The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-06-02
THE TOWER OF OBSERVATION CON
TINUED.

Sure enough I! The week that
stayed to Miss Markses' the first wrong
step was taken, jest as knowed 'twould
be. But wasent a-going to run to the
neighbors with it-not /; fur believed
they was both good wimmen, and
meant to do right, and 1 hoped they'd
see their error afore it was too late; and
even now ] amt a-goin' to tell their
real names, so folks what don't know
the circumstances won't know who l
mean nohow.
'Twasent long afore the whole house
was rausacked "from garret to cellar"
as the sayin' is, and all the old news
papers, magazines, journals, temper
ance tracts, etc, ETC., that had been 'cu-
mulatin' fur years was brought out and
searched fur items bearin' on the tenn
perance question. 1 verify believe
there was a whole cart-lOad of 'em;
and Miss Marks was busy almost the
whole time that she could be spared
from her housework, either readin' or
writin'. 1 kept at the wool pickin',
though she said Ineedent mind to, but,
to tell the truth, if it hadent been fur
encouragn' woman in gettin' out of
her proper spere, should have been
real glad to have her mind so taken off
her troubles. She seemed real inter
ested, and do believe it done her great
nnol,r,fIi chofI n
while every day to see how the thing
was progressin' She dident have fur to
come, though we couldent see her house
! fur the hills. There amt many places
in that country where you can see
more'n one house at a time, which
makes it seem mighty lonesome like
till you get used to it. Well, as / was
sayin', Miss Goodwill came over every
day, and her and Miss Marks would
take long walks together, and they'd
always take what she'd wrote with
them, so I knowed Miss Goodwill was
a-practicin' on the lecture. jest took
it into my head to foller them one day,
towards the last of the week, aud see
how they was a-gettin' along.
watched till I see which side of the
spring branch they was takin', then
went down the other side. There was
plenty of brush and timber all along
the branch, so l could keep hid and see
what they was a-doin' at the same
time. Pretty soon | heerd Miss Good
willis voice. Then got little closer
and sot down under a big birch tree
with three trunks to it and listened
She was lecturin', sure enough, Miss
Goodwill was. She done splendid, too
and l can't deny that she told lots o
truths that the men ought TO know
specially the younger ones, and if
had boys at home they should go ant
hear her. L never heard a Temperance
lecturer before that dident try to scar
the people into letting liquor alone b.
. tellin' them what terrible things they,
do when they was a-drinkin', how low
and degraded they'd get to be, abou
the snakes in their boots, ETC., whicl
boys never would believe they'd eve
, come to, and that would be about tn
amount of it. But she went right t,
the bottom of the thing, and showet
, 'em, (or would if they had been
listenenD, how a little liquor take
, every day would inflame the stomach
and the Information would go to tn
brain, and that was how they woul
lose the power to control their appe
tites fur stronger liquor and more of ii
till, almost unbeknown to themselves
they would be led into all the terribl
things they had ever heard of. Tha
! wasent all she told that / never heer
, of before, but can't begin to tell it a
: she did, and 1 thought to myself there
plenty of folks 'round here that ort t
hear it. But fur woman to get up be
fore whole house full of men to teacl
'em looks awful presumptious. LIE
them tell their husbands, and they ca
teach the men according to the Bible
l was jest a-thinkin' this over when a
awful nip jest to the top of my stockin
made me hOller right out before [ ha
time to think. Then another nip, an
laws-a-mercy if I wasent right in
bed of big black ants had jumpe
up at the first nip, and 1 never stoppe
runnin' and holIerin' till got into tn
house and out of every rag of clothin
1 had on and into some of Mis-
Markses', and I did it mighty quick,
can tell you. The wimmen came 8
runnin', scared most as bad as wa!
and 1 verify believe we found twenty {
the miserable varmints in my clothe!
Well, I was satisfied with what ha
learned fur the time bein'. Then th
wool was all picked, so L went HON
again and waited fur somethin' more t
turn up. dident have to wait Ions
> either; but I haven't time to tell yo
about it in this epistle.
AUNT PATIENCE.
WaIla Walla, w. T.