. a .. L . - - k 1 ; K..:,r- ,'.-.. . . .. .. . .
t.-.C.'--- . . '. . 1 ' v . j v ' ' . j v . ' - '
. ... - v' ..... -v ' ,:: ; ."'t 1 . ' :-l I ' - ; . ' . .
i .TT.. rr - --1: "7 " ' ! ' rui HrwH, rasa Pmm, feb pkothl; - ; 4 ' ,; t " - " " ' ' ' " -
. , ' ' 1 " 1 " - ' ' - ' - -- - TT I
' VOLUME X. NO. J7.
IOUTLAND, OREGON, THURSDAY, JANUARYS
PER YEAR S3 Ort.!
W'ritUn for th New Korthwent.
THE OLD WOMAN.
BV ABIGAIL 8COTT DVMWAV.
1
Ned Huntline sat at the breakfast UbI and ab
stractedly sipped hl cofTee. , Net Mas considered
a great ''catch" among the girls or teieepy JloJiot;
h
hot that he was either rich or liandnomet for
was not, nor was there anything very remarkable
about him, except his" tidy habits and bls-welk
knowu determination to take care of his parents,
who had spent theirarnings of a lifetime la rear
lng and educating' their many children, all of
whom except Ned were well married arid" comfort
ably settled In establiHhmcnts of their own In the
far-away Ktatesf. where v constant application to
business enabled hem to live in peace and plenty.
'Ned lluntllr.eJhe senior, after whom the Junior
e4 hadieenWml-livtlsH had been au axsitluou
M
worthy sire of the-seyen Huntlines, was, nrtB
hlsieathbed, and the wife and. the son were the
olitary occupants of the breakfast table, where in
the years -agone there had been . nine chairs
promptly. fillMt"every meal.
. "Do you tTiink father will live the day out?"
asked Nel, sending up his Cup for the second time,
and speaking for.the first.
It's doubtful, son. There has been a rapid
change within half a dozen hours." .-'
. The wife buriel her face in her hands and wept
silently. She wasan 1 old-fashioned woman, an
exemplary wife, who -had cheerfully borne her
share of life's many burdens through all the years
of their union. She had been a strong woman In
tordayrtwrt irotepTOrf
eyes were dim and her handunsteady.
1 "Don't cry, mother," said Ned, softly, as he left
his last cup un ta ted and went-around where she
was sitting. "We've all got to take our turn
when It jcom'es. Death Is only a transition." It'
but a question of time till we, too, shall die. Cheer
up, mother, 'ou are to have a valuable legacy
to-day."
5Iy son, I know I have a valuable legacy in
you, and I try to be comforted. Your father Is
reauy ana wining i cue, antijtM'on't be many
years till I shall Join him.. . Rut O Ned, It's hard J
..."What will-become of me ?"
. (Tears choked her utterance, and Ned placed his
arm around her. tenderly and drew. her head to his
-shoulder. "
"I am your legacy, dearest mother, and I shall
prove a support to you that shall never fall."
Mollie will ' love you, too.. Don't worry. You
- shall spend the balance of your days in ease and
contentment and plenty."
"Mollie. did yoaimvNwir' . ... ,, ... .
"Yes, mother" ; " r . -
"Xot Mollie HawklMr ' X .
"Yes; Mollie. Hawkips. AVe've been engaged
for a year, and it Is her wish and mine to be mar
ried to-day, so that father may witness the cere-
money." .
"O Ned I It seems both wicked and cruel to be
thinking about a wedding to-day. Walt a yer,
do!" ; . - : -- -
"Father and I talked It over while'you were
getting breakfast, and he's glad to know of our
plan and seconds It heartily." -
"Why didn't' you tell me before, Ned?"
good will of her son and whomsoever he might
marry. Jiut she had not dreamed that he would
marry Mollie. Hawkins, whom, of aU the girls of
her acquaintance, sTie, most thoroughly dhtllkfd.
"1 do not think I can live happily wltu Jiouie,
Ned.You know I liave nowhere else to gof and
yau. ought to consider my wishes a little."
! "Why, of course you can, if yoH'U.be reasona-
bly, You've only to turn everything over, Junt a
it stamls, to her, and you can take your seat and
make yourself comfortable. I'd be thankful to
anybody that would take (everything out of my
hands and guarantee me a supitort. without effort
on my part, during the remainder of nty natural
life." . '
"You don't know what you are talking about,
Ned. - It was never the design of Nature that any
person should live that way."
"I know it, wasn't so designed for men; but
with women It's altogether dlflerentTT
attendant upon"Ned'sfather during his long ill
Whs, appeared on the wene at this Juncture, as she
hal done for a fortnight nat, to know if she could
i-be of knyservlee, during the day y.
