The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-01-21

tOrglVe ner, won't you :"
Itwas trying moment, but the mans
better nature rose at last above his usual
selfishness, and he faltered, "Yes."
"And you'll send for her to come to
this far-off land and bring up our chill
dren, won't you? Dear Jason, there's
no other way"
"pl see about it, Molly"
''You say you will do to"
"Yes; yes; he'll do it, my poor friend.
know he will r' interrupted Mrs Nor
rison. "Your husbands heart is all
right. And you have touched it in the
proper place"
Each unkempt child was it its turn
brought to the mother for last fare
well.
"Leave me now. I'm tired and must
sleep" she said.
A half-hour later, when the mourning
household attempted to arouse Mrs. An
drews from her slumbers, the casket
only was there. A clay-cold corse lay
peacefully at rest, with its white face
upon the pillow, heavenly smile upon
its features, and its thin hands clasped,
as if in prayer.
"At last,
When the bruised reed was broken, and her
soul
Knew its sad term of earthly bondage past,
| And felt its nearness to the heavenly goal.
Then a strange gladness filed the tender eyes,
Which gazed afar, beyond all grief and sin,
And seemed to see the gates OF paradise
Enclosing for her feet to enter in.
Vainly the master she had served so long
Clasped her worn hands and with remorsefuI
tears
Cried: "stay, oh stay Forgive my bitter
wrong!
Let me atone for all these dreary years :"
Alas! for needless hearts and blinded sense!
With what faint welcome and what meager
fare,
What mean subjections and small recompense
We entertain our angels unaware :"
Very simple were the funeral rites.
Mrs. Morrison read an appropriate bur-
ial service, and Madge, with her own
hands, made the grave, and, with the
help of the bereaved husband, Alice,
her mother and brothers, rudely buried
the fragile dead.
Life went on at Molalla Moorland for
many months in the same manner as
before.
Jason Andrews assisted the Morrisons
in opening a farm and fencing it, and in
building an addition to the one little
room, in which the two families had
been too throng to thrive. Their mea-
ger store of books received due attention,
and Mrs. Morrison was soon surprised
at her own improvement in rudimental
education, brought about in her effort to
improve her children.
Madge, too, imbibed knowledge as
though her brain were a great absorbing
sponge. Not that she was ever seen
making an effort. She was as peculiar
about learning her lessons as every
thing else.
al can get them with my eyes shut
whenever there's anything sensible in
them to learn ~ she declared, when
urged by her mother to attend to them
more closely.
'How can you get lessons in that
way ?" Alice asked.
"I dou't know. I see through 'em.
That's all.n
For several years, the monotony of a
lonely pioneer life went on, broken only
at long intervals by visits from nomadic
Indians, or occasionally by a journey
with an ox-team to the distant city Of
The Falls, where the Hudson Bay Com
pany kept a general assortment of mer-
chandise, which an obliging agent was
ready to exchange for such commodities
as the scattered settlers were able tc
bring to market through the almost
impossible forest that intersected the
many undulating and fertile prairies
that lay in vernal loveliness at the great
) mountains feet.
Before the discovery of gold upon the
Pacific Coast, it was not possible for the
settlers to procure money as circu-
: lating medium, and a bushel of wheat
became certain unit of value, subject
W SAAShG 4AuCS1JiOho az 1OuB 4uICl NdlS
, but of sufficient standard valuation tc
enable the producer to make a pretty
t correct estimate of the amount of cloth.
ing, groceries and tools that he might
: afford to purchase.
t But Mrs. Morrison generally placed
supreme reliance in the superior judg
ment of her strange, homely, practica
, and yet ideal younger daughter, and al
: ways overruled the older ones attempts
to plan for the wants of the household
This naturally gave rise to much dissat
isfactiOn on the part of Alice, who, wher
, she had reached the unripe age of thir
0 teen years, became enamored of an igno
L rant mountaineer, and, in spite of Oppo
= sition, married him, leading thereafter
life of hardship, privation and self
L denial, of which it does not suit oul
i present purpose to give our readers a de
4 scription.
The elopement of Alice so deeply af
fected her mother that Madge insisted
that she should make the next journey
d to The Falls. The widow had not lef
e her farm since she had first set foot npoI
9 it, and it seemed like uprooting one o
e the mammOth fOraSt fr, fbot rrravry /,