The Portland daily press., 1874-05-05
TERMS $500 PER ANNUMIN ADVANCE

educate the children, which he did-at free
school hard by. And he kept them supplied
WIN hour from his mill-became the -four OF
tne family, as it were. As time passed and
~; Enoch came not, neither ''played in'' any OF
nis diamonds, his wives came to the conclu-
,t s,on tnat ne was dead. Then Philip urged
t;ma uom t 10 marry him. They refused for some
Time, but at length one of them dreamt she
saw Enoch under the palm.D and con-
strung this 10 mean that If he wasn't dead
.s no was Psimlng himself off on the simple
maidens OF South Africa for a single man
which was infinitely worse. thew m.rr;s3
Phlllp out OF spite. The oldest how Job,,
Phllp lbelng OF a convivial turn), the bows
called him johnny Philip the howl ,, T..
kicked against it a little-said he didn't bLe
the Ray family very much-but was brought
over, and finally allowed, in the classical IAN
guage, Cfthe West, that he would "stand the
Rays"
SO these were wed and merrily rang the BELLS
Merrily rang the bells. and they were we'd"
But the hearts of those twelve doubly mar
ried wives didn't beat merrily any more. Sup
pose Enoch should pop in some day, holding
flush OF diamonds, how could they ever for
give themselves for throwing him off? This
was The shadow always lingering at the door.
Let us hurry to the denouement Enoch
did come, as the reader might know. He
he had pawned them, together with his watch,
TO pay his fare home. He was a broken man
dead broke! All, how vivdly the picture
rises IN ones mind of Enoch's return-how
he learned the story of Philip Rap's marriage
with the numerous Mrs. Ardens, and how
one night he stole up TO the house and looked
in upon thair harpinass thpa.ah the .pi..a.-y
If Tennyson's Enoch was overwhelmed with
grief and despair when contemplating one
wife married to his rival, what must have
been the feelings of this poor Mormon in be-
holding dozen similarly circumstanced?
There they were, every wife he ever had
one making tea for Philip, another preparing
his toast, another his dressing-gown, while all
were vieing with each other in doing some
kindly Office for their lord and master. He
recognized among the children some of his
own with whom he was best acquainted be-
fore he left, but the younger ones all bore an
unmistakable likeness to Philip, who sat in
Enoch's own easy chair and in Enoch's own
slippers, before the fire, reading his evening
paper. What did this poor, broken-hearted
wanderer do? Did he steal back to his lodg-
ings, repressing the agony of his heart, ''beat-
ing II in upon his weary brain, as though
'twere the burden of song," not TO telpem,
never to let 'em know? Did he change his
name and do chores around the tavern for his
board until he died, blessing his wives, Philip
and the whole lot with his last breath?
Not much he didn't. He wasn't that sort
of an Enoch. He just gave whoop and
jumped in among them like Rocky Noun
tain wildcat
you! Phil Ray, you gitp'
Before he knew what he was about, Enoch
had him by his collar aud the slack of his
pants, which was all the ''slack" he would
take of Philip anyhow, and slung him into
the street. Then followed Philips boots, dus-
ter, carpet-bag toothbrush, har-dye, meer-
schaum pipe, ''bitters," nlght-shirt, gum-shoes
and other articles that came readily to hand.
You! now, Susan Maria, Mary Jane, Sal,
and tie rest of you dance around and git me
some supper. Thought was dead, did ye?
Pll show you who runs this ranch. The old
mans back ag'inr'
He made it lively for several days, "settin'
things to rights" as he called it.
Philip disappeared and hasn't been seen
since. 1t is supposed that be has gone to the
diamond fields to see how it is himself
Harmony has been restored in that Arden
family, notwithstanding the mixed resem-
blance among the children on their fathers
side. But TenDyson couldn't have construct
ed hi poem on that Salt Lake model.