, ."I've Just been telling mother about it,"MoIlie,"
said Ned, riHingt "Mother, allow me to introduce
your new daughter.". "'. ' -
"My new thought Mrs. Huntline,
rising to salute, her, and trying hard to smile,
through her tears. . " '
"Mr. Huntline is awake now, and. seems eayJ.
said the nurse, entering the dining-room on tip
toe, and helping lierself Xo the coffee with the air
of a person to the manor born. .
YMt your breakfast, nurse, while we visit the
""I-will go and procure the license and the
preacher," sahLNed. "Father-is rational now,
and he may grow delirious if we wait longer." -
The other sons of the family were too far away
to be-summoned to the bedside. . 1 .
The dying man greeted hi prospective daughter
with a wan smile of welcome. .
"Slie'll le your legacy, mother," he. whlserciL
"Ned has the property and-you'll have rr, and
may you all be happy. 1 Where's Ned ?" - .
; "Oone for the preacher, father. Jle will te here
presently,' said Mollievfttpoping t'kHH liTm ufwrn
the forehead. . "
"rother," exclaimed the dying man, "I've pro
vided as well as I could for your support. You'll.
have no more care and no more work during, the
remainder of your days."
."And no liberty," was the poor wife's silent
k Aft . Ill 1 t- '
ecno, oui sne maue no auuiuie repiy.
., ."I'm going a long road, mother, but Uie Journey
will soon be - over. ' Don't ' weep for me, We'll
wtagaitlrUmorniHg-f-newKiwteneei1""'
Ned entered with the license and. the preacher,
and the dying man's attention was all engrossed
to his latest conscious moment in witnessing the
ceremony that was to unite the young people till
death.or dl vorce should part them.
"Take good care of x mother, Mollie," was his
parting Injunction. '
The death-damp gathered on his forehead, the
death-raUle,. sounded In his throat,, and all was
over." .:. - '
" The funeral obsequies passed off quietly, and
Ned Huntline and his1 new wife returned, to the
old homestead to take up their new life, and Mrs.
BexAusethere-WMn't-anythlngtelrr returned also7loTiefo!oubIy bereft exist-
bas always said you didn't like her. and she
begged me to wait till you would have time to
overcome your prejudices before I should speak to
1 you about It. 1 Mollie watched father with me dur
ing the after part of the night, and he had an easy
'rational spell toward morning, and he said, Td
like to give Mollie' to you before' I die, as your
. 'mother's legacy.' I hadn't supposed Mollie was
his to give, but then she wasn't anybody else's,
and I thought he enjoyed the fancy. The prop-
erty Is all mine, mother."
"And ! x fball lo4ZYi. my baby son, and
your father too, onTthe same day !" crleoTrrsT
Huntline, throwing her arms around Ned and
crying uncontrollably '
Ned was vexed and annoyed. For his life he
couldn't see why his mother was not pleased with
the idea of becoming the lifetime companion of
Mollie Hawkins, the village dress-maker. Mollie
was an orphan, steady Industrious, self-willed
and handsome. Mrs. Huntline would have been
reasonably satisfied with her as a daughter-in-law
If It had not been for the prospect of living with
her as a dependent upon,her bounty.
Ned's father, feeling that he was soon to die,
had bequeathed to him the homestead and retail
grocery store as a iegacy,upon the condition that
ms mother, should have a home and its comforts
.during all her declining years.-Mrin-4IuntHn fnldUhrarffd and exacting. Adversity pressed hard
was sorely grieved because of the will, but she was
dying wish, so she wept over It In bitter and secret
humiliation, and at last resigned herself, as a
Ucnt martyr, to a state of. dependence upon the
ence. since sue was now ooin nomeiesa ana wia
owea. ' . .
' The newMrsHuntllne elbowed her mother-in-law
from her place at the head of the table, where
she had presided for over thirty years. The old
Mrs. Huntline accepted the situation meekly.
She did not interfere with any of the new-fangled
alrrthit took the place of the old-fashioned regu
lations. She glided In and out of the rooms like a
ghost, and grew more and more conscious that she
was' considered a burden as the family's expenses
Increased.
Ned Huntline dldnotprospef In his business.
and., as the years rolled on, the homestead was
mortgaged to meet the demands of his creditors.
Little responsibilities were added to the household
In annual reinforcements, and the old adage, "A
fool fof, luck and a poor man for children," was
amply verified., ,, . r.:.. .......'.
Mrs. Huntllne's legacy did not prove a financial
success.- She was compelled to officiate as child's
nurse even more constantly thati when her own
babies were growing. She had been a servant
without wages In her husband's lifetime, but she
was a servant of servants now. The Chinese cook
would not tolerate her In thV kitchen, nor could
he prepare her food to her liking.'
