The new Northwest. [volume], September 23, 1880, Image 2

About The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887

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THE :N"EW N0KTHT7EST, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 18S0.
WITHERED VIOLETS.
BY SARAH GALLAGHER.
ong years have passed, pale flowers, .since you
"Were called and given in brightest bloom
By one whose eyeieclipsed your blue,
Whose breath was like your own perfume.
Long years but, though your bloom be gone,
The fragrance which your freshnoss shed
Survives, when memory lingers on,
When all that blessed Its birth have fled.
Those hues and hopes will pass away
Thus youth, and bloom, and bliss, dopart;
Oh I whut is left when these decoy?
The faded leaf, the withered heart!
WILLOW GRANGE.
JZ Story of Life is Eastern Oregon.
BY BELLE W. COOKE,
Airriroit of "tears and victory."
(Entered in the Office of Librarian of Congress at Washing
ton, D. C, In the year 1SS0- j
CHATTER II.
" Seam and gusset and band,
Band and gusset and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in my dronm." Hoon.
These were the words that rang in the head of
.Florence Campbell, as she wearily bent over a
little apron for one of her sisters, the same night
that she was sent away without her wages by Mrs.
Murch.
"How do people think I can live without pay
for my work ?" sighed she. "I sewed last week at
Judge Law's, and his wife says I must go to his
office for my money a thing I feel unwilling to
do, for I dislike the way the man smiled at me
whenever he found me alone while at his house.
Then Mrs. Murch was cross to-night, and found so
much fault with my work, saying she could not
afford to pay such high prices. Oh, dear! I
wonder if I do not earn my wages. The money I
get seems little enough when there are so many
things to be bought with it. I am glad I laid in a,
good stock of Hour and potatoes when I got my
last payment. If I had not done so, we must have
gone hungry, for no one wants to trust a poor
sowing-girl. I am sure, though I do not wish to
go in debt, I am glad I cannot get credit. I am
afraid I should be tempted to try it sometimes
when rich people owe me, and we are so hungry
for something besides bread and potatoes."
Talking thus to herself in the dim light of her
dark-wnlled room, Florence worked on till nearly
midnight, and then went hopelessly to her long
needed rest. She arose as early as usual, and pre
pared her breakfast of hot griddle cakes and
ousted potatoes, and waked Jennie and Julia, her
Sounger twin sisters, with a cheery shout of
" Hot cakes ! Who wakes ?
Who'll eat while I bakes?"
"There, little girls, don't say I did not make
jioetry as well as breakfast for you. The cakes
axe the substantiate and the poetry is the sauce.
Gome, now, for I must be oft' soon to hunt for some
work or some pay one or the other."
The fresh girl-faces were sweet with morning
miles as they lifted them for the usual kiss to the
wise sister, who always rewarded them thus for
making their toilets nicely; ami the scanty break
fast was eaten with the sauce of good-apietite and
a little salt and sugar.
After the table was cleared and the room neatly
arranged, Florence put on her hat and went out
for the day. As the hour was quite early, she
presumed she would not find Mrs. Murch ready to
receive anyone, and feared t)e Judge would not be
In his office, but concluded to go to the latter
place first.
She ascended the dingy staircase and knocked
timidly at the door, and was bidden to "come in"
with a loud voice that startled her. She opened
Wie door with a kind of desperation, saying to
Herself :
"Why should I fear? My errand is an honest
ne."
The Judge turned toward her with a very bland
smile, expressed his pleasure at seeing her, and
asked, with apparent anxiety, what ho could do
for so charming a young lady.
He placed a chair near the table, where even at
this early hour a bottle of wine and a glass were
standing, each bearing evidence to their having
been used for the morning "smile."
Florence refused to be seated at first ; but, on
being repeatedly urged, she reluctantly sank
down, at the same time 'hurriedly telling her
errand.
"Money you want?" said the Judge. "You
worked for my wife, did you ? Yes, I believe I
!served your pretty face and fresh collars. Last
week, was it not ? "Well, really, I must see my
wife about It, and ask her what the bill is, before I
etui pay it."
