The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-06-19

The Librarian Of Congress al Washington city. ]
CHAPTER ~.
Melvin Hastings was soon at home in
the city of Portsmouth. The residence
Of his parents occupied a fashionable
thoroughfare The mansion was built
In the castle style, grand, gloomy and
architectural. There was about II q
sort of solid, aristocratic air that raised
Il in theory as well as fact high above
the more unpretentious habitations OF
the less wealthy neighbors of Melvin
Hastings senior.
1t mattered not that everybody knew
that the great wealth Of this family
originated in sundry questionable per-
formances in a low doggery in the days
when the city OF Portsmouth was
young. Il mattered not that everybody
knew that in an inner den of that dog
gerry faro bank had been the great at
traction In the days when virgin gold,
fresh from the mines, abounded. IL
mattered not that the senior Hastings
was often, even in his present pros
perity, known to "buckn at faro in dens
that he was now far too respectable 10
patroniZe openly. The senior was rich,
and money covereth q multitude Of
sins. Besides, his family was far above
himself in morals. In their younger
days his children, six in number, had
resided with their mother for a number
of years upon a cattle rancho in wild
and unfrequented region Of the State,
and it was here that Hastings junior
had learned the art Of making himself
useful in performing such domestic du-
ties as had made him n wonderful model
in the estimation of the feminine portion
Of the family of the Lees.
The mother of Melvin Hastings Junior
was a well-preseryed matron of fifty,
with gentle manners and q regal air,
while the daughters, five in number,
were petty, piquant, fashionable dolls,
who, with the parents, idolized the son
and heir and well-nigh spoiled him ut
terly.
It was evening when Melvin arrived
at home, and all were glad TO welcome
him. A cheerful fire was sending a
glow through the richly furnished room
and lighting up the twilight with its
ruddy CLEANS.
Alice Hastings was reclining upon O
crimson ottoman in charming neglige
toilet Of delicate blue merino, with fac
ings Of mauve-colored satin, open in
front, revealing a skirt of dainty en-
broidery, from the hem of which peeped
a beautifully wrought slipper. Her
long, blonde hair fell in ripples over her
cheeks and bosom, and her blue eyes
flashed in the glow Of the freight with
a CLEAN peculiarly their own.
"What are you doing, Sis?" queried
her brother, as he dropped into luxu-
rious easy chair beside her.
"Nothing. I was Just wondering
what on earth was born for. There /.
nothing for a fashionable young lady tC
do but receive calls, which hate, re
turn them, which detest, read novels
which is nonsense, drum the piano
which is a bore, fiirt, which grow
tedious, and make tatting, which i
abominable! ! was just wishing that
were man ~
"a pretty figure you'd cut as man
my pretty sister! Those dainty finger
would WELD q trowel or those mode
shoulders carry a hod so deftlyl YOU
look charming in q demins shirt wit
overalls to match, carrying bricks an
mortar in the sunshine. Suppose yo
try it for q while"
zone would think you had enumer
ated the full catalogue of masculine EN-
ployments from the stress with whicl
you speak Of hod-carrying. You're
man and you've been busy at sonnethinI
that would just suit me II could hav
an opportunity"
"What is that, pray? >"
"Why, you've been loafing through
the grand autumn woods with a gun O.
your shoulder. You've been drinkip
OF forest springs, listening to the song
Of forest birds, and camping at nigh
with rustic families in little primitiy
cabins in the deep, dark woods"
"How do you know all this, Sis?n
"Oh, I've followed you in imaginl
tion. And to-day, when I was dow
town in the carriage, we stopped
front Of Government Office where pal
had business with a dapper little clel
whose fingers were quite as dainty
mine. Papa says he has n salary of tv
thousand a year. Now 1 could fill su,
position as well as any man and tn
be Independent and busy; but I'm
woman, and there's no avenue Of us
fulness open to me but teachin
kitchen-work or dress-making, and
despise them all"
"Aliee, how can you talk so?n So
the mother, reprovingly. "There is
need that you should lift your hand (
a livelihood. It's nonsense for YOU
think OF earning money. It's unlad
like, besides"
Weren't you just as much OF la,
as you are now, mamma, when Y,
milked COWS and made butter 10 ca
our living?"
Don't allude to such things, AliC
1t was once necessary that 1 should
such drudgery, but it has been the o.
aim of my life to elevate my childr
above it,"
"And make beggars Of us, " said Ali,
impahently. To-day 8 pale, pu