The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-09-26

my faithful dog, the only friend Of my
childhood who ever understood me fully,
1 left the hallowed associations Of my
stinted childhood. l see u stately man
sion. The grandparents surround their
ward with tutors; overload her with ac-
complishments, but never teach her
self-dependence. Their aim is TO get
her settled for life. A bargain is made.
The old man who came to her as a tutor
became suitor while she is yet child
of tender years. The young girl, panic
stricken and obstinate, places confidence
in the hired man, who fees with her,
and under promise wrung from her in
the depths of her desperation, becomes
her legal master under the name of hus-
band. Icannot tell you all see. Long
years of poverty, ineessant toll and ex-
cessive maternity, accompanied by such
abuses as no woman will complain Of,
though thousands annually die because
of them, and outraged mind and body
could endure no more. She fled, and
taking refuge, all penniless and sick
and weary as she was, with dear old
friends in whom she trusted, her legal
protector, whose duty it should have
been to shield her from the rude tempests
of life, attacked her through the newspa-
pers, maligning her character in an adj
vertisement refusing to pay any debts
Of her contracting. Then came a suit
for divorce, which the wife contested,
because she denied the charges of inf
deity, upon which ground the divorce
had been applied for.
"A dark-eyed man whom she had
never met until that day of trial, was
foreman Of the jury, which, after hear
ing all the evidence, and the wronged
woman's plea, refused TO grant the di-
vorce upon the charges made, because
they could not be proved, even by cir
cumstantial evidence.
"Friends died and bequeathed hel
property, which enabled her to regain
possession of the half a score Of children
of whom, under wise and wholesome
laws, no man could ever rob a mother
Turning her effects into teams and gold
the lonely widow, under the stigma
which any pure woman feels, of widow
hood while one she had called husband
yet lives upon the earth, she Travelled
toward the setting sun. Years Of toi
and thrift and skill rolled on. Forum,
smiled upon her in many ways, but de
served disgrace or any sort of dishono
attached itself to her nerer.
'sThe stranger who had been the fore
man in q trial in the dark days wher
| the pillows of troubled waters wer
surging around her, found her in he
new and stately home, which her owl
hands had earned. His mother, who's
tale Of horror would freeze your blood
could but tell it, came to them hope
lessly deranged. o, the unwritten his
tories of woman! o, the anguish tina
is often buried beneath the chastene
smilel o, the weary heart aches tina
choke themselves in vain attempt q
concealmentI Ellen Dowd has neve
shirked a duty. Her life has been, a
the world accepts virtue, as pure as viz
gin ice. She lays no claims to unexam
pied goodness. herlast days are bein
her best ones, and she now declares to yo
. tl,ok for fl,a ,,,r,,O.a Of op,a1anro finn, !,
, conditions of the millions of workin
women throughout our land, she pledge
henceforth her life, her fortune, and he
! sacred honor. The bands of inequality
! under the assumed name of protection
that oppress the weary women of til
world must be loosed, that both me
/ and women may be free indeed"
: The company had listened with breatl
= less attention. AS the last tones of III
voice vibrated upon the air, a brace
canaries in a gilded cage over her hea
: set up a warbling, trilling melody as
7 rejoicing at her words. One by on
with fearful eyes and throbbing heart
the WOIIl6H NilO llstu SnuuuGu lcI llD
D came forward and craved forgiveness.
| A week later and the same part
:, with numerous additions, met at h
e residence and organized, in lieu of Il
charitable society they had been ru
d ming, an Equal Rights Associatio
}. San Francisco was shocked. Newsp
pers were in ecstacy, for did they n
o now have sensational items and sill
d caricatures in plenty TO vent again
P their political interiors?
But the organization grew and mul
It piled. The glowing West Joined han
3, with the rosy East, and as the graz
good work goes on, among the lead'
, in the van can always be found at h
a post of duty none more assiduous tn
,s she, the wealthy wife of Edgar Wort
+, who in her days of adversely the reaC
4 knew and pitied as "Ellen Dowd, t
,r Farmers Wife"
THE End.