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About The new Northwest. (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887 | View Entire Issue (May 4, 1877)
KRS. A. J. DranVAY. Editor and Proprietor. OFFICE-Cob. Tbont fc Washikgtok Steeets TERMS, IN ADVANCE : One year. kit months- -S3 00 1 75 . 1 00 Three months.- ADVERTISEMENTS Inserted on Reasonable Terras. EDNA AND JOHN: A Romance or Idabo Flat. Br Mrs. A. J. DUNIVAY, AUTHOR OF "JUDITH REID," "ELLEN DOWD,' "AMIE ASD HENRY LEE," "THE HAPPY HOME," "ONE WOMAN'S SPHERE," "MADGE MORRISON," ETC., ETC., ETC Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by Mrs. A. J. Dunlway, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington City. Woman's degraded, helpless position is the weak point of our institutions to-day a dis turblng force everywhere, severing family ties, ailing our asylums with the deaf, the dumb, the blind, our prisons with criminals, our cit ies with drunkenness and prostitution, our homes with disease and death. National Cen tennial Equal Rights Protest. CHAITER XX. Edna passed a sleepless night. Both babies were unusually unwell and fret ful, and what with ber own troubled thoughts and their continued restless ness, the morning dawned ere she bad closed her eyes in slumber. To rise with the peep of dawn was one of the necessary contingencies of her business, and it was with heavy heart and heavy eyelids that she appeared at breakfast to wait upon a long line of hungry boarders, all of whom had learned of ber determination to try to live without further interference from a drunken gambler, no matter what the law might demand. And, In truth, the better class of men in Idaho Flat were in open sympathy with thestruggling bond-woman. More than once had numbers of them held private indignation meetings wherein they had half resolved to lynch the vag abond who ruled over her, but the feel ing of respect for the lawful rights of a husband, let that husband be never so worthless, was as deep rooted as the prejudice against a separation for other than nameless causes was firm. Edna moved nervously about the breakfast tables, serving each in turn with her accustomed alacrity, pausiug now and then to give a word of advice to Sue, who was minding the children in a room adjoining, when John Smith, the legal head of the family, and conse quent lawful owner of the premises, came sauntering in beside a young limb of the law who had recently displayed bis shingle in the Flat, and was solic itous of securing legal business to coun teract his board bill. "A half-dozen eggs, well done ! I say, wife!" exclaimed John Smith, In a loud, commanding key, "I propose to see whether or not I can rule my own household !" "Eggs are a dollar and a half per dozen," suggested Edna, falteringly. "I didn't ak the price of eggs!" was the loud rejoinder; "I want 'em well done !" "Then bay them!" replied Edna, turning to the lawyer for his order, and further ignoring John. "A "ice breakfast, please. I am not over particular," said Mr. Brief, com placently. "My rule is money in advance, as you are aware, Mr. Smith," quietly re marked the trembling wife, while her soul seemed to flash through her great, rabbit-like eyes. "See here!" cried John, in a sort of sibilant whisper, "You just hurry up that provender, and do as I bid you, or I'll break every dish on this cussed ta bie!" "And get fined for your pains," said Edna, quietly. "Is that it!" he exclaimed, giving the table a kick that made the dishes clat ter. "I say, Brief!" he added, after Edna had left them to enjoy their breakfast minus the eggs, "isn't it a jolly joke for a man's wife to talk" about fining him. no matter what be does ?" "I should say it was," said Mr. Biief. 'The fact is, women are getting a great deal too saucy, and they need a check upon their growing spirit of indepeud ence. If I were you I'd go over to the saloon and run tbe biggest kind of a bill. Debts of honor, you know. That is, I wouldu't call them that, exactly, for they've got a new Territorial Judge over at Boise, and he's playing sad havoc with many of our pet projects, He's one o' your white-cravated kind of sticklers for morals aud all that sort o tiling, aud he's workiug to keep divorces out of the Legislature and before th courts. That part of it is well enougl for the lawyers, and I'm not complain ing at all, but he rules out all debts for monte or faro, or anything else of tbe kind, so we must call it something else, Now, I have it, by jingo! She refuses to give yon board and lodging. Of course that's moonshine, for she can' help herself, seeing she's your lawful wife, but you can make it a pretext, and you cau board and lodge in the Eureka and get your drinks and amusements I the bargain. Of course I'll have a good round ree against you, though