The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1871-09-22
CHATTER XXI

CHAPTER XXI
July swung open her golden gates and
ushered in the glorious days that annu-
ally come and 90 at her bidding. The
early morning was Delightfully."- cool /
made preparations for a morning visit
to my childhood's home, resolved, after
having once nerved myself for the or
deal, to search out and discover all its
remaining landmarks.
Ordering a gentle horse, rode out
alone. The wagon road of long ago, over
which had journeyed with my father
on that never-tO-be-forgotten day which
awoke my slumbering ambition for in
venting and securing patent rights, was
no longer open to the travelling public;
but by dint of opening gates and letting
down bars l managed to follow dim
Oridle path across waving corn fields,
where often the luxuriant growth would
envelope myself and steed until l could
take no note of the surroundings.
/ had left home in a hurried, fretful
mood, which did not augur very favora-
bly, for ennobling impressions, but the
glorious morning, the sympathy of my
horse and the memory of olden times
combined to soothe me.
All at once ] seemed to grow in perfect
harmony with nature. A hazy, mellow
light fell in softened radiance upon the
fiuttering corn. Suddenly my horse
stood still The light seemed to acquire
form and substance, and human face
and form, so well remembered that I
recognized the person instantly, beamed
out clearly and distinctly before me in
the path. Instantly, as usual, the Wis
ion vanished; but / would close my eyes
and ride leisurely on, and ever and anon
the same outlines of form and feature
would gather shape before me in the
darkness. What could all this mean?
/ grew perfectly tranquil, peaceful
happy. The melody of that sweet and
solemn promise, ''Pll explain" which
for so many years had softened the bit
ter trials which I all along had borne
ehanted peans of hope to my waiting
soul
Quickening my horses pace, a
length emerged from the dense fields o
corn and reached an open pasture, wher,
every rock laid bare to me the smiling
features of some never-to-be-forgotter
friend.
l unused and pOndered much upon tho
weary life of my pale and anxious-vis-
aged mother. So near TO my heart did
she seem that / could not realize that
for, oh, 50 many years she had been
done with life's vicissitudes. And as !
thought of her life Of constant self-sacri-
flee, unappreciation and stolid resigna-
tion to silent despair, my heart went out
to her in ardent longings that could not
be repressed.
Presently sharp angle of the road
brought me to the old school house,
where my vivid recollection of the days
oI my youth became dOubly intensified.
The log building was dilapidated ruin.
A motherly COW with her good-natured
calf stood in the shadow Of the shapeless
pile, chewing the cud of sweet content.
and lazily switching Off the flies. A lit
lie Hook of sheep scampered out of the
rum at my too near approach, awaken
ing IN my soul the distant echoes of LONG
gone decades. In one dark corner Law a
matroniy swine, grnting contentedlv
over the vigorous and evidently success
ful efforts OF about dozen pink-eared
juveniles to replenish their eager ap,,e.
tites with the mothers abundant tactical
supply. Chickens cacklcd i'm the loft
and on a deeaying rafter fine. Ior,lly
Shanghai sat, who greeted me with an
eXultant crow. Skeletons of what had
once been windows hung their bony bar.
across a few dilapidated openings. Lit.
ter, dust and CRIME covered the decay.
ing floor and broken benches.
seemed inspired by some mysteriou,
influence that / could not understand
But for the many evidences of decay
could easily have transformed myself il
imagination to the quaint, odd, impetu,
Gus girl who once, in home-spun gOwI
ana awkward shoes, moved hurriedly
aaown the aisle, out into the wintry
s"', a victim Of morbid, all-consum-
ing affection, and a prey to ungoverna.
BILE temper
lN'iis my way through the hrnkau
benches to the yet more brol,o,, - -,
mounted the riekety stairs and toai,
my station in the very spot vbara W. VI
liam Snyder once had stood 1y,o ,''i, " -
groaning, wheeling melodeon of -. - ,i'
olden time, the quaint "Iissouri IN" ''
mony," the tramp, tramp. tramn :
busy feet as they kept steady time to fl,
sweet melody of grand Old Hundred. an,
above all the well-remembered voice n
the teacher, passed before my senses Iik
panorama of sight and sound Agai
stood, or seemed TO stand, beside m
hearts idol; again heard, or seemed t
hear, his authoritative command t
sing" while the wheezy melodies
sent out or seemed to send, its asth