"I worked just a week, at a dollar and a quarter
day, sir. I presume you can remember I was
there just a week, and I wish you would take my
word for it T need the money so much," said
Florence, with a tremor in her voice, but with
uplifted head and clcar,.fearleas eyos.
"Need the money, do you?" said the Judge.
"What for? To buy more natty collars for your
pretty white throat?"
"Judge Law, I am not on the witnass stand."
said Florence; "neither do I come here to hear
omplimonts. I want what is justly my due, and,
if it will hell) the matter, any, I can tell you I
want the money to buy food for myself and my
little sisters. I make my own collars, I thank
you."
"Well, you are a spunky little piece ; but I ad
mire spunk," and here the Judge approached the
chair on which she was sitting. "I'll lend you
some money, or" taking out a twenty-dollar
piece "I'll give you this, my dear, for a kiss."
Before he had uttered the-last words, the indig
nant girl had sprung to her feet, and, with the
tears ot shame and wounded pride blinding her
eyes, she rushed to the door and lied, as for her
life, down the stairs, till at the foot she paused an
instant, but not soon enough to hinder her haste
and tears being seen by two ladies who M'ere just
then passing the foot of the staircase. They were
Bertha Wills and Anice Merton, and she drew
back, terribly mortified that they should have
seen her; for she felt that her face told too much
of the sad riot that was going on in her heart.
She was right ; the girls had seen the trouble and
the anger and the fear, and their sympathies were
aroused immediately.
"Whj, Florence," said Anice, "what is the
matter?"
The poor girl was trembling now till she could
hardly stand.
"0 Anice!" she cried, "I can never tell you.
But do go with me take me home."
"Come with us," said Bertha. "I was expect
ing you this morning. When Mrs. Murch paid
you oil' last night, did she not tell you I wanted
you?"
"She did not pay me, neither did she tell me,"
sighed Florence, gradually growing calmer, but
still very pale.
"Poor girl ! Come and go with us," said both
the girls, as they stepped each side of her and
gave an arm to assist, for her face showed her need
of help.
"Have you heard bad news, or whatever can it
be?" said Anice. "I cannot imagine what could
have worried you so."
"Wait till we get somewhere," said Florence.
"I can't talk now."
"Let us talk of something else," said gentle
Bertha, who saw that it distressetl Florence to
question her.
.So they, Anice and Bertha, chatted away quite
cheerfully about all sorts of things till they reached
Bertha's home. They took Florence right into
the little sewing-room, for they knew she would
not be disturbed there; and when she had re
moved her hat and had bathed her eyes and
smoothed her hair, the girls again begged her to
tell them her trouble, that they might help her to
bear it.
"Perhaps I ought to tell you, lent you imagine it
worse than it is," said Florence.
So she told them just what had happened, and'
they could not doubt the truth of the clear,
straightforward story, for it was corroborated by
what they had seen of her anger and indignation.
Bertha and Anice were so indignant that they
could hardly restrain themselves. Anice jMced
the floor back and forth, saying :
"What a shame! What a disgrace ! A Judge
who deals out such justice to poor, helpless
women !"
Bertha sat down beside Florence, put her arm
around her, and said :
"How do you live when people treat you so
heartlessly ? But tell me, why did not Mrs.
Murch pay you, nor tell you to come to me ?"
"Oh, I suppose she forgot. Some one called just
ms I was leaving, and she said she did not have
the money, but would have it in the morning for
me if I would come. She did not know how
much I needed it then."
"Have you had your breakfast? Come out and
have some now. I'll warm you a cup of coffee,"
said Bertha.
"Cook an egg for her, too," said Anice. "She
needs strengthening food, I know; and she will
need more of it if she ever gets safely through this
wicked world. But I must be oil' to my school.
There is the half-past eight bell, and my little
chicks will need coralling," said Anice, cheerily,
as she started to her work, for she was teaching a
small private school, in which she took much in
terest.