I'll be reasonable, 'pou my word. But this legal business always costs like sin, you snow." "Yes, I know; but what next?" John was so deeply interested in this profound "legal advice" that he almost forgot his food. "Well, I was going to say that I'll board along with you at the Eureka, and that'll make tbe bill bigger." "What then?" VOLUME "VI. "You can come onto your wife for the pay, my boy." "But I just don't see what good that would do me, or Edna, or tbe cubs. You'd have had your board, and I mine, but old Sol of the saloon would get Edna's business. You can't quite come that over me, if I am a wronged aud outraged man." "But don't you see the beauty of the thing? The woman needs to feel your power, as you know. She needs to be taught her place. When she finds, after cooking hard all summer iu the hotel business that a suit will be brought iu the District' Court) and judgment ren dered iu favor of old Sol against every thing she possesssR, she'll come to her senses deuced quick." "But I can't see that what you advise would be right." "The dickens take the right of the matter ! We weren't considering right, but expediency and power, my boy. She refuses to live with you, that is certain. Can't say that I blame her so dogged much, for you're a sad scamp, and no mistake; but women must learn to obey the laws and must be compelled to respect them, too." "That's a fact," said John Smith, de cidedly. "After you've run a bill for, say six mouths," continued Mr. Brief, "you can give your note, payable on demand, and then you'll be sued on the note, the ho tel property will be attached, and your wounded dignity aud honor will be avenged ." "But, hang it, Brief, I don't just like to do such a thing as that. There's the cubs, you know. She'll have lo keep something to raise them on." "Oil, drown the cubs ! Ten to one they're not yours, you know." John Smith did not know any tliingof the kind. Indeed, such a thought had never before crossed his brain. "She's a plaguey sight more intimate with that jackanapes of a preacher than I'd allow a wife of mine to be !" said Mr. Brief, speaking low and looking extremely wise. John Smitii was suddenly struck wltb a new sensation. The idea of doubting Edna's honor, or of pretending to do so, was aflecting him strangely. Rising from the table, where he had gorged to repletion ofT the proceeds of his wife's labor, he spent the day in discussing her and the minister among his couferes at the Eureka, aud when night came and he aud bis legal adviser had aban doned Edna's temperance house and transferred their patrouage lo the "op position" establishment, where there was a bar, a faro bank, and a billiard table, the sense of relief the tired aud perplexed woman experienced was the merciful result of total ignorance con cerning the real desigus of her protector uu head. Wheu Mr. Handel again called in bis pastoral rounds, he found her in good pirits and remarkably prosperous. 'Of course, Mrs. Smith, you are re- ponsible for your own conduct, aud ou alone must bear its consequences," lie said, solemnly. "But if I were you should never have gone to such ex treme measures." You have no idea what you would do if you were me, sir. But I know that if ou were in my place you would do even worse than you think I have done. am struck with intense admiration over the sublime fortitude with which you bear my burdens." "Well, my dear madam, a woman is never justified iu leaving her husband for other than Scriptural reasons. You have perjured your immortal soul." I have obeyed the Golden Rule, sir, and if in so doing I have perjured my salvation I am ready to bear the ordeal I have done by John Smith exactly as I should want him to do by me under the same circumstances." Then, madam, I suppose your uext dereliction will be the disgrace of a di vorce court." "And what do I want of a divorce, pray? All I ask of John is that he leave me in possession of my children and earnings. I have had enough of marrying, God knows." "Madam, I am much relieved. I feared that you were on the downward track." Then, if getting a divorce from a man whose marriage was a moral fraud in the beginning is what you call the downward track,' you may possess your soul in unconcern. I shall not want a divorce. Yet I confess I fail to see the 'upward' tendency of a 'track' that keeps me on the legal treadmill, subject to tbe whims of a drunken id lot." "You ought not to have married him in the first place," said Mr. Haudel, looking extremely wise. "I know it, sir; but having done my self an injury, and made a fearful mis take in so doing, do you think it my duty as a Christian to continue in the evil way ? I thought it was the part of a Christian to repent of and forsake all evil. It seems to me that lack of com mon sense is your besetting