The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-04-12
CHAPTER XIV.

education, and while he preferred to
live upon the half paid labor of his weak
child-wife rather than engage in her oc-
cupation himself, thus freeing her from
toll for which he saw her strength was
poorly fitted, he inwardly fretted ovel
his idle life.
The balmy spring-time days came
round at last, and Peter and Ellen Dowd
left their dismal lodgings The infant
school passed into other care than that
Of the pale young creature whose ner-
vous headaches, during her winters
mental toll, had acquired a chronic hold
upon her throbbing brain.
Peter Dowd was not as happy in the
possession Of his bride as he had hoped
to be. Many men have learned, to their
sorrow, that to chain a woman's unwill-
ing body does not confine her soul.
Travelling first by steamer and then
by stage, our friends, after a few days,
reached the village of Mackinaw, which
had vastly changed for the better since
the readers first introduction to its log
meeting house, where, more than seven
teen years before, a company Of roughly
clad men, with good Aunt Betsey
Graham in their midst, sat around a
blazing open fire, devising ways and
means to feed and clothe the hungry
and half naked children of the first Pc
ter and Ellen Dowd.
Frame buildings of cheap architec-
ture, painted white, with small, quaint
windows and neatly kept door yards,
had supplanted the unsightly structures
of mud and logs that for years did noble
service in the cause of pioneers. Or
chards, in bloom and beauty, decked
the sloping lawns, and merry children
played at hide and seek on the grass
clad common.
The great, numbering coach halted in
front of the unpretentious inn, and FL
len, weary with her tedious ride and
sick with Olden memories, entered q
cheap apartment, called by courtesy the
public parlOr, though it evidently was
the family's sitting room as well. She
threw herself, painting and discouraged,
into the nearest chair, while Peter
looked after their little stock of baggage,
and / fessed her throbbing temples with
her thin and blue-veined hands.
''Tan my hide for sole leather if this
amt Ellen Dowd."
The tired girl, thus addressed, raised
her head with a startled look-and
there stood her brother-in-law, Ziek
Hamilton, his head upon his chest as
usual, his brawny hands upon his high
hip bones, his shaggy hair and beard as
usual Transforming his otherwise suffi-
ciently homely face into an expression
half human, half orang outang.
"Why, brother Ziek," said Ellen, with
painful effort, 'can this be you?"
81 don't see who else in the nation l
ought to be,n holding forth his hand.
you've grown like all possessed; but
you don't look stouter'n two Simpsons.
Where do you come from? What are
you doing here? Tell me all about it."
'Never mind about me, brother Ziek.
Tell me about Sarah and the children, u
and Ellen gazed anxiOusly into his face
with her lips half open and her finger
lifted in attitude Of anxious inquiry.
"The old wOmans mighty unwell
Ellen. She keeps her bed most of the
time now"
''Who as the old woman? 1 do moi
understand"
"Why, Sarah, of course, but it's beer
so long since I've called her anything
else but mother OF. old waman,' that
hardly know her by the old name of he
girlhood."
what Is the matter with Sarah ?ii
so, it's sort Of general debility. She
sort o. been in the decline for a numbe
O. years"
"How many children have YOU
Ziek?"
''Ten, livin'"
"Haye you lost any?''
eyes, two. The last ones amt SCENE
TO have no constitution"
'Twenty-seven years of age and IL
ulOluel VI N0C4hG ChAAAANh- OAJ LACA
"Well, it's what woman's made fo
No woman has a right to complain
her lot when she's decently provide
for.U
"Did Sarah ever complaint"
80, yes. Like all women, she need'
breakin' in. She made heap o. fuss
first about her hard lot as she CALI
it, but she hain't said nothin' of la
years. But, Ellen, you don't tell n
one word about yourself Bless N
stars, how you have grown! What a
you dom here? Who dye con
with ?"
81 came with my husband.D
"Your husband! Whewpi and Iii,
Hamilton tipped back his oat straw b
and gave his hair blow, sending Il
shaggy locks away from his fisbv eve
"Tan my hide for sole leather if IN
don't beat us! When did YOU get ma
ried? Who's your husband ?''
''He is my fathers second cousin. n,
his name is Peter Dowd. But here
comes. Allow me to Introduce hin,
turning pale and tightly pressing |
throbbing temples.
'My husband, Peter Dowd, allow
to introduce my brother-in-law, II
Hamilton"