The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-02-09
VOLUME L.

neW-fOund relatlFes ds tney surveyed
, the squalid surroundings of the cabir
and the scant attire Of the girls.
'There's but one Darcy in the lot
= said the old gentleman, aside. Gam
and Kate are nothing more nor les
, than Peter Dowtls all over"
Mrs. Darcy embraced the children
who shyly returned her mute earess, ant
then timidly gave their hands to theil
grandfather, whose greeting was some
what severe and naughty.
'iDid You have 10 better home thar
this while Peter Dowd was living %
queried he, with emphasis, as he sur.
yeyed the cabin in scorn and sorrow.
"Mother never complained to any,
body, and if she could put up with sucl
a home as this without grumbling,
don't see why anybody else should ob.
ject," !" said Ellen, proudly, and her black
eyes flashed like diamonds.
"You're D'Arcy-thats very plain,
my dear" replied her grandfather, pat
ting her approvingly upon the head.
Grandfather, continued Ellen,
"you've travelled far to see US, and we've
no accommodations for your team; so,
if you'll go with me to Uncle jacob
Graham's, I'll get your horses quartered
in his barn. He's a stingy old fellow,
some people say, but he's always good
to me- He'll do anything / ask him TO
do.r
"First let us go to see the other sis
tiers. I must see how many D'Arcy's
the family can show before / can pay
any further heed to horses"
So it was decided that Ann and Kate
should prepare dinner for the visitors,
while Ellen would accompany them to
Sarah's home.
80, grandmother" said the child, ~
love Sarah ever so muchl She was only
ten years old when mother died, and l
was left a tiny baby on her hands, and
she took care of me like a real mother
for four long years; and then she got
married at fourteen to an old bachelor
Of fifty, who was always kind to Us, and
now she has five babies and poor health,
and do expect to see her die and leave
them all for me to raise"
Thus the child ramblingly explained,
giving the grandparents such insight
into the past life of the family, and pre-
pairing them by degrees TO learn of the
hopeless past of Ellen Darcy, and Of
the equally forbidding prospects that
opened before her children.
Sarah was busy at the wash-tub. Her
/ five little ones were playing in dirt and
rags on the cabin floor, and she, with
hollow eyes, bent form and aching back
and limbs, was struggling for life over
the wash-board, at work for which she
was not fitted.
Ellen prevailed upon her relatives to
halt 4 little way from the house while
she should go ahead and apprise her sis
ter of their visit; but she was foiled in
her intentions by a bevy of barking
dogs which Ziek, who made precarious
living by the chase, kept all the while
around him. Ziek had been busy smOk-
ing his pipe in the back door for an
hour or two, never thinking once OF
lending helping hand at the drudgery
at which his puny wife was occupied.
He had very shortly after marriage laid
aside the gray backwoods toggery in
which the reader last beheld him, and
now, as he stood in the low doorway,
with his gray eyes shining feebly from
behind his shock of carrot-colored hair,
which had become well fleckcd with
gray, his long arms hanging limp and
motionless over his high hip bones, his
huge fists half open, and his bristling,
week-old beard besmeared with tobacco
juice, he looked, as in truth he was, the
personificatiOn of the aimless back.
wOodsman, who, living as beast OF
prey, is but very few removes above the
wild animal which he slays and devours
'Ziek Hamilton, my grandfather and
grandmother Darcy" said Ellen
promptly, as her brother-in-law came
slowly out to meet them.
Sarah Strengthened her tired back
wiped her hands and face on her apron
hurriedly endeavored to quell the riot
of the noisy children and put the much
disordered room to rights, and then
awkwardly advanced to welcome the
visitors.
"There's darcy blood here, but IL.
very much diluted by the Dowd's," in.
wardly commented the old gentleman
Then aloud, "How old are you, Sarah p
"Twenty last Christmas, sir"
"And the mother of five children
Sir" turning to the old man Ziek, who
having hitched the horses to a post
now entered with staggering gait
''there ought to be law to take thii
child away from you"
''Tan my hide for sole leather, oil,
man, if submit to such abuse from YOU
Ask Sally there who helped to rails,
Pete Dowd's family? Yes, SIR Will,
you, with your fine airs and high-tone,
dignity, stayed away from the seven or
phans, leaving 'em to starve, thes
hands and legs and eyes, with the hell
: of stauneh old Huldah yonder, kept ZEN
in pervisiOns," and he exultantly an,
affectionately pointed to his rifle as /
hung on its pegs over the mantle.
D Alas, alas" was the old gentleman
answer, ''from the day in which m
poor, infatuated child eloped with Pete
y Dowd, never learned of her where
s. aoouts until six weeks ago. From tn