The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1873-11-07

and jumping on the box, proceeded to
direct the driver.
Had ladies of Mrs. Hastings style
been rs plenty in Deep Caflon as in
New York, the driver would have
grumbled at the no road he had to fol-
low along the stony side of a hill and
among the stumps of mahogany trees.
But there were few like her in that
mountain town, and his ehiyairy COM
PEELED him to go out of his way with
every appearance of cheerfulness. Pres
emily the stage stopped where the slop-
ing ground made it very uncertain how
long it could maintain its balance in
that position; and the voice of DIR.
Earle was heard saying, 'This is the
place"
Mrs. Hastings, who had been looking
out for some sign Of home, was seized
with doubt of the credibility of her
senses. 1t was on the tip Of her tongue
TO say This must be the house of some
other Mr.. Hastings" when she remem-
bered prudence and said nothing. Get
ting out and going toward the house to
inquire, the door opened, and a miner
in rough mining suit equickly for
ward to meet her.
"Aliceri
"Jackm
DIR. Earle and the driver studiouslv
looked the other way while salutations
were exchanged between Mr.. and Mrs.
Hastings. When they again yentured
q look, the lady had disappeared within
the cabin, the first glimpse of which
had so dismayed her.
That afternoon, Jack initiated Alice
into the mysteries of cooking by an open
fire, and expatiated largely on the merits
OF his outside kitchen. Alice hinted to
him that she was accustomed to sleep
on something softer than 4 board, and
the two went together to a store to get
materials out of which TO construct a
mattress.
After that, for two or three weeks Mrs.
Hastings was industriously engaged in
wondering what her husband meant
when he wrote that he had built a house
and was getting things ready to receive
her. Reason or romance as she might.
she could not make that single room of
rough boards, rooted with leaky canvas
and unfurnished with a single comfort
of life, into house or home. At last
Jack seemed to guess her thoughts, for
she never spoke them.
''If | could sell my mine," he then
often said, 81 could fix things up.u
j h..
would go back TO New York, and then
there would be no need of fixing up this
place." Alice wanted to say "horridii
place, but refrained.
Atlength, from uncongenial air, water.
food, and circumstances in general, the
flower began to droop.
The great heat and Tarified mountain
iir caused frantic headaches, aggravated /
by the glare which came through the !
canvas roof. Then came the sudden /.
mountain tempests, when the rain del /
lged everything, and il was hard to I
lind a spot to stand in where the water
lid not drip through. She grew wild I
looking at the bare mountain sides sim |
mering in-the sun 10y day, and at night /.
over their tops up to the piercing stars. /.
A constant anxious fever burned in her |
blood, that the cold night air could not /.
quench, though she often left her couch |
to let it blow chilly over her, in her
loose night robes. Then she fell really |
i'll.
Sitting by her bedside Jack had said:
''If could sell my minep' And she
had answered, "Let the mine go, Jack, !
and lets go home. Nothing is gained
by stopping in this dreadful place"
Then Mr.. Hastings had replied to her,
II have no money, Alice, to go home
with-nOt q cent. | borrowed ten dol
lars of Earle, to-day, to buy some fruit
for you"
That was the last straw that broke the
eamers back. BY night Mrs. Hastings
was delerious, and DIR. Earle was called. /
"She has a nervous fever" he said;
"and needs the earefullest nursing"
(Which she cannot have i'm this id
place." Mr.. Hastings replied profanely.
"Why don't you try TO get something
to do ?" asked Earle of the sad-visaged
husband day or two after.
"What is there to do? Everything is
is neither business nor money
in this cursed country. Pve stayed here
trying 10 sell my mine, until l am dead
broke-nOthing to live on here, and
nothing to get out with. What rm to /,
do with my wife there, / don't know. !
Let her die, perhaps, and throw her
bones up that ravine to bleach in the |
sun. Godi what a positionw
"But you certainly must propose to /
do something, and that speedily. |
Couldn't you see that it was half that /
brought this illness on your wife-the in /
evitable which she saw closing down /.
upon you ?"
"If / cannot sell my mine, I'll blow
out my brains, as that poor German did /
last week. Alice heard the report of
the shot which killed him, and / think |
il hastened on her sickness"
"And so you propose to treat her to
such n scene, and put an end to |
her?n said Earle, savegly.
"Better so than let her starve," Jack /
growing pale with the burden /
Of possibilities which oppressed him. |
How the devil / am TO save her from !
that last, | don't know. There is neither /
business, money, nor credit in this in-
fernal town. I've been everywhere in |
this district, asking for q situation at /
something, and cannot get anything 1
better than digging ground OH the new |
roadn
even that might be better than
starving" said Dr. Earle.
Jack was faithful nurse; Dr. Earle /
an attentive physician; young people 1
with elastic constitutions die hard: so /
Alice began TO mend, and in n fortnight
was cOnvalescent. Jack got situation I
i'm a quartz mill where the Doctor was
part owner.
One day, being lonely, Alice thought
TO please Jack by dressing in something /
pretty and going to see him. So, laying 4
aside the wrapper which she had worn /
almost constantly lately, she robed her |
self in delicate linen lawn, donned a /
coauettish little hat andparasol, and set
out for the mill, a mile away.
Something in the thought that it
would be a pleasant surprise to Jack
gave her strength and animation; and
though she arrived somewhat out Of
breath, she looked as dainty as rose, I
and Jack was immensely proud and fiat
tered. He introduced her to the head
Of the firm, showed her over the mill, 1
pointed out to her the mule train pack |
ing wood for the engine fires, got the /