The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-08-11
THE "PBAL" OF AN IRATB EDITOR.


discomfort and despair come prema-
turely upon US; now do we mourn as
those without hope. The editor of The
Dalles Tribune, even NJ. H. Abbott, de-
clares publicly-nay, avows emphatic
ally-that he positively tOU not attempt
to "throw the matrimonial moose over
our head" And this, too, after all the
hopes that the divorce court records led
us to build concerning this amiable ex-
Benedict. If pride did not sustain us
in this trying ordeal, we should surely
be crushed beneath the weight of this
blow, so unexpected, so annihilating,
so-so-but despair for moment sus-
pends our pencil, as we become dis
mally conscious that the English Ian
guage, with all of its boasted redund-
ancy, utterly fails to voice our feelings.
The few dozen readers of the Tribune
will remember that some two or three
weeks since the editor thereof, in speak
ing of the temporary mental alteration
of prominent citizen of Washington
Territory, enlarged upon the supposed
fact that it was caused by domestic
trouble" and supplemented the same by
long homily upon unfaithful wives,
and domestic infelicity generally, wind
ing up with diatribe against divorce,
and wringing in little sentiment upon
the sacredness and indissolubility of
the marriage tie. Of this we took occa-
sion to speak, referring rather sarcas-
tically to the fitness of our oracle to
give advice on so weighty subject, in
asmuch as he himself had just had
hearing before "divorce court" We
further claimed that the domestic rela-
tions of the person referred to should
not, and, in Justice, could not be
charged as being the cause of his ca
editor, and winds up a column of the
| lowest of invective with the heart
rending declaration which concludes
the first sentence of this article. He
fairly revels in billingsgate, but it is in
chaste and elegant pet names that, as
Mark Tapley would observe, "he comes
out strong" Giving US first our right
full cognomen, he supplements it
through the article with "buxom
widow" monkey" clearly beloved
editorial sister," "foul-mouthed Ii
beler," "amiable sub-editress," "free-
love editorial sister," "lovely widow"
etc., etc., dd Jibituna, al ttnitune. OF
course there is argument in all this; in
deed, we presume that his readers, one
and all, after seeing such conclusive
array of refined names bestowed upon a
woman whom he has never met, will
be ready to affirm, one and all, that be
never even heard of a divorce before we
broached the subject, nor even knew
that woman could be called by other
than the sweet and sanity title of wife,
At all events, it is proof positive that he
is novice in the art of calling a woman
delightful names.
Let now his veracity take the stand
He says:
The amiable sub-editress of the NORTHWEST
"suggests" to us that we had "better be care
full, >" lest she may reveal more domestic matters
of ours, or a "hidden skeleton" in our closet.
This is what we did say:
We would suggest to the splenetic quill
driver of the Tribune" )" while nosing arounC
other peoples closets in the hope to max
gleeful discovery of hidden skeleton, that h
would better be careful lest the whitenet
bones and grinning skull within his own be
by his own rashness, revealed.
Next to calling names and going of
into heroics over the divorce question
our editor excels in threats. Hearken
! If she be not careful, "the whitened bone
and grlnning skull" within her own closet vii
be, by her unwarranted intermeddling an
temerity, revealed. II she wants to be peele
} all over, as she would peel an onion or a pc
2 tato, let her dare to carry her vile threat int
{ execution.
4 Whew Inasmuch as we are so eX
r tremely old-fashioned as never to hav
= had domestic troubles" and henc
= have not a skeleton, or even the ghos
l of one to conceal or parade, we do no
| feel very nervous over the threatene
: erpoSe, so our editor will scarcely dis
cover what he seeks in the direction G
our closet, itself myth, unless, indeed
he manufactures out of whole cloth, a
. he seems, from the incident whic
called out this controversy, to be pei
t fectly capable of doing, a story to sui
s his own fancy.
o We smile at the "peep' alluded tC
: supposing that, in his excitement, b
: mis-spelled the word, merely intendin
e to characterize his vociferations at u
II in the future by high-sounding title
r. "Peals" they may be, but they wi
r only provoke peals of laughter at hi
d own expense.
u We, in this connection, beg to ca
+ the attention of our readers and his {
p the two articles-the one that appeare
e in the NEW NORTHWEST of July 28tl
and the one that assumed to reply (?) i
l the Tribune of August 5th. The tW
u compared will furnish ample and col
Il elusive proof of the narrow, contemp
IL ible manner in which men of this man
's mentality deal with women EDITORIAL,
III When facts are brought home to thel
le facts which they can neither pallia