sin." "There!" said Mr. Brief, exultantly, as he and John Smith stood on tbe walk outside, peering eagerly through tbe partly opened door. "Didn't I tell you that she and that preacher were entirely too friendly?" "I believe it, 'pon my soul!" replied the injured (?) husband, as be repaired to .tbe Eureka and indulged more freely than ever in potations and play. One day a miner, ragged and way- PORTLAND, worn, called at the hotel, bringing with him a little child of tender years, as ragged and unkempt as himself. He was pale and care-worn, aud a backing cough betokened the presence of a fell disease. Edna was busy with the chamber work at the time, and Sue was left in charge of the dining-room. AtfirstSuedid not recognize the new comers; but ever since her babe had been wrested from her embrace she had peered eagerly Into the face of every stranger she met iu the hope that she might see some person she might rec ognize who could give her tidingsof her long-lost child. Children she bad not seen at all, except Edna's, and now the unexpected appearance of this forsaken little one awakened all her motherly so licitude. Taking the child iu her arms, she retreated to a chamber, where she proceeded at once to bathe the attenu ated body, which was literally covered with a cutaneous eruption, the result of a neglect that had well-nigh disfigured it utterly. O, my God !" she exclaimed, as, dis robing the child, she began a thorough . cleansing process with deft and careful hands, what if my poor baby were to come to this !" After long and gentle application of much-needed soap and water, and a carefuland successful effort to rid the matted hair of tangles and virmin, the little girl revealed so much of her natu ral semblance to a human being that a sudden wild, ardent and yet shuddering hope seized the bereaved and childless mother, aud she hugged the waif in an ecstacy of mingled expectation and dread. "Where is your mamma, littlo dar ling?" she said, passionately. "I ain't dot any," was the artless an swer. Is your mamma dead?" and Sue Randolph trembled in every nerve. "She's stoled.'" replied the child. "She's stoled by a bad man, and my papa goed away and never corned back." "What was your papa's name, dar ling?" Sue could hardly wait for a reply. "My mamma called him Hal, aud lie called me Blossom," was the artless an swer. "Would you know your mamma if you should tee her, Blossom?" "I dess so. Her had boo eyes and her didn't whip me, but Jim does." "Who's Jim?" "The man I corned with." "Where's your papa?" "Stoled too, and poor little Blossom's all alone." Again and again did the poor woman caress the little hideous-lookiug waif, while tears of mingled joy and sorrow streamed down her pain-furrowed face and a tumult of contending emotions well-nigh overpowered her. Meanwhile the hungry applicant for dinner was impatiently awaiting her tardy movements, aud expressing his impatience byoft-repeated thumpsupou the table. Edna, hearing the commotion, has tened to the rescue and served the cus- tomer without demanding tbo usual fee iu advance, "I'll give him one meal and let him go," she soliloquized, "for I know be has no money." "You seem to be prospering, Mrs. Smith. Where's Johu?" he asked, helping himself to the late dinuer of warmed-over meats ami vegetables like one to the manner born "lam not advised as to the present whereabouts of Mr. Sraitb, but I think you will find him at the Eureka," was the dignified reply. "You don't seem to kuow me," con tlnued the guest. "I have not the honor," was the freez ing rejoinder. Well, madam, I'm what's lelt of Jim Youug, Sue's old flame, you know, John aud I spent last winter in Lewis ton together, and when our luck turned we had deuced hard times getting hash lost my way in coming back and found myself at last away over yonder at tbe foot of Alturas, where there are lots of new diggings. I should have gone to work there and been contented only Hal LaSelie took a notion to die.' "What?" Edna was fearfully pale, "Hal took a notion to die, and there was nobody but me to care for the kit ten, and I thought, as I'd caused the old boy a good deal of trouble, it was uoth ing more than fair that I should do him a good turn, so 1 toon cnarge ot tue young one and brought it over to Sue." "And Where's the child?" "Oft somewhere with its mother. don't think she knows the kit. It's had an awful hard time of it." Edna fairly flew to join her frieud up stairs, and the two held a long consulta tion over their future plans, while laughing and crying by turns over th recovery of the little storm-tos9ed wai they had so long mourned us dead. "From his home in the skies poor Hal will be able to see things as they are, I hope, and theu he will realize how deeply he has wronged me and our darlimr." sobbed the half-distracted