The Junior Mrs. Huntline grew more and more
upon Ned, who gradually grew to think wHlChls
ftrtroruah topforesTTgalftsrW husband' wIMhat his mother was a burden and In the way,
Interest accrued upon the mortgage, and there
was no money to meet the debt. Ned grew
morose and uncivil, and when his mother, who
had toiled beyond her strength In caring for bis
children, was laid low with a rheumatic fever, he
inwardly confessed that her room would be moreL
acceptable than her company. The anxiety and
poverty and noise and discomfort prejred upon her
spirits, and her recovery .was slow.
Mrs. Huntline was just able to sit iin an oc-
A CONVERT SPEAKS.
eupy a chair at tt?e breakfast-table on tlie tenth
anniversary of her ' husband's death., . The chil
dren were noUy, tlie-food was -not to her liking,,
auu me lauieciom was awry, rne couiu not eai,
so she leaned back In her chair and wept, silently.
. "You have an easier time than any of us," sajd
Ned, Htulantlyr as he. noticed her tears.' "Mollie
says you've1 always been a trial to her. Can't you
be a little more reasonable? It seems to me that
1f I hadn't anything to worry about but the qual
ity of my victuals, I wouldn't put on airs."
:Mn. jfuutliite was stung luto open retort for
the first tlnie in all these years. .
iryolir. father harrinTe this hoinestent, as
the legacy that Is rlghtfidly mine, I should have
lxen able to surround myself with every needed
comfort; aixl I wouldn't have Ihhmi oblige I to'
overdo my strength and catch the rhcumatic fever
by being a child's nurse, either."
"T.Td like to know what you'd" have done with
the homestead If you'd had It?" surlily answered
Ne!,U '
-"1 woultln't have mortgaged It," wax the tearful
rejly. "Supse I, liiHtead of your father, hail
died, Ned,'.' she, continued. "Dflhyou think he
would have leen conrenteil with his lot If I had
illed"hls homestead Into, other hands and left
'him to feel himself a burden in the "liouse of his
hlldren ? Do youjhink tha Iggagyf. latiprht'
in-law1, who would have thoughtntin, a nuisance
no matter what he did, would have compensatetl
him for the loss of his home?" . ,
Nel Huntline did not reply.Jlut KIs brow con
tracted, and !he was thinking, thinking. Ten
years had wrought a great change In him. No
one' would have , thought, on the day of his mar
riage, that he would deteriorate in so short a time
front: Uiclldyt-Wgll-preserrfd young man ' of the
diK-ade gone into tlsgPHy, careless amfwretched
appearliigftrrjTthat he now was..
't4hefhomesteal had remained mine," said
Ids inotW-r, "you would iyt le living u.nder a
morfgagexl roof low, Netl nor would 1 have tieen
a dependent drudge duringall theso"years. I
Alon't think I can live a great while I hope I
can't but I wish to impress upon you one Im
pirtant luty bi-fore my- change comes."
"What Is It, motherr' I
"It Is this : Never wrong your wife, even upon
your death-bed, byrwllllng the hard-earned home
away froth Tier; and never Imagine that you can
WkAbgfeomfurtAbla lii hr widowhood by de-
privlng her of everything else and bestowing upon
her a daughter-in-law that she didn't choose as
her only legacy."
There was a rap at the door, and a magistrate
entered, bringing the looketf-for but unwelcome
newsthat the homestead had been sold under the
hammer, and had barely brought enough to cover
the principal, Interest and expenses of sale.
"We might get along well enough If we were
unincumbered," said the daughter-in-law ; "but I
don't see how we're to live and take care of the
old woman."
And jm LJ.LwastUedUhat-4he-lVld-woman,Ji
whom nobody had any room for, should be sent to
the East, by the Cheapest style of transportation,
to spend her remaining days with her eldest son,
whose wife and children she had never, seen, and
In whose home she would.be compelled to feel
herself an Interloper. She never knew that Mrs.
Huntline Junior, could not fill her place In the
household with the work of any servant, no mat
ter how, high the wage,' Rut she died, as she had
lived during ail the days or tier widowhood, a
pauper upon the, bounty of her children, when she
should have had a competence and its accompany'
1 ngjeel lng of independence through all her day s.
Ned Huntline sees the Injustice of It all now,
and, though it Is too late for him to profit by It
for his mother's Interest, there Is hot a man In
Sleepy Hollow that Is more determined than he
to so shape the leglnlatlon of the future that the
superannuated mothers of men shall not be left
homeless In their closing years.
Portland, December 31, IMU
To tiik Kwtoh or the New Kobthwkmti
Jc have- been a devoted reader of your mft ex
cellent paper for three years. hen I first Wgan
to read It, I was bitterly oppostnl to your de&riue
of equal rights for all the jeole; and when 'you
told me that my opposition was the result of my
ignorance, I spumed the statement scdrufuily.
