The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-04
ready" thought Jason, but he held his

#
had been so long and miserable to Mrs.
Andrews; and yet, long and miserable
as it was, she had silently prayed that
evening might never come, when the
lazy team emerged from a stretch of
mammoth woods and descended the
long, rocky hill that overlooked the lit
tie pioneer city of The Falls.
Had the widows mind been free from
a new ENHANCEMENT, she would have
gazed with rapture upon the beautiful
scene before her.
The falls, from which the little city
took its name, looked very Niagara in
their magnificent proportions. The city
itself, cuddIed like pet kitten under
the sunny side of a lOug range of gray,
high bluffs of rock that raised their
hoary battlements in the air and bathed
their brows in the roseate beams of the
descending sun, looked like a thing of
life, as the white waters of the cataract
laved its feet with their busy eddies.
"Oh, God ~ sighed the widow.
"Was all this beauty made by Thee,
only to mock humanity in its misery
and helplessness 2"
at was made for US that we might ac-
cept it, an the conditions Providence as
signs US with thankfulness," said Jason,
accompanying the sage remark with an
eager, earnest gaze into her shrinking
eyes. .....
That's richr' cried Harry, who, for
once, had overheard. YOU'D make a
capital preacher, Brother Andrews;
only it amt bit like you to be preach
ing about blessings and thankfulness
and things. You generally give US the
other side of the question. What's
up?"
"You'd better tell him, an save pos
sible row when we get to the parson's,"
suggested Jason, in low tone.
81 couldn't tell him if 1 died for not
doing it," replied the mother.
"Then will"
"Have your own way about it, then.
I'm ready for anything"
, "What dye think, Harry? Me an
the ole woman are goin' to be spliced
, when we git to The Falls p' exclaimed
, Jason, speaking with a sort of desperate,
braggadocio air, that plainly meant, "If
ye don't like it, what ye goin' to do
about it, anyway ?"
"Whats" and Harry looked up, ap-
palled.
"Jist that" ....
"Oh, mother! 1t isn't true, is it ?"
eyes," faltered the mother, gazing
straight ahead, over the backs of the
cattle, and beyond the town, into the
raging falls. .....
How she wished that she might
plunge headlong over the foaming cata-
ract, and into the dark abyss below.
} Then, gazing down the river, below the
falls, she saw the broad expanse of busy
waters sullenly bearing their burden of
canoes, loaded with life and mer-
chandise.
, "rm like that mighty cataract, now,"
she thought. "T'm angry and desper-
ate. It's too late to save myself from a
plunge into the dark, hymeneal gulf;
: but there will come the sullen calmness
of endurance after the terrible leap is
made. I'm ready for the sacrifice"
Thus muslng, she failed to heed the
t questions and remonstrancss of Harry,
and the wagon was soon halted in front
of the Hudson Bay Company's trading
exchange, where swarms of lazy Indi-
ans lounged among indolent white men
and freely imbibed their vices, while
) they generally failed to appreciate their
virtues.
! The chief of the Hudson Bay Com
: pany's men, venerable, white-haired
= benevolent gentleman, who was al
= ways ready to do what he might to
t serve the people in any honorable way,
was taken aside by the groom-to-be, who
l received the necessary directions as to
r the matrimonial preliminaries, while
4 the waiting bride aimlessly selected heI
? needed articles of merchandise in the
, store, and Harry went with the wagon
! to the grassy suburbs of the town, to
= make camp and turn his oxen out to
Craze.
e In half an hour Mr.. Andrews re-
e turned with minister, who had been
e surprised in vigorous attack upon 8
t wood-pile, and who, as he had been in
formed that the case was urgent, came
in his shirt sleeves and thick, stubby
beard, that suggested the need of a razor
e The marriage ceremony was rs uncer-
i emonious as it was impressive. The
q good minister very devoutly invoked
a the blessing of heaven upon the union
the nonchalant Indians looked on anC
t grunted; the white spectators passed J
e few unseemly comments, and Mrs. ia
Y son Andrews number two turned hel
0 face away from her new protector anC
: continued her marketing, needless
= of the consequences of the great
e plunge she had made into the
o abyss of matrimony, as though the la
s boring, enduring life she must LEAD
}, henceforth did not deserve an after
# thought. rat
A half-hour later, and her purchase.
d were concluded. Returning to tht
camp in the suburbs, she busted hersel