mother. "Sue, do you know who it was that brought ber to us?" asked Edna, after the agitated mother bad grown some what calmer. "Oh, no; but I must go aud thank him. He must have money, too. Evi dently tbe fellow needs it." Taking tbe child in her arms, she pro Free Speech, Free Press, Free People. OBEGON, DFKI13A.Tr, MAY 4, 1877. ceeded to the dining-room, and there, much to her astonishment and conster nation, confronted the only man who had ever had remotest .cause to look pon her with dishonor. "Your amend in bringing my poor child to me has covered a multitude of sins," she said, offering a purse, and bowing with dignified politeness. "Take this mouey, get you some clothes, and eq"uip yourself like a man and go to work. I am a reformed woman, and when you prove yourself as strong to do right as you have been foremost to do rong, you shall not fail to find a friend i me. But you must do right, and prove yourself able to sustain yourself, ere I shall again attempt to assist you." To be continued. Lost in the Wild Waves. One never forgets the scene, if, in crossing from Jiurope in one oi tne great steamers, he tajies his station for ward some fojrgy night on tne banks oi Newfoundland, feeling the gigantic mass on which he stands quiver as it foams and wrestles with the waves, while all around the walls of mist seem o shut out the world, when suddenly the faint stroke of a dull bell comes pon his ear, then a small light in a lalo of mist dances fitfully under the ee bow, and In an instant he looks down from his lofty height ou a little loon or schooner riding wim tre mendous pitches on the waves, while a couple of faces under sou'wester hats gaze up in the light from the steamer's port-holes, as the great black mass shoots above them,shaviugofl death by spoke ot the wheel.. How many of these fishermen's cockle-shells, that ride the waves iu the midst of tub Atlantic to a Hempen cable, have been struck and swept dowu under great ships, making scarce a quiver from stem to stern, can never be kuo wn, but certainly many. How many have fouled each other by the partiugof ca bles in some terrific storm, aud crushed ach other's sides like egg-shells, is equally unconjecturable, but out of al most every fleet that sails from Glouces ter or the towus along Cape Cod, some ever return by the casualties of tbe most favorable season. Again, there are storms, ai that of December, when waves are borne off bodily by tbe force of the wind, burying their little barques in an avalanche of water, under which they are whelmed ike chips, and all tiiut is known ot their fate is that, after mouths of heart sick waiting, they do not come home. There have been disasters greater than that of last year, but twenty-eight ves sels and 221 lives will cause many an empty cupboard and desolate hearth stone ou the wiudy coasts of Cape Ann and Cape Cod. With such a perilous uveiiiiood as this, it is no wonder that the suits of solemn black are the common wear iu Gloucester, and that tbe widows and the fatherless number more than half the population. Iu the pathetic language of the old Scotch song, the fisher wives may well think it's not the Hsu they're selling, but the lives of men. The he roic courage of these men, who take more than the risks of a battle for a bare subsistence, was, generations ago, celebrated in the glowing language of Jiurke, and that it still continues is a iroof of the uudegenenicy of the is w England blood. The Hen as She Really Is. Now, there Is another man who thinks he knows how to make liens lay, and lie communicates the process to one ot the agricultural papers. It is in tne mod, ot course. That's what all these idiots say. When will the true nobility of a hen be understood? Hens are not ma chines. They are reasoning, thinking beings. If there is one sight more im pressive than another, it is a hen think- ug. To make a hen lay, get ou her best side. Work on her feelings. This cau be done by studying her nature and learning her tastes. This accomplished, go to work to show her that you are her frieud, and not a grinding, graspiug leech, with no higher aim than worm ing eggs out of her. When a hen 6ees that you respect her; that you are truly her friend; that you are in active sym pathy with her Teachings out for the in definable iu nature, she will just turn her toes in, tighten her jaws, and fairly fill the atmosphere with eggs. You can't lay for a hen with food tricks. A hen despises concealment. vanuury Neios. A Prediction of 1870. More than six years ago we predicted iu a New York journal of which we were then special correspondent that within ten years women would vote, leather more than half the time has elapsed, and this pre diction lias been largely verified. Wom en have voted and held office. In Wy oming the right of