The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-05-19
Who Melinda Married.

Who Melinda Married.
$50 you're back again with your old
employers, and first-class salary. Pm
very glad, l assure you, and so will my
husband be when l tell him. Sorry you
can't stay to tea with us on account of
the children. How old is your eldest,
Tommy ?n
"Let me see." The individual ad-
dressed balanced his hat between his
knees on both little fingers, and care
fully studied its interior, as though the
information he sought lurked some
where under the lining. A great,
blonde-bearded man, but he always was
and always would be Tommy. Never
being able to rid himself of a certain
awkward bashfulness, nor ever having
lost the big, innocent eyes, honest
mouth, and ruddy complexion that
made him look like an oveTgrown
schoolboy. "Amanda's eleven this
June; Lucy was nine in February !;
Melinda seven, and Vinnie-that's the
baby my wife left, you know-will be
three tomorrow"
"All girls? ?"
"Yes, ma'am, all girls"
"How long since you left the city ?p
"Let me see," and Tommy again con-
suited his hat. Although in Mrs. Sand
burns parlor, he couldn't be persuaded
to part with his head covering. 1t was
a lifelong habit. Before he married,
the girls used to say Tommy Whittlesy
knew that if he let them take his hat,
he'd never have the courage to get it
again and go. Perhaps they were right;
l don't know; at any rate he had con-
tracted another habit, and that was re-
= ferrlng to it in the way described. "I
left the spring I was twenty-one, didn't
I? Well, I've been away thirteen
years. l married Amanda White just
six months after 1 left"
''She made good wife, didn't she ?"
'Hhe very best; but, then, it wasn't
as though I'd married Melinda"
mo; suppose not; and yet, Tommy,
! tell you, as I've always told you,
MeliDda's not altogether worthy of you.
Not that she isn't good-principled,
warm-hearted, and all that, but her
views of life are false. Then, too, al
though she's my sister, my only one, |
must say she sets too high value on
herself; is not by any means as brilliant
as she thinks she is; doesn't know gold
from glitter. Why, my dear young
friend, you might have been a pretty
bad sort of a man, but if you'd come
along along with flash and dash, made
believe to be somebody great, anC
courted in Jane Eyre's Rochester's
style, you would have won her years
ago"
''Then you think there's no chance
for me. Is anybody else in the way p
Nobody, and never has been, except
ing the girl herself. To my certain
knowledge she's had but one offer be
ainnc fThof old
Hulks, the great shipper. 1 though
Melinda would tear his eyes out. So
you see, she won't marry merely 70
money"
'Still, you think there's no chanct
for me? 1 daren't ask her, you know
she said the last time-when 1 came OF
after Amanda died, you remember
that if ever did it again she'd neve
speak to me-"
Saying that she meant it, best not t
venture. Let matters take their course
See her as often as possible, but keep
certain distance. Maybe things will
work around somehow. She's got il
with new set lately-clever people
but they have fancy they've discov
cred new new way to put the world t,
rights, and are just the ones to do ii
It's all well enough, I suppose. Amuse
them and don't hurt anybody, but Pm
out of patience, for all. Why couldn'
Melinda have married you years ago, il
her first youth ? She is so capable, s.
domestic-or was before she got in witt
these new folks-and as for children,
really believe mine think as much Q
her as they do of me. She's sharp witt
them at times, it's true, but then it al
ways turns out for their best good, an,
they see it. See here, Tommy, I've al
idea. She visits the Park the day th
society meets that's tomorrow
commune with nature, she says.
know her favorite spot; she's alway
alone; you go there, take the children
and get somewhere near her."
''Hake the children I'd frighten he
miles and miles away"
"No, you wouldn't. The more 1 re
feet on this plan, the better like il
As K for half-holiday, gather up you
girls, and 60"
The day was all that could be desired
A May-blue sky, with drift of cloud
like departing snow across it; warm
penetrating sunbeams; soft airs, aliv
with children's voices and bird-war
blings.
Springs blossom-host pitched thei
tents of white and pink on hill and val
ley-side; tender mists of green melted i
golden distance. Earth and air wer
awake, jubilant, under the stir an
whir of new life and growth. Yet coul
not my heroine find herself in harmon
with the scene. She succeeded in Sc
curing her favorite seat in the Park,
niche on the hillside, with an interlaC
ing of boughs, and glimpses of rock an
river. 1t contained only two setteel
Occupying one, she spread her shawl o
the other, thus keeping intruders q
bay. A quiet little spot, festooned wit
hanging vines and fringed with ferns
and yet to-day no restful influence pei
vaded it.
Melinda met Tommy Whittlesy jus