The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-06-30


England has everything
NO." said Mrs. Arnett; "yOu have
forgotten one thing which England has
not and which we have-one thing
which outweighs all England's treas
ures, and that is the Right. God is on
our side, and every Volley from our
muskets is an echo of His voice. We |
are poor and weak and few; but God is
fighting for US. We entered into this |
struggle with pure hearts and prayerful |
lips. We had counted the cost and were |
willing to pay the price, were it our |
hearts blood. And now-now, because |
for time the day is going against US,
you would give up all and sneak back, |
like cravens, to kiss the feet that have |
trampled upon us And you call your
selves men-the sons of those who gave
up home and fortune and fatherland to
make for themselves and for dear lib
erty resting-place in the wilderness
On, shame upon you, towards !"
Her words had rushed out in a fiery
flood, which her husband had vainly
striven to check. l do not know how
Mrs. Arnett looked, but fancy her
little fair woman, with kindly blue eyes
and delicate features-a tender and low
ing little soul, whose scornful, blazing
hearers like the inspired fury of pyth-
oness. Are we not all prophets at
times-prophets of good or evil, accord
ing to our bent, and with more power
than we ourselves suspect to work out
the fulfillment of our own prophecies? ?
Who shall say how far this fragile
woman aided to stay the wave of desola-
tion which was spreading over the
land7
"Gentlemen," said good Mr. Arnett,
uneasily, "I beg you to excuse this most
unseemly interruption of our council.
My wife is beside herself, think. You
all know her and know that il is not her
wont to meddIe with politics, or to
brawl and buster. Tomorrow she will
see her folly, but 1 now pray your pa
tience."
Already her words had begun to stir
the slumbering manhood in the bOsOms
of those who heard her. Enthusiasm
makes its own fitting times. No one
replied; each felt too keenly his own
pettiness, in the light cast upon them
! by this wOman's brave words.
''Iake your protection, if you WILL"
she went on, after waiting in vain for a
reply. "Proclaim yourselves traitors
and towards, false to your country and
your God; but horrible will be the judg-
ment you will bring upon your heads
and the heads of those that love you. /
tell you that England will never con-
quer. I know it and feel it in every
! fibre of my heart. Has God led US so far
to desert us now? Will He, who led our
fathers across the stormy winter sea,
! fOrsake their children who have put
their trust in Him? For me, I stay
with my country, and my hand shall
never touch the hand, nor my heart
cleave to the heart, of him who shames
her."
She flashed upon her husband a gaze
which dazZled him like sudden light
ming.
Isaac, we have lived together for
twenty years, and for all of them | have
! been a true and loving wife to you.
But 1 am the child of God and of my
country, and if you. do this shameful
thing, I will never again own you for
my husband"
''My dear wife !' cried the husband,
ashast, "you do not know what you are
saying. Leave me, for such thing as
this ~
'For such a thing as this :" she cried,
scornfully. "What greater cause could
there be? I married a good man and
u uC1 q Ae1lbllluA lllGlu anu u lOgdl NLIlS-
tian gentleman, and it needs no divorce
to sever me from traitor and a coward.
If you take your protection, you lose
your wife, and II lose my husband
and my hOmeu'
With the last words the thrilling
voice broke suddenly with a pathetic
fall, and a film crept over the proud
blue eyes. Perhaps this little touch of
wOmanly weakness moved her hearers
as deeply as her brave scornful words.
They were not all towards at heart, only
touched by the dread finger of panic,
which, now and then, will paralyze the
bravest. Some had struggled long
against it and only half yielded at last.
And some there were to whom old ira
ditiOns had never quite lost their power,
whose superstitious consciences had
never become quite recOnciled to the
stigma of rebel, though reason and
Judgment both told them that, borne
for the cause for which they bore it, it
was title of nobility. The words of
the little woman had gone straight to
each heart, be its maiR-spring what it
might. Gradually the dropping heads
were raised and the eyes grew bright
with manliness and resolution. Before
they left the house that night, they had
, sworn a solemn oath to stand by the
cause they had adopted and the land OF
their birth, through good or evil, and to
spurn the offers of their tyrants and foes
as the deadliest insults.
Some of the names of those who met
in that secret council were known after
, wards among those who fought their
, country's battles most nObly, who died
upon the field of honor, or rejoiced with
pure hearts when the day of triumph
came at last. The name of the little
woman figured on no heroic roll, but
was she the less a heroine?
, This story is a true one, and, in this
, Centennial year, when every crumb OF
information in regard to those old days
of struggle and heroism is eagerly gath
cred up, it may not be without interest
He WAS BORN SO.-One of our citi-
zens is blessed, or otherwise, with q
] vary stuhbOrn xxyifa IN ooeo I,