The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-12-08


"Irs Solon Rutherford, Esq, sir"
said Edna. ''The man upon whose
shoulders rests the responsibility of
having trained me up in a conservatory,
in order to fit me to grow on the bleak
mountain top, and then left me on the
mountain without any shelter, is no
parent of mine. No, John, don't say
he's my father. disown him ~
All, Edna, what a discipline you are
yet to have, ere all the woman in your
nature shall assert itself and you shall
come out of the crucible of hard expe-
rience, tried, as by fire! What a pity
the vast capabilities of your strong ma
ture have been perverted by false edu-
cation! What a pity you were not
trained Alright from your infancy And
above all, how sad is the reflection that
the worst mistakes of the parents are to
be visited upon the children!
81 have an idea, Edna" said John.
'pm astonished ~ was the contempt
uous answer. And then, as John only
looked down his nose and made no
further remark, she at length glanced
up from her stitching and said:
"WelI ?'
"rd only astonish you further by ex-
planning, and my idea is of no conse-
quence," was Johns sullen reply.
Edna liked that. If John would only
act with a little spirit of his own, even
if directly opposed to her wishes in all
things, she felt that she would like him
better.
"Then you needn't explain your idea.
[ only suggest that you act upon it.
Anything is better than this accursed
stagnation."
"Thats strong language for lady,
Edna"
81 look like setting myself up for a
lady, truly, with these elegant sur
roundings and a wealthy husbandw was
the unwomanly response.
John did not wait for further bandy-
ing of words. Leaving the house in a
nervous, impatient way, he hurried
across the fields toward the Rutherford
farmhouse, while Edna gazed after him
with mingled curiosity and contempt.
''To be fettered for life to such milk
and-Yaterish nonentity is an outrage on
my common sense p' she exclaimed, in
voluntarily.
"She doesn't appreciate me, or depend
upon me in the least, else / might have
little more ambition" thought John.
And so, while Edna went on with her
stitching and John was hurrying across
the fields, both were as thoroughly mis-
erable as each had expected to be sin
cerely happy in the relation for which
they were so poorly fitted that no state
involving "cruelty to animals" over
which philanthropists have distin-
guished themselves, could be compared
to their condition.
John found Mrs. Rutherford in the
cheese-room, with her skirt turned uI
and fastened behind her waist with g
pin, her sleeves rolled above her elbows
and a scrubbing- brush in her suds.
wrinkled hands.
'T don't ask you to forgive me fol
marrying Edna, for never can forgive
myself" he exclaimed, stepping gin
gerly upon the wet flags and looking
about him with a critical air.
"Why, John? What now?" anC
Mrs. Rutherford placed hers arms akimbc
and gazed at her son-in-law as thougl
he had been a monkey.
"You didn't bring her up right, ma'am
She's as full of hoity-toity notion
about her fancied superiority over me a
[ am full of determination to rule M!
own household"
Eyes, John Smith" said Mrs. Ruther
ford, excitedly, "and she has more sens
in minute than you'll ever have il
your lifetime. If she were the man
and you the woman, as times go, sh
might lead you along and make a liv
ing; but with the power and the privi
lege all on your side, and the sense an
ability to manage all on hers, you ar
both in a sorry predicament, job
Smith-a sorry predicament."
Poor John! What could he do? De
pendent, as this marriage had mad
= him, upon the relations of his wife fC
his daily bread, he was compelled to az
cept the humiliation in silence.
81 want to go to California ~ he sale
at length. "Aud want to know if 20
can assist me. 1 can't guarantee yo
any security against loss, but I wi
,, promise to 10 my best to repay yo
when I can"
"YOu know that married women hav
no right to their own earnings, job
Smith. If they had, it would be eas
enough for me to aid you. But ry
toiled for a third of century on th
farm and there's nothing here that b.
longs to me. It's all Solon's. VIII
don't you see what you can do wit
him ?"
Because he won't even look at m
. Edna might bring him to terms mayb
but she is so much like him that 81
] won't bend an inch"
I Mrs. Rutherford nodded satisfactorily
"pll break her in yet; see if 1 don't
q TohD addad Soffo mice