suffrage has been ireely exercised by women, and in many other States the rights of women have materially advanced. In England, with all the efforts now making, there is not tlie slightest doubt but that, wom an will soon have equal right of suflrage Willi man, if snc wants it. We nave al ways lavored it believing mat it is a right that inheres to the individual a right that no law bus moral power to either cive or take away. uut haviuir thus re-iterated our ueiiei, will our kiud friends permit us to add, that not alone in the ballot for women rests the vital issues of the day. Suffrage is only one of many methods by which the advance ment of our sex is to be secured and re tained.. Woman's Words. Joaquin Miller's new drama covers a period of 2,100 years. After he had "sup posed" a period of 1,500 to have passed, and the drama was pretty nearly com pleted, Joaquin took a tumble to him self aud concluded that nearly all of the characters were old enough to kill off, Then he went on fearlessly and slaugh tered all except a hero, who seemed to be in good condition, and lie was al lowed a place in the drama throughout. but when budding into manhood at the age of U,1U0 Joaquin cut him off unpre- pareu. A witty writer has observed, with much truth, that every man is, in a sense, three different men. In tbe first place, he Is the man he thinks himself to be; in tbe second place, he Is the man other persons think him to be, and finally, he is tbe man that he really is, There is a lady bank director at Peoria, Illinois, and one at UontonUhio. OUR WASHINGTON LETTER. To the Editor of the New Northwest : "When I last wrote you matters had assumed such a pacific and temperate aspect that the sanguine American was congratulating himself on his President, his national system of citizenship, and on most of the historical transactions, the past, present, and anticipated. Now the little cloud "no bigger than a man's hand," for it is a man's, hand and Sena tor Blaine's at that, has shown itself and threatens to disturb the unanimity of his party's ranks. It was gathered from the President's inaugural address and bis subsequent conciliatory conduct that he. intended to disrupt the "Solid South" and insert a wedge into the Democratic ranks strong enough to pre vent them re-concentrating at the next canvass.. But schism seems arising among his own partisans which, if it spread among the leaders, may defeat his schemes. Mr. Blaine is an ambi tious man and full of courage. He is one of the best fighters that has appeared in the Congressional arena for many years, aud should he antagonize the ad ministration hereafter, we may expect lively times. Iu the Senate he will not have that opportunity for exercise of bis great powers and astonishing par liamentary ability which the House permitted. But if be be led to oppose the President's policy, we will see a rep etition of the grand struggle between Mr. Sumuer aud Geueral Grant, for he will bring every energy to bear to secure his point. We, however, do not expect more than a mere passive antagonism to any administration from any mem ber of Mr. Blaine's party, for those who incline now to oppose are regarded as the extremists who unite at the rear rather than at the front of their party. It is too soon to cast the political horo scope, for experience teaches us that the roaring lion of to-day, under some fan cied political oppressions, is as mild to morrow as a sucking dove, heuce the many expressions of dissent now heard may be turned to words of praise. The President's "amiable stubborness" will render him a formidable opponent, and may serve him as good purpose asdid the dogged persistency of his predecessor by preventing many an attack that would be made upon an antagonist of greater pliability. The small majority which either party will have in Congress will serve to prevent passage of all radical measures, aud should the President suc ceed in adjusting his Louisiana embrog lio satisfactorily, the session will bo a short one. THE NEXT HOUSE. The composition of the next House cau now be calculated witli reasonable accuracy. Two hundred and sixty mem bers are now on the pay rolls by author ity of the clerk. Mr. Adams, the clerk, will leave several contested districts to be determined by the House after its organization, which will be effected without delay under his enrollment. The Speakership will be given to a Democrat, unless by some most unex pected combination some of the Demo crats should deem it politic to cast their votes for a Republican. "Politics make strange bed-fellows" is an old saw which nas many veriucations here, and we ookers-on should never dare be pro phetic in advance of any public meas ure in Congress. If hostilities are iu augurated, the vote in the House aud tbe Seuate is so close that