Rut by careful study and thought, I have reached
the conclusion that you were rtirhU I have
learned that, though: man was created with a little
more physical strength than woman, .he is toot a
particle wiser or, better than his wife, mother or
sister, and has no more right than they to a voios
In making the-laws which All are. equally
obliged to obey. l am not any more capable ol
performing my important duty of voting titan my
neighbor who is a tax-paying woman, and who, '
because of her sex,is robbed of her right to a voioe
in the appropriation of her taxes. Thousands of
scalawag vote every year who cannot read their
own ballot, and who linve not a single correct
Idea of the elective franchise. And yet, our wives
and mothers are deprived of their sacred right to
a voice in making the laws t.hey are obliged o
obey. It is strange Indeed that men are so slow
to comprehend the fundamental principles of our
government, which our . forefathers shed their
blood to sustain.
I was In Michigan-in 1S74, when a new Consti
tution was submitted to a votcxifthemen of that
State. Attached to that (Constitution was a clause'
for granting the right of suffrage to women. I waa
thai UniHoltsh rmrogh to imagine 'that T wasT
performing a sacred duty by going early Xo the
polls and planting the first vote squarely against
that Woman Suffrage clause. 'Thre were forty
thousand men In Michigan that year, tliank Ood,
u-lio u-fri ' wliu-r than I Ami I 1u nnw
thankod that our Oregon Legislature, at Its last
session, bad the. manliness to submit a Woman
Suffrage resolution for the future, consideration of .
ourpcopleTho noble women who. hara stood. as
firmly for the right and for liberty are to have.
their reward. And yet,: I know the contest will
be sharp, and It will require much hanl work to
gain the "victory. Rut I firmly iMIev Woman
Suffrage will prevail. If I live to vote en tha
question, you may rest assured that I w44redons
myself, and blot out my Michigan reconl by cast
ing a ballot this time squarely for the suffrage for.
womeiv I hope every lover of right will Invest!- '
gate this questlou before he votes. I now know
that no well meaning person, can oppose It unless
Iie ls Ignorant of Its merits. .t
rVhennStero sat'uwn the throner clothed la
purple and fine linen, men trembled at his nod,
The deatli of Nathaniel White, of Concord, New
Hampshire, was a great loss to the suffrage cause.
Mr. White was a wealthy man, an eminent friend
of woman's enfranchisement, using both money
and Influence to accomplish this end ; he gave $1000
toward the establishment of the Woman' f Jour-nnt-Hi's
death Is spoken of in his Btaie as a pub
lic calamity. A -thousand persons attended his
funeral, Mrs.' Stone and Mrs. Illvermore taking
part In the exercises. .
During 1880, 328,080 Immigrants arrived at New
York a number unprecedented In the records of,
the Immigration Commissioners. r--
and where waT"theanhodare4TouT6oe
him ? There was a man In a' Roman prison, writ
ing a letter to Timothy, asking him to bring him ,
his eloak, for he was shivering in the dungeon.
Years passed on and right prevailed. Nero died a
miserable death, but Paul, the prisoner, lived anl ,
wrote on and on. T After spending a large portion
of his life In battling for the right, and after he
had suffered perils by sea and land, and among
false brethren, when about to leave the world, he
said) "I am made ready to be offered. I haver
fought a good fight, I have kept the falthflhava
finished thirwoTk; Henceforth there isa crown
laid up for me, and not to me only; but to all those
who love the right".
Every time Mrs. Dun I way stands up and battles
for the God-given right of liberty for her sex, she
Is living over again the life and labors of the great
and good who have preceded her. The opposition
of bitter partisans, the scorn of potty preachers,
and even the egg and effigy argument, maybe
hurled at her, but 'every blow recoils uion tbe
head of those who strike. '
j The dark cloud .of tyranny Is breaking, and tb
right will prevail. When our wives and mothers
h?.'PJ,.".XlLILUy?,n?LlnL government, we shall
see a change for the better In "all thing. Go on,
and Ood will speed you. John L. Smitu.
The Coukling-Chase-Sprague scandal threatens)
to become as great a nuisance and as prolific
source of prurient reading as the Reeeher-TIlton ?
case. Mrs. Sprague has commenced suit Ter d
voroe against her husband, alleging brutal treat
ment, drunkeiiness and adultery ,on his part, an4
he reechoes similar. charges against her, declaring
she ruined him by her extravagance, and accusing
her and Conkllng of Intimacy.' - ...
An extraordinary case of conscience tias coma
to the surface at Ifarrlsburg. Peun. EBCoxe,
a Democratic State Senator, has declined to take
the Iron-clad oath, saying that he lial used money
-h securing hisewn election," and cuuld Mil-. coZh"
sclentlouslx, swear himself in. Tlie Republics a
office-buyers are phmtlful, but none of lhera are
.endowed with conscknee. JTheparty xit jiregress
Is falling behind.' .
1
yr -
.1 :
.. . ... .f,-r -
1
-1
I .
N -
..r-Hi ...