The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1874-11-20
CHAPTER I.

the LlDrarlan OF congress AT washington City,
CHAPTER l.
A quaint, rambling and unfinished
stone dwelling stood upon sloping
eminence, overlooking a fertile valley
that was barricaded in places by rocks
Of gray sandstone and brownish-gray
basalt, and in Others by lofty hills, bar
ren of trees, except at intervals, where
stunted pines dared to protrude their
feathery tips into the empty air, only
to get their branches turned the wrong
way by the prevailing summer gales
that had long ago laid bare the scaly
sides Of the ambitious evergreens and
caused them to grow knotty and gnarled
and prematurely old.
The house stood at least a mile from
its nearest neighbor, the way to this
neighbors being across q deep, rocky
gulch, through which a little river
flowed that sometimes took on great
proportions that would shut off egress
from the lonely homefor weeks together.
Below the farm, and perhaps a mile
distant, over a steep declivity, which
could only be compassed by a circuitous
route Of more than two miles in length,
lay a quiet, tasteful border town, with
church spires pointing heavenward,
where numerous white, vine-embowered
cottages lay nestled among choice col
lections of fruit and floral beauty that
always, when she saw them, awakened
feelings of sadness closely akin to envy
in the breast Of Mrs. Armstrong, whose
husband owned the great stone barracks
where she lived, around which no YES
tige of shade was permitted to grow, no
Towering shrubs allowed to nestle.
Below the town, which had long borne
the hOnOrs and expenses of a regularly
Incorporated city, and which, for our
purpose, shall bedesignated Stonehenge,
because We do not at this writing re-
member that any town with such a
name is marked upon American geogra-
phies, ran a deep and rocky river, where
navigation was possible by sections
only, the different and unnavigable
rapids having long been overcome by
portsges, over which a mule railroad
and great freight wagons transported the
exports and imports of the vast but
sparsely settled country to which the
river was an outlet.
The homestead Of the Armstrong;
was slightly enough, the scenery around
it being sufficiently picturesque, and
the natural advantages more than neces-
sary to make the place the most attrac-
tive resort in the vicinity of Stonehenge.
Isaac Armstrong had pre-empted a
large tract of government land in an
early day, when there was no Congres-
sional or other limit to such a purchase
except the Pacific ocean, and no boun-
dary to the purchasers greed except the
length Of his purse.
He bad married Sally, his present
wife, when on a visit among his rela,
tives in the East, whittier he had re-
paired for consolation shortly after the
death of Mrs. Armstrong the first.
That memorable visit had marked al
era in his history, for it had made {
great man of him during its continuance
He had plenty of mOney-as who from
the far west had nOt-and he spent i
lavishly, in ways that would hav'
astonished Mrs. Armstrong number one
could she have witnessed such reckless
scattering Of her careful hOardings.
AS Isaac Armstrong was the father o
Anvara oh 1efHarar, ofnrlaf hafnrr rrfrfu
relatives Of Mrs. Armstrong numbe
one, were of opinion that it was not a
all necessary for him to look upon AM
other woman with a view to matrimony
but as is usual in such cases, Isaac Arm
strong thought otherwise and so di,
Sally Jones, a young and spoiled daugh
ter of a widowed mother, who woul,
have made far more suitable com
panion for the sturdy farmer and stocl
man, had he but realized the fact.
But Isaac Armstrong, like any othe
widower in love, had neither sense nc
caution. His dozen children were ia
away in their Pacific home he was
good condition and owned a squal
league of land and the cattle upon
thousand hills; and it was not to be e1
pected but he would marry, and MARI
well in the bargain.
So, when pretty Sally Jones becan
the second Mrs. Isaac Armstrong, nobod
was astonished, though some unchariti
bic croakers idsay with dubious shak'
of the head, that there twas somethin
unnatural in such a uniOn," and thel
nobody knew what sort of mess
young Armstrong; she'd have to de-
with when she'd get among them an
she'd surely rue the day when she gay
up her freedom for the doubtful advaI
tages that seemed to accompany the III
equal match"
But the nine days gossip came to a
end after the wedding. The visits can
to an end also, and, after a long and Il
borious journey, to the like of which Il
bride had hitherto been wholly unaccu
toned, the bleak stone house WI
reached and the young mistress dom
ciled therein, at a time just five yea
prior to the evening upon which O.
story opens.
Mrs. Armstrong number two was nc
q faded, nervous, sickly, anxious wol