The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-04
A LEAF YEAR INsPIRATIoN.

THE following sensible and raey pro- |
duction was furnished and read by Mrs
Virgil, of this city, at the "Leap Year
Party" given by the ladies of Nonpareil |
Lodge L o. G. T., on last Saturday
evening.-ED.]
My friends, we have invited you to
leap year party, which with US means
that every lady and every gentleman
will feel free to invite or not invite, as
the spirit moves them. This is accord
ing to the working of our Order. Of all
places in the world, none is equal to our
Good Tempiar Lodges to show how men
and women can work together on terms
of perfect equality. The men do not,
like the brethren in some orders, admit
US only to the portal of the temple, in !
order that we may be handy when they
want something good to eat; but they
take US into the inner courts, into the
very mystery of mysteries; and can say
for the brethren of Nonpareil that they
are generous to fault, and though they
have the advantage in numbers, they
give us more than fair share of the Of
fees, some even proposing on this leap
year to give US all the honors. But we
do not ask for unreasonable fdUOTS; we
only accept justice and equality, which
we claim as natural rights, taking with
them the labor and responsibility there
unto belonging. Our men do not, with
the insOlence of concert, compare them
selves to lofty oaks, and US to insignifi-
cant zines, whom they condescendingly
permit to dwell in their shadows, while
they absorb all the sunshine. But they
are oaks, though, of most excellent
variety, and they do not object to our
being eLD1s or naples, or whatever
nature intended. Together we stand
the storms; together we enjoy the sun
shine; together we perform the duties
enjoined upon us by our Order; working
together through evil report and good
report, using our utmost endeavors to
benefit mankind and honor God.
I have written few verses which
consider appropriate to the subject, and
most respectfully dedicate to all the
brethren of all the lodges. 4
THE OAK AND THE VINE.
'Tis said-we hear 1t o'er and DER
That woman is a vine,
Which ever round some sturdy oak
Must lovingly entwine.
One dark and dreary winter night
This vision troubled me:
I saw myself clinging vine,
Without a sheltering tree.
And though a hundred stood around,
/ / could not lean or lop;
! The question that would give me one
did not dare to pop.
Too fraiI, alas! to stand alone,
Must 1 crawl on the ground?
Thus musing sad, fell into
slumber most profound.
And then dreamed dream most strange;
NIethought lingering stood
Within the dim recesses
OF a green, outrageous wood.
And many trees of various kinds
Were standing thtckly round,
Their heads uplifted high in air,
Their roots deep in the ground.
And many slender vines were there,
That beauteous summer morn;
And some had found a sturdy oak,
And some a stunted thorn.
One found fair young maple,
And within his sheltering arms
Was safe for many a weary year
From all outside alarms.
One fair young vine, with artist eye,
Saw fine tree in bloom, ....
With handsome leaves and clustering flowers
That yielded rich perfume.
She crept into his sheltering arms,
To prove a wife most true;
She found struggling bass-wood tree, ...
And rotten-hearted, too.
One little timorous, trembling thing
Was feeling blindly round
! To find her oak, but chanced to hit
A hemlock old and brown.
His top was bald for many a year.
His branches bare and dead,
And sun and storm came pouring down
! On her devoted head.
1 saw one noble-looking tree,
! Large and straight and tall,
Whose vine had died for want of food
For he absorbed it all.
1 saw some gloomy-lOoking trees,
| Some dark and dismal pines;
! I called them grim old bachelors
They frowned off all the vines.
Thus some were left to stand alone
Or creep, as best they could;
! Poor little timorous, trembling things,
In that dark, gloomy wood.
That dreadful picture frightened me;
1 started from my sleep;
1 said, "rll never be vine,
To twine and crawl and creep.
"I'll be a tree, however small,
And lean on my own stem
If none dare stand beside me then,
So much the worse for them.
"I'Il bare my brow to wind and storm;
rll dare the lightning's stroke
| maple, elm, or iron-wood, .--
As tough as any oak"
NEWS ITEMS.
STATE AND TERRITORIAL.
There are only nine firms in Seattle
doing business in their own houses and
| m Al oruYo 10 nd