before long he will waut to hide away inside of some thing." Mfc, is a. common enough thing for two persons to claim to be one, but Cio uiu of Oregon stands alone iu history as the first and last man who claimed to be a plurality of a board of three mem bers." The Corvallis Gazette has taken a new departure, having been merged into a corporation. The articles of incorpora tion are signed by Dr. J. B. Lee, James A. Yantis, and W. B. Carter, aud have been duly filed according to law. The capital stock of the compauy is fixed at $2,000, in shares of $50 each. The new company will take full control on the 1st of January, 1S77. Five cases of small-pox are reported on Spencer Creek, eight miles west of Eugene. A mystery attaches Itself to these cases, as to the manner in which they became exposed to the disease, this being the only place where it was prev alent, aud all cases there were discharged fully six weeks' before theirs broke out. The exports of Oregon average $318 to every man in the State. Her wheat, wool, salmon and fruits command from five to ten per cent, higher price than those from any other country. Her ex port of wheal equals oueiseventh of the total export of the United States. Such a State is not a poor State to live in. Mrs. Jane Shelton, of Olympia, was the first white child born on American soil north of the Columbia River. She is now in her 30th year.