Florence tried to make Bertha think she did not
need anything, but Bertha would not be refused.
"You have had enough to bear," she said, "to
take away all the strength your breakfast has
given you."
Florence never drank coffee, so Bertha got her a
glass of rich milk and a nicely poached egg, some
rolls and fresh butter, and Florence was surprised
to find how hungry she avus, and said so. ,
"I fear you did not have enough this morning.
I do wish you would come here and breakfast
while you sew for me. I would take it as a special
favor if you would," said Bertha.
"I ought not to leave my little sisters to cat
alone," said Florence. "I am aVay so much, at
the best"
"We do not take breakfast till after the hour
when you would come to begin work, and you can
save a space for something nice, I urn sure," said
Bertha, persisting, as was her wont when she
thought she was in the right, and she gained her
point.
The wedding garments were beautifully finished
under Florence's skillful fingers. Bertha found
her an admirable workman, and was thankful
that Mrs. Murch had taken a fit of charity and
given up the nice seamstress to her, contenting
herself with the poorer one. Florence was thank
lul, too, for she found Bertha a willing and punc
tual paymaster, as well as a very pleasant com
panion. She had a good education, and could
converse very intelligently on all the common
topics of the day, and Bertha found her witty and
amusing, for she had the good sense to appreciate
a pleasant and intelligent companion wherever
she found her, whether clothed in silks or calico,
whether in a drawin-room or a sewing-room.
And, as she wished to superintend her work, as
well as to help whenever she could, the two girls
were much together during the weeks that Flor
ence remained.
Earle Russell 'often came in toward evening and
sat on the little porch that opened from the
sewing-room, and once or twice, after work was
done, Bertha prevailed on Florence to stay and
play a game of croquet on the lawn, with her
brother Roseoc as a partner. Then, when Flor
ence started home, she put a parcel of nice things
into her hands, saying:
' You have given me your time to help make
our game pleasant, so let me get your sisters'
supper for them, as you will be so late at home."
Florence began to feel that there might be some
enjoyment in. life for her yet. It had been a long
time since she had passed so pleasant a fortnight
as was the one in which she learned to love
Bertha Wills.
Anice came in often, and the trio went down
town together to "match trimmings," passing
Judge Law's office on the opposite side of the
street.
On the morning when Florence left his rooms
in such haste, he had followed her to the head of
the staircase, intending to. call her back and pay
her the money that was her due, and had heard
the first few sentences that passed between the
three girls, and his heart quaked within him, lest
Florence should betray his meanness to Miss
Bertha Wills, tfce daughter of one of his influen
tial neighbors. His fears were quieted, however,
by the first words of the frightened girl, and he
slunk back to his room, feeling that for once in
his life he had made a mistake. A few days after
ward, rightly judging that Florence would never
again come to him for payment, and, fearing that
his wife might ask some questions about it, he
sent the money by a messenger to Florence's
room. So, when his wife asked if Miss Campbell
came for the money, he said :.
"Yes. She presented her bill, and T paid it, as
I always do your bills, without a question. Am I
not a model husband ?"
And Mrs. Law thought he was.
To be continued.
A Wash rr - Prkachkr. Rev. Thomas K.
Beocher, writing to the Christian Union of his
camp life in the woods, gives the following advice:
"AM men ought to go to the woods and relig
iously do their own washing'hnd general work,
such as sewing, cooking, housekeeping and dish
washing. The work of women is not sjKiken of
sensibly by men till they have done it themselves.
Gentlemen readers, it is easy to talk ! But just
try it on a very modesf scale once, ami you'll
honor working women more than ever. Do as, I
have done do a wash of six pieces, and then re
member that a woman turns oil" two hundred
nieces in a day. I.onk at your watch and see how
long it takes you. Look at your soap and see how
much you have used. Iookat yourwhite clothes,
handkerchief or towel, and see what you, have
done or not done, and never again speak harshly
of, or to, a woman on wash-da v, nor of laundry
work as if it were unskilled labor. Trv it. A
sympathetic gentleman, having washed two
dozen pieces, will never change his shirt again
without a glow of reverence anil gratitude. A
similar and salutary coiir-cioiiHiiess will come to
him who darns his own socks, twitches his trou
sers, splices his suspenders ami washes dishes.