It becomes no laughing matter, and with the Lou- siana muddle still on the carpet, or, more properly speaking, the table, our hting politicians will have their hands full. THE LOUISIANA COMMISSION. So far the only suggestions thrown out by the commission have encount ered the entire disfavor of either one or the other of the contestants, so that anything like a compromise seems very difficult of execution. Although the President has directed them to enlarge their field of action and try some other method of settlement, the result will probably remain very unsatisfactory, as both sides refuse to concede anything, whilst the conferences with private cit izens leave but one alternation, Nich- oils or a military government. Never theless Mr. Hayes pursues the "even tenor of his way," and feels satisfied that the crooked places will be made straight without deviation from his happy peace policy. Yesterday beiug the thirteenth an niversarypresentation day of the National Deuf Mute College, there was a very large attendance of dig nitaries and ladies, chief among whom President aud Mrs. Hayes and Secre tary tichurz were noted. After a few remarks by the President the de grees were conrerred by the distin guished Professor Gallandet, who has done so much for the Instruction and alleviation of the condition of the un fortunate deaf mutes. It was quite In teresting to notice the petting aud at tention given two little prattlers belong ing to a married couple of deaf mutes teaching in the college. Unlike tbe parents, tbe children conversed readily and seemed delighted with the homage of the occasion. Mrs. Hayes continues to receive the public every Saturday, aud every even ing devotes herself to receiving calls from friends and acquaintances in her private parlor. On tbe strength of hav ing travelled with her in the winter of '06 and '67, 1 regarded myself as an ao quaintance and last night joined among her callers. Assisted by her niece, Miss McFariand, she received her visitors in the freest and most unconstrained man ner, and certainly possesses the faculty of making each one feel perfectly at home. Ten years have told in some de gree upon her. While she converses with as much auimatiou as ever, yet Father Time has laid his hand upou her and apparently subdued somewhat the exu berance of spirits which made her then the life of our party, aud whether from cares of State or the quieting iufluence of age she seems now much more the staid matron thau teuyearsago. Doubt less not one of our pleasant New Or leans, party dreamed that the quiet and dignified member of-Cbngress, Mr. Hayes, would, with his fascinating wife, occupy in the near future tbe White House, aud be the arbiter of the desti nies of the very people whose hospitali ties we were accepting, aud last night it was difficult to realize the fact. In the morning of the 19th of October, 1864, when at Cedar Creek the rebels were driving us like so many sheep, Colonel Hayes passed me in the confusion and I could not repress the wish that he might be spared from death. Not as a soldier, for as a soldier his life was plumed on his sleeve to be plucked off by any rebel bullet, and was therefore of no more worth thau that of any other soldier, but because he was a member of Con gress and tbe country needed his servi ces in the future rather than his life iu the present. But little did I dream that out of that battle would come the chief magistrate of our nation. We felt then that our defeat would insure McCIellan's election, and that the country would need the presence iu Congress of her truest patriots, hence my wish Colonel Hayes might escape death. Tbe same power that gave us victory that event ful day has carried us safely through all our troubles, and now I am no more ap prehensive of the nation's future under Mr. Hayes than then under Mr. Lin coln, whom all knew to be all that any patriot could desire. Felix. Washington, D. C, April 13, 1S77. An Absurdity Well Set Porth. The following is from the St. Louis Democrat: In Missouri, where woman is more highly valued than iu Massachusetts, iu consequence of the greater scarcity of the article, woman is, by legislative coucessiou, allowed to own the clothes she wears. But she must uot abuse her privilege. If she be a single woman, and have no other comfort than iu her wearing apparel, she may uot only own her clothes, but she may even sell them, bequeath them or give them away such tender consideration hath the law for the rights of woman. But it would be monstrous to allow a woman to own a husband and a dress at tbe same time, and a married woman, though she may iudeed call herself the owner of those vanities ou which her heart is set, may uot bequeath them nor otherwise dis pose of tliem witiiout her husband's con sent. We do not know