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ft - -. . ' - i FltEK Sl'KKCII, FKKE PllKSS, iTJME X. NO. S. PORTLAND, OREGON, THURSDAY, NOVESEBEK 1, ARRY HARCOURT'S DREAM. 4- MY ABIGAIL SCOTT DUXIWAY. Mm V Harry Harcourt was not given to dreaming on uarv occasions; in fact, he seldom dreamt ai i r he was a sound sleeper, with a stomach :n alligator's and a conscience like a baby s. fsv conscience and good digestion are in- romoters of healthy sleep the world over, and 'hot wonder that Harry Harcourt sjept well. nrv Harcourt had a hobby. Most practical impractical people haw hobbies. My hero's 'Job' y was the imaginary nnanciai, political, legai aUl .-very way possible superiority of men's re rauii utilities over women's duties in raising a fiUjr 'r and providing for the household. Jii - HareourJ was a pale little woman with a Yi$ ' mily- Pale little women are very apt to be 7MK-. ersof big families. They are like decaying apK trees exceedingly fruitful because of their rajd imposition to early death. Harcourt's children were boys, ruddy, rol- Ing jolly little romping fellows, whose knees 1qVt eep througli their trousers and whose el b&if$ would get ragged in spite of their jmle moth- untiring assiduity. it had nothiiiif more to do than vou have. Harcourt, I am sure I could keep the chil i's jackets and troHscrs in order!" said Harry urt. one day, when JJen and Jstlly came iag into the great unfurnished farm-house, ing a tandem team of the other boys, and ng mud upon the newly-mopped iloor. it- dovs waiceu me uaoy, who nan just iaueu IsIh " after an hour of incessant rocking, while 1Mb mother had wearily plied her needle; and they ner work-basket in a heap as they galloped j-Pjfaj&the room in high glee. .M Harcourt was not always as meek as she i(K! 1, a her husband had many a time diseov- r-ii to his cost. She had a will of her own when :Wt$& and Harry Harcourt had once more un- wffi gly aroused her by riding his strongest 8 ragged in the ribbing; shirts, minus buttons, with sleeves torn at the elbows, and wristbands frayed at the edges; jackets, with linings torn and pock ets worn into shreds; jiioro trousers, a torn mitten, two school-books to cover, and a lunch-bag to sup ply with a new strap. It wis almost supper time, too, and this was Saturday. Mrs. Harcourt was far too conscientious to do any work on Sunday that could be avoided, and al' IV- ". ' ' 'Vj v, responsible work" must be finished beforo she could sleep. Monday would bring another school day, and it would also KllEE PKOM.K. ? ''-'X' law. 2. ' ?w$jf$&gmw. and over till Harry TIaroonrt gWlteintio with bring about Uio inevitable washing. Thechildren must "look like other children" if their mother lost her life in the ellbrt to keep them scrubbed and fed and whole anil clean. Mrs. Harcourt tiptoed softly out of the room. The baby was nervous, like herself no wonder, Mor thing and was easily awakened from its fit ful slumbers. There was no kindling wood ready for the kitchen stoye, but Mrs. Harcourt was used to that. Sl split a piece of pitch pine into splinters and soon had a roaring fire ami a red-hot oven. Tit her haste to prepare the meal before the baby should awake and cry, she burnt her meat and scorched her potatoes and burned a heavy crust on her biscuit. So the supper was indigestible an unusual thing but Harry Harcourt ate heartily as usual, and as usual retired early to rest, leaving his jmle- faced wife to wash the dishes and scrub the chil dren, and, after they were safe in bed, apply her self to finishing the huge basket of mending before the mantel clock should chime the hour of mid night Harry Harcourt felt a little anxious and a trifle mean as he watched her furtively and saw how very ale and weary she wax; hut he was not the man to unbend from his fancied dignity, nor did he really believe that his wife deserved lib? sym- suspense and grief and U-wilderiniML' The pile of mending dad not all been oomph ti tT and the many missiuir button made it vrV in convenient for him to .ires the fltiildr n .