Look not every man u-Mnithis own things, but
every man also upon the work of a woman.
Such an experience in the woods will go far
toward the settling of the woman question, by
teaching us that we are all members one of an
other, and there must be no schism."
A Story of Ireland. Recently, a voting girl
named Catherine Cafferby, of BelmulleC in County
the "domestic sen-ice" of a landlord as absolute as
i.mi u'irnin. fin mrmu.tit tin. n-n.,t, .1:..
covered what that "service" customarilv involved.
I he great man had the audacity to invoke the law
to yoinpel. her to return, as she had not given
.............. 1. uuui-i- m hit iiigui. fne citing to the
door-post of her father's cabin ; she told aloud the
story of her terror, and called on God and man to
save her. Her tears. lnr lirL.t.-u
pleadings were all in vain. The Petty Sessions
Bench ordered her back to the landlord's "ser
vice." or else to imv .V rr :.. :..:t
. , . . 1 l ' "Vina in Mill.
1 his Is not a story of Bulgaria under Murad IV.,
.u jiukhiw in 1 in- u-igiioi me present sover
eign. That nensnnt. tnrl Wnilt in SfiSI 4 i 1.....
chastity. If she did not spend a fortnight in the
"""i ut.-i-nuse menus 01 outraged Vir
tue, justice mid liummiit V Itfiwl til. ll..t II...
story reached the outer world.
'lo correct a recent item, that the whole number
of different postage stamps known to exist in the
world is about 0000, a London firm of dealerr
writes to the Tinier to say that this estimate is fas
too small. They are now negotiating for the pur
chase of a collection of 0000, no two of which are
alike, and in 1S77 they purchased for S-I000 a col
lection of 17.000 varieties. Tliov li-i
kolfer of a collection of 20.000 for an equal number
Wi 11(1 1 1 ti v suuu
The. Boers of South Africa have a very useful so
cial custom. When a Boer lady has a daichter in
society, aim a young man calls to see her, the
careful parent sticks a pin in the candle; when the
candle bums down to the pin, the young man
knows his time is out: he nicks bimi.if i
leaves. Bores of more civilized society might be
managed in the hame way.
A writer in an Australian iapersays that rust in
wheat can be prevented by soaking the wheat for
twenty-four hours in sea water made stronger by
adding more salt, then drying it in lime, and sow
ing in drills not broadcast.
"FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND."
A lady correspondent of an Eastern paper de
tails the conversation between herself and a man
who has found out that "things are not what they
seem." As they were watching the bathers
along the beach at Long Branch, he suddenly
said : J
"There is'no honesty in your sex. You dress
yourselves so as to seem what you're not. You
are humbugs. Do you see the graceful creature
yonder under the umbrella? Pretty, isn't she?
Hair of midnight, eyes of jet, willowy form, tiny
feet oh, yes, tiny feet ! See here, iny lady ; let
me tell you something about those 'feet. I've
been there I've been fooled; but now I am a
sadder and wiser man and a skeptic for life. I
was -mashed' on that girl. It wasn't so much her
face and figure as it was her feet. Bless your
heart, how she did fix them up in slippers of kid
and stockings of satin. They were so shapely
and apparently small, in all their glory of fash
ionable fixings, that I was not prepared for the
dreadful truth which finally fell upon me with
crushing effect. I followed her down here to the
beach the other day, at a short but still respectful
distance. She made the daintiest little tracks in
the moist sand that you ever saw. They were
something like this," and he made small spots on
a card. "Those were the imprints of the soles
and heels of her feet, you understand."
"Of the soles and heels of her French slippers, If
you desire to be exact," I suggested.
"That's just the point, he assented ; "but wait a
bit. My drawing doesn't give any idea of size,
but I assure you that the tracks were no more
than number twos not an eighth of an inch lar
ger than twos. Well, I fondly tracked those foot
prints toward a bath-house, into which she disap
peared from my enraptured gaze."