whether the law would interfere with that weakness of tlie feminine mind which prompts the housewite to exchange worn but ser viceable garmeuts forchiuaware mantel ornaments, but we kuow that tiie sol emu Legislature of Missouri is now gravely debating a bill to allow married women the privilege of bequeathing their personal effects, a privilege not yet enjoyed. The position of woman under tlie law is, since the abolition of slavery, the last relic of barbarism, and it is not likely that the present genera tion will see her in possession of all those natural rights which are denied her only by the intolerance of stupid proscription. But we migtit allow iier to own her clothes, which she does uot own in Massachusetts, and we might even allow her to bequeath them, which she cannot do under the existing statutes of Missouri. Our liberties are now so safely secured that they may confidently be relied on to stauu tlie moderate shock of these concessions, and after they are made, the satirists may be able to make their points more acutely and aim their shafts with better snow ot judgment. One of Time's Changes. Thirteen years ago there were no systems of "study made easy," no object teaching, handsome school-houses, fancy station ery, or two months' vacation, in the best academies we were seated on chairs, bad some astronomical instruments. globes, and maps for the higher classes, mid the month of August for vacation: sufficiently long we thought: but in those days every tailor aud shoe-maker did uot deem it necessary for tlie health of his family to visit a watering-place every season. We nad not tne evil or over-crowded school-houses, and tlie fashion of compelling little children to sit like trussed fowls had not been in vented; the teachers were generally men; any boy over eight years of age would have thought it an indignity no to be borne to have been sent to a worn aii's school, such teachers being deemed fit only for little chaps and girls. The Camerons. Mary Clemmer, one of the most observing of Washing ton correspondents, writes thus: "The empty seatof Simon Cameron is, indeed conspicuous, and anything morally more remarkable man the nuai night o this old man from political power and place could uot be imagined. If Don could only have been Secretary of War, the father would still be in the benate. But an administration, and that a Re publican administration, too, that had no special use for a Cameron was more than the venerable bimon could bear, aud he retired in wrath and disgust, to slip out from among men at last with his ancieui harness oil." Mrs. Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, President of tlie Illinois Woman Suf frage Association, lias control of "Woman's Department" iu the Chicag mier-ucean. Said Mr. Tapley, of Danbury, feeling softly of his nose, "I don't want to be too nopeiui or sanguine, but l oeuer I'm going to have a boil." A Journal for the People. Devoted to the Interests of Humanity. Independent In Politics and Religion. illve to all Live Issues, and Thoroughly Radical In Opposlngand Exposing the Wrong of the Masses. Horresnondents writ lnsr over nRsnnipd fiftrnn. tures must make known their names to the Editor, or no attention will be given to theii communications. Our Prudes. American women were once supposed to be modest even to prudislines9. There was hardly a foreign traveler who, in ins eagerness to detect some blotch of ill favor, however minute, to mar the fair promise of the country, did not fasten bis pen upon tbe squeamishness supposed to be characteristic of our women, and expose it to a congenial public of his own laud as a sign of American vulgaiity. Those iu whose memory there may be still left traces of the pungent sarcasm oi jurs. Troiiope win recall a scene In her book on the Uuited Stales in which that censorious dame, with the aid of the scratchy pencil of some now forgot ten artist, depicts the overstrained deli cacy of a Western lady of her acquaint ance'; ofrSis more probable, her inven tion. The point of tbe description aud ot tne picture; is tue equivocation with which our fastidious couutry-woman lodges the pertinactesinquisitiveness r a male visitor dete.