- .erly for Sabbath school. i'lie breakfast was a im!eW failure. The chil dren could not eat hit rimltive cookerv. and LlSb baby's wailinir cries rw htw ncaiiny as ne was till he was asperate enough ,faould liveas'iQfij m yois h to almost strangle it DFhner was a more periiljivm; meal for him to prepare than breakfast. He Vhipped Ben and Hilly to make them wash thdishes, and whipped thorn even harder when they broke half of fhom into .a shapeless mass by letting the dish-pan fall. Monday came at last, and after a sleepless night with the wailing baby, Harry Harcourt went once more through the perplexing work of the morning in the kitchen. And then came the washing. A wearier, crosser man than Harry ITarccurt never sat down to a cold dinner. The children skulked in the corners and fairly forgot to play at tandem teaming. In a few days their clothes wore out again, and he could not patch them, nor could he get away from the house to earn or even buy new ones. His own garments grew buttonless, and his food was insupjyorUtbly indigestible. -S4 When Harry Harcourt looked in the glass,1 !! frhlvti1 lttma4lf irmvi'l iter to 1r 1 Slro 1 la tt "No wonder she grew white and thin, j thing," he sighed, sadly. "I shall die hefi many days if I have to carry all this resionsi ity on my shoulders without assistance." -jSr "Noboly ever helped mamma," said Billy, ioi he dodged behind the cradle to avoid feted for his temerity. "That is rrue,"UMNkjrlit Ury tfnlfcnurt. Why. tTiernrf2i a mm Aim ie bwitne tlto one ijqaal iiH'hfe. tor ,; right to woioar feat ymi have loj'O or wb"ve been marrre "T'he work is thf very lgatl Harry. I've been l moll irj the time, you know" Harry Harcdur hadn't tl: hut he considered it now, a strone and ear let afiv 'Wtoj men -and womoi with the JCddj of protection frOi Jiaril hibtfrgtll bearing chil dren. . . , "' C'l' Jf you wanfcmlaar an untnteraWe a gunaen? upon the jimft' (uestFoiva'f?iwr time, you'v. onh- to sy iitohj h ro'a hoaojilfftbat women an supported bjrihei. while npoiiake tr living.: In short, hojljts (ptd'nisw hotby horse of mascXiune snprM facy tor iuiojmw and jk. -feet obv of feiniitine eflod Jf." H3Sj,'rwhile pale-lace'! wife lais rogaino 1 her old-time girlish gn - and; ruddiness, and t"jereg att oattir'' nwnage house hold m all tilt f indiUiMi hjk. Harry 1; trcoorr hapiqr, loving ueart, I v-V ih ' een een iraygwi irom run SQfMpa- tia KHlnvr acts of groett n 5 r 46,9 a r . . . - : : zi joining, Ami tlipii his hitlth hov n in fall antT ie7opon nis oaca n Im,iWmiwiw fopW)ok h,Illt an1 h,8 back w( , .tv,K u. uuur ..v Jr. ; tem,le8 throbbed, fh( directly athwart her sense of justice when as nervous from over-exertion. i I had nothing more to do tlian you have, Mr. H .. urt, or if IumI the control of my own earn-ine- as you do, I'd once in a while be able to buy tilt Uildren something new to wear, so they Hpotildn't always have to depend upon patches !" "That's all a woman knows about economy. irotfUUbreak ine up in three months if you had a irM.i-Tringat the finances. New clothes for the children, indeed ! Let 'em wear their old ones !" "That's what they have been doing ail along, Mr. Harcourt, and they were mostly made up of aid lothes in the first place. If I was only free pati all the unpaid drudgery that you impose ajou me without any remuneration whatever, I 'Vfcukl earn money and buy clothes for the chil 4ljeti as fast as they are needed ; but I have to be ook, nurse, laundress, dish-washer, dairy-maid, $cn!lion, mop rag, needle-woman, and general fcapegoat all the time, and all for the sake of being qupported ! It wasn't so when I was a school nta am. I had my own money then, and no thanks to anybody for it, either !" Afrer delivering herself of this tirade, Mrs. Har fibun shook the screaming baby till it grew silent fro'ii sheer exhaustion, and then laid it hack in the -.-radle, while she renewed her efforts with her y was patching a pair of old and dirty trousers wbl h had reached the vexatiousagc that required f patch upon patch to make them presentable. I could do more work than you do, Mrs. Har- Jj totnfr and get along with less money, and carry a jsdff on my shoulder all the time, at that!" said Harry Harcourt, contemptuously. "Could you, now?" asked the pule little woman, witti a bitter smile. "Of course I could. Women have no responsi bilities. I support my family and hoar all the burdens of life. I can remember, too, since rellec ttotts are in order, Mrs. Harcourt, that there was a time when I had no cares nor responsibilities, no wtf nor children to bother me, and nothing under thf sun to rufllo my temper." ' Would you like to be rid of me, Harry ?" The indignant husband did not answer in words, hut he gave vunt to a prolonged whistle and left j ' fcllB room", hanging the door after him with a vim that jarred the whole house and set her nerves pi ngling like so many stinging bees in swarming T!he baby sobbed itself intoagrieved and uneasy lumber, the tandom team and rollicking drivers kurrled oil into the woodshed, and the house was Mill again. 