"And then ?"
"She came out, after a little while, in a bathing
suit and skurried down to, the surf. And, good
heavens! you ought to have seen the tracks she
left this time. She was barefooted, you under
standno French heels in the middle of her feet
no soles beveled narrow and short. Taking these
diagrams that I drew as representing the size of
her slipper tracks, here are the marks of her own
feet, on the same scale," and he drew again.
"Her tracks, you perceive, were then number
sixes or sevens. That was enough. My Venus
was off her pedestal."
M O
The dead walls of Munich broke out, in all the
colors of the rainbow, with announcements that
the greatest wonder of the world would be sub
mitted to public inspection, in the shape of a
gorilla trained to perform on the violin. The
Coliseum was crowded on the opening night of the
performance. There was the gorilla, horrible of
aspect, but unquestionably skilled in the produc
tion of sweet sounds from an ordinary violin. A
skeptical spectator contrived to approach him un
observed, and made an incision in his hide with a
penknife. The animal did not mind it. Encour
aged in his suspicions, the doubter seized Pongo
from behind and shook him roughly, whereon the
seams of his skin gave way, and a man stood re
vealed to an astounded audience.
An American gentleman taking a walk in Lon
don the other day chanced to behold in a grocer's
window an immense pile of -hams stamped with
the name and address of a dealer in Chicago,
whilst overhead hung a placard inscribed, "Beat
Canadian hams, one shilling and sixpence per
pound." The nronrietor of the PstMhlinhmmit.
chanced to come to the door, and the gentleman
emieii uis aiiciuion to tne incongruity of selling
Chicago hams as a Canadian product. "Ah ! yes,
yes," exclaimed the grocer, with an air of convic
tion : "Chicago is one of the United State. T hxl
forgotten that."
The ceremony of marrvinar one John Hall aiwl a
Mrs. Miller was perfouned by a Justice at Cincin
nati, uiuo. ine couple went to a restaurant for a
wedding dinner. After the meal was over the
husband said that he hail an errand to do, bat
would not be absent more than ten minutes. He
put one arm around the bride's neck, kissed her,
and with the disengagetl hand took $300 from her
pecket. She has not seen hiin since.
An old California pmspeetor is of the opinion
that the North Pole is a solid mass of gold. He
says it cannot be otherwise, for the reason that all
gold-bearing true fissure veins, in all )arts of the
world, run in the direction of the North Pole, just
like the parallels of longitude, and that, like these,
all the gold veins must come together at the Pole
and end in a golden knob.
The railrond monoooli3 dnn't lm if u tu;
own way, after all. A woman in Chicago sued
the Central Pacific for $75 damages for allowing a
lueuniuuve 10 scam an me nair on a valuable dog
expressed her from San Francisco. She obtained
judgment and collected the money before the
company found out that it wis a Japanese dogand
never had any hair.
A little girl, four years old, created a ripple bv
remarking to the teacher of her Sunday School
class: "Our dog's dead. I bet the angels was
scared when they see him coming up the walk.
He's cross to strangers."
If a shirt bosom or other article has been
scorched in ironing, lay it where the bright sun
light will fall directly on it. It will take it out
at once.
4 . t .
The army Avorm got as far as Boston, when a
miss with eye-glasses called it by its real "name.
It immediately laid down and died.
An uncertain-looking man went into a Milwau
kee drug store the other day, and asked for a bot
tle of "anarchy."
Love, the toothache, smoke, a cough, and a
tiglrt boot, are things which cannot possibly be
kept secret very long. J
hut
rmtt
It is a contradiction of natural philosophy, b
cold, cold ice cream will warm up her heart. Ar
Church choirs are putat the back end of churohea
to accommodate the timid worshipors who cannot
face the music.
i Tt is tho oriIiniirJ' Hfe of a bee is only ninotv'
days. The end of a bee, however, is vory liiolv.
-MO.-,.
Diligence is the mistress of success.