-miiierr-tS--Ierret out the nature of the piece of work her imbie neeele fs so busy with. The so lution of the mysterious problem, in which the mutual ingenuity of coy prudishness aud impudent curiosity is cleverly displayed, is simply a shirt, winch airs. Troiiope would have her readers suppose was a thine unmention able by American lips polite to any ears, wneuier pome or impolite. Uaptam jUarryat, too, with his ward room liberty of speech and Munchausen tretch or imagination, had his ilincrat American prudishness, and, with the practiced coolness of a habitually un scrupulous raconteur, related for the se rious belief of Ins credulous country men that American women were so modest that they put the legs of their pianos in pantalets, or trowsers. There was unquestionably a basis of fact for the construction of these tales of travelers iu search of the marvelous. American women were fastidious, but uot pruuisn in tne sense ot affecting a modesty they did not possess. Theira was certai nly a genuine delicacy, though the barriers with which they sought to guard it may often have beeu awk wardly constructed and applied. The ubterluges or youthlul shyness are foolish and transparent enough, but they are nevertheless the resorts of un- oubted innocence. .Let burdened men f the world say what they will about prudery beiug an indication of the want I the very thing it professes, blushes. averted faces, and disguised meanings are the natural defenses of modesty. The Americans were undoubtedly more scrupulous iu the use of many words thau the Europeans, lint wiiy should this have been called prudery auy more than the increased fastidiousness which has marked the progress of civilization iu ail countries? Madam De Sevigne, who was a very Diana of chastity, and endowed with all the purity of maternal sentiment, wrote iu her letters to her daughter about topics and in words of which even I'rench society, with all its latitude of discussion and expression, would now suppress the slightest whis per. Pages of Richardson, Fieldinjr, and of the writers of a day still nearer our own limes, once read aloud iu the presence of and freely discussed by mixed companies of innocent girls aud boys and modest men and women, would not now be tolerated in Englaud, where most common-place women of average culture and refinement are not allowed to read, or at least to confess having read, or even to kuow the titles of the works of these authors of classic fame. Much of the so-called American prudishness was perhaps, after all, only a state of the advanced public refine ment, to which civilization, with more or less speed, is everywhere tending. We must, however, put in a protest against tlie exaggerated delicacy of a fastidiousness which seems too much inclined to disguise plain words in equivocal finery of speech, by which purity useii is sometimes made suspect. There are various expressions in use n this country which are either en tirely new and unknown to the Eng lish, or applied in a sense dillerent from that in which they are ordinarily un derstood by them. The origin of these novel or perverted words may be un doubtedly traceil to false delicacy, but they have become so ingrafted upon tlie American lingo that those who now ordinarily employ them are neither conscious of nor responsible for the prudishness Irom winch they certainly arose. uurAinericau progenitors, puri- tanically nice, were easily startled by the most remote suggestion of impro priety, and, like all half-cultivated but aspiring people, who, only too conscious ot vulgarisms irom ineir lowiy associa tions, made overstrained eflorts to avoid them. It is not now wortii while to specify them and endeavor to trace them to their origiu, for the process would in evitably lead us back to that polluted source from which our sturdy ancestors derived them, unconscious of all offense, but which cannot, it reached, tun to shock modern delicacy. It may be wise to accept withtfut inquiry what has al ready been adopted by general usage, but it is well to understand that over- nicetv in expression is sometimes sug gestive of excessive nastiness of idea, and to avoid all attempts at guarding every innocent word against tlie possi bility oi us remotest ussouiuiiuu wnu impropriety in tlie minds of the vulgar. Such attempts will he vain, for as to the evil all things are evil, so to ine vulvar all things are vulgar, and we shall only reveal a consciousness ou our own part, which will have a look very like sympathy, anil prooaoiy ue mis taken for it. Harper's Bazar. We have taken wood, potatoes, corn, eggs, butter, onions, cabbages, chick ens, stone, lumber, labor, sand, calico, sauerkraut, second-hand clothing, coon skins, anil bug juice on subscriptions, in our time, and now a man writes us lo know if we would send the paper six months for a large owl. There are few tilings an editor would refuse on sub scriptions, and if we come across any fellow who is out of an owl and N in need of one, we'll do it. Osborne (Kan sas) Farmer. "Are these gratuitous?" asked an old gentleman of a druggist's assistant, tak ing a patent medical almanac from a pile on the counter. "No; them's al manacs," curtly answered the matter-of-fact assistant. "Change cars !" is what a boot-black said to a Chicago man the other day, when he had finished one of Ills brogaus. Last year we sold Europe 185,883,145 worth more than we bought from ber.