'n a little while the trousers were mended, hut 1h4 overturned contents of the upset work-basket ffttrly appalled her as she contomplatcd the pro miscuous pile socks, out at toes and heels and Ktitch, stltcliHrtttcli, went the weary Angers of his pale-faced wife, as the hours went on, her feet in the meantime keeping up a ceaselcs n-k, rock, rock, with the swaying cradle. Harry Harcourt was uneasy. Vrha) it was his supper; perhaps it was his coiwicnce. But his stomach and bin conseieuee were alike imperyi ous to ordinary disturiianccs, and I leave the reader to guess the cause of his um-jixyirHs. uv raised up on his elbow and srazed out into the room where his wife was sewing. Stitch, stitch, stitch ; rock, rock, rock. Wottkl the stitching and the rocking never stop? "But pshaw !" thought Harry Harcourt. "What right have I to be uneasy ? A woman's work is nothing. Let her stitch and let her rock. It's what women are made for." Still, he could not help reclining there and watching her. The clock struck eleven, and still her silent, weary work went on; ami, as Harry Harcourt gazed, he fancied that her entire brain and body be came traiismrcnt, and he could see himself re flected in her thoughts as he had never seen him self before. "Yes, yes," she soliloquized, and her mental words thrilled him like electricity, "Harry thinks he is the head of this family, ami its only ptovider, stay and support. But, bless him, he doesn't know. I guess I'll retire from the firm and give him a much-needed lesson." And she bent low over the cradle and kissed the sleeping lmby, and even while he gazed at hor she disappeared. What had become of hor? Harry Harcourt arose ntom his couch and put on his clothes and approached the cradlo rever ently and cautiously. Near it was hor low rocking-chair, and by its side the heaped up work basket, and her scissors, spools and thimble. On the iloor, which was yutdnmp from thenftpr-suppcr mopping it had received when the children ami himself were in bed, lay a promiscuous' array of old clothes, washed, ironed, patched and mended by her patient fingers. He gathered up the worn garments one by one, an.l, as he touched them, felt that they were warm with the wasted life forces of his pale-faced wife. The night passed away, and morning, roseate and radiant, beamed in at the uncurtained win dow where Harry Harcourt sat watching. The baby awoke and began its usual wiiling cry. He tried hard to pacify it with the nursing-bottle his wife had provided the night before, but it refused to be comforted. He remembered seeing its mothor shake it into a few extra scrtams, followed by a season of quietude, hut when lie tried the ex periment it did not succeed. What was he to do ? The older children were up by this iime, clamor ing and hungry and cold. He knocked thonMo the right and the left with his open handstand scolded them into trembling silence. "Where's my mamma?" ., The unanswerable question was related pvrl and his feet grew. weary, and he telt himself sinking, sinking, ing into his graw. . "What will become of the poor children whdjiJ am gone?" lie thought, the next Saturday even ing, n lie wearily stitched, stitched, stitchettr midnight. "But I d.erve no better fate thaiLliry present lot, and I hnc no reason to complaiT&I&I do suffer. I never appweiated Fanny. Boor thine! If I only had her hack I'd give her the free and equal possession and use of everythinfjon the plantation. She should have help plerfly of it and all the money she needed to spend, orSBVe, as her own sense would dictate, afid I'd ncverjBa-ll myself the responsible head, provider and'ih) orter of the family, nor accuse her of havimg nothing to do no, never. But it's too late 1ifo She's gone, and I am left to carry the load tlJT would never acknowledge was a load whihjile had to carry it." 2 ; The baby cried harder and louder than ever, and Harry Harcourt felt himself sinking lower and lower in health and strength, till finally he fell sprawling upon the floor, from which he aroaf; lust rubbing the "crazy bone" of his right elbjKvi' and staring around the room in a state of sonii-' consciousness. "What in the world's the matter, Harry nar court?" asked his pale-faced wife, in alarm. "Arn vnil rnnllv Minrn Hnmiv0" li nlr, eagerly. "I thought you were dead, darling "No, Harry, I'm not dead yet, but I shall h fore long at this rate," was the despairing re "I've been mending the children's clothes throe hours while you've been snoring." "And you haven't been away at all ?" " been away? Why, Harry, you must crazy ! How could I got away, I'd like to know ?j With all these backs to clothe and all thesej mouths to feed, to say nothing of washing, iron ing, churning, scrubbing and taking care of the baby. I've too many responsibilities here to thin of going away, unless death calls me. And, V tell you the truth, Harry, I don't think it will bc1j very long before I am called, for my strength is failing rapidly and I have frequent sinking spells. I have felt a half dozen times to-night as if I would sink through the Iloor. But then it isn't any matter. Maybe when I am gone you can get a wife who can manage better and spare you the humiliation of seeing your children out at the knees and elbows." "Wife, your husband has been a confounded, selfish, short-sighted idiot, and you've been a si lent, suffering angel!" exclaimed Harry Harcourt, clasping her in his strong arms, and seating him self in her rocking-chair with her head resting on his bosom. "I've had a dream, de?r, and I've lived through a whole week of your daily life In the last three hours, and I swear to you, by all that's holy, that if I live till Monday morning there shall be strong help provided for you in the kitchen, and you shall hai'e all'.the money you want to buy clothes for yourself and the children. And I'll never say again that you have nothing to L JpavrtOMr Uu amn usi&xmam necMnr i&M2m ftitiiatr ktiej m vwaBMSLatfit a wva-i aaaaat, or- taaBBaaiaaaavu a nt UJi I UFt SZiMMiM . Jl llllliMWl ill art-. VntHKB JHB'V 1 U'lUW'iW. Wis ; us,--,.. -3 - mom, tm qm&amBuz out mm &ta large aodi fjfpe. By the V HR4 tOTL ft I aaVCI ItiHBmMTwmrl bey Mtt aped oar ooii. r M tb' vatil th- prftnt Km. ftarrM. .m.t rt, nt nt of Sj- tft-rtna ) ,Jnn o. 1879. Bpf ttiis pari of the ,, iuour vi'dcje of eitizenei'fO', XL. m I taiu stwn: to set Ail- mtr up the old '.re mind of Prtf -?Mr ?Mr. J. I a aw- ' tttflHt w avui ussu n of ftE;- iff. H. atted, cO&0Rf at the appointed reisitaeat, Mr. H. afilrm-d. ( . ... . v v- rv, . '. . . sua, amnning, muywi tiirtgm to sei.na w. jftfees, choosing tfCn? Dav'ifl and Mrs. Catlir. and alftwed the Pro&M tosQloet Mr. Pile as Presi dent. Mr. H. opwisi with a twenty-five-mjri:U tjmch, confininj lmfolt Slriutly to argumet9 atitl demonstratlduw The Professor followed with itfspeeeh of over aa ltous length, keeping wide i th subject, and seeming tp depewl entire'.? an eloquence. Ijc H. then otlMtjiIed fifteen minutes, when the. lWaasor objrad to hU time. He therefore submitted the qtfaEtion, without sum ming up, for. decision on its ineHte The judges ' gave the case to the alUrmaijve. I have jost learned that a tavimd gentleman haaiiotUled Mr. Hawthorn tlrtlut will meet him in debate on the question, Tfud also thaf the lat ter seoUemau has aocepted tli fler. I wfi t write n rxvuu uiuen iui uieew yuiir iawor, iiioagn x a ljiftvJCo at writing for the press as wAl ae la if 1 rage qnestion. ours for the perfect eoautlitr of . vm &iut vtfman in all the rehitior s of life, I C. A Boston paper gives an account of reniark- woman born in Wt Utlewjt, MhtiwK'hi.sects. and ninety-three years old.- Wheu -he wan hut twouty-four, having two yomig children, her has- anp: vraS brouglit home to Iter from hh- wrecked 1 an invalid for life, mti saw noudng but ttution staring him cylgL his family in the Then it wasTMhUf .ny'tliiderfal ece-gy wa m to the ocoiftjpu '3otfirtesd a store, very rH at ftrtt, but iff ifcrttf uMradnalTv Ini'iRiiA! radtshe soys that liatiy u Wy gfe on taken in er a nunurer. uonara. or any-nlne years she ImiKkPrnonthlv visile to Bostoti !iv sbiaII uatl-ho Wlenish her stock. For - fifty years sIk- tool t4of hor invalid hnaborttiV who wa w t ablv. UeMpn , to drees himself.. &t& ediieateii ber two tbpA, and started ahem JllJbustaew. She ak; adpTted, clothed, fed. eduoura. and olaet t! in iro m' ions m the world t&Hiw orphan bo- .- tt.it iris, besides vlsitiBftaMng care of the ai -k atfcil iiours. day und niam. a. . .... ,, i- M the Octob. Mutual Citizen "Tni ihoilfet Oouferenda ' 41- CanciDoatl in Mi 54 a resolution btmiBg women to wear rip !l ad to ririk&fy please. In other woijras they found ivqaMu .rkl wear ribboas anTl .'v-essas they ploVavl. thn chnrch gntrk ' fell lino. ThoolniiJik iqiroun, silom led- r was Lko most bitter oapoBsnt of w.oa- ibnf temj crahee. work' thirty yaars arc. but oo 4 Invan ll.Bllnnnff an1 I.. a., .v A rt ,' n I