The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-07-21
nYoURs TRULYu GOES A-sHOppING.

The house had been cleared of fussy /
doctors, complaining invalids, and con-
sequential, new-fedged papas. PhiPs
baby-or, rather, Dots, for Yours Truly |
will insist that, if that blessed baby |
doesen't belong to Dot it ought to-the
wee bit of flannel and embroidery which |
custom calls Pills baby, though it's
Dots, no longer disturbed her in the
still, small hours chat word still is
simply word of euphony, Mrs. D., for
there have never been any such hours
in the little ones vocabulary. Yours
Truly was about saying that again, as
before the marriage of her natural pro-
tectors, (her amiable brothers, and the
supreme owners and expenders of the
governors money!, the regular ma
ehinery of the old farm mansion was
running as smoothly as before.
Yours Truly washed on Monday after
their departure. And such a washing
The clothes-llnes, the pickets, the cur
rant bushes, the grass-plats, the privet-
hedges, the clover-beds, and lilac
bushes were loaded down with snowy
sheets, ruffied pillow-cases, and en-
broidered, tucked, and lace-edged shams.
Baby-linen, enough to have stocked
Brigham's Bazar-Yours Truly does
hope Brigham will get married one of
these days, and then, maybe his busi-
ness will not seem to drag him so far
out of his "sphere" as now-hung upon
the patent wires that everywhere
abounded. Hickory shirts and socks
and drawers, we'll out at elbows, heels
and knees, belonging to the hired men
who Joined the governor and her broth
ers in protecting and supporting Yours
Truly, lay limp ard motiOnless across
the picket fences; milk-white coverlets
weighed down the dwarf ounces; crash
towels hung in the apple trees; table
linen lay in dazzling purity upon the
grass-plats, and feminine apparel, fol
samples of which see Brigham's show
window, filled all the hooks and niche!
in the great front door-yard. The wash
ing was out by eleven o'clock, too, anC
Yours Truly did it all unaided. Tha
wasn't all, either. The breakfast, tn,
cham ber-work, the dish-washing
sweeping, dusting, securing, rubbing
, and planning, was half as much as tn
washing itself. But what's a littl
work to a girl of the period L? Nothing
but pastime, of course. And to thi
day the governor thinks-though h
can't help himself, now he's in for hi
contract-that any girl ought to be gla
=, =. to do everything that comes uppermos
for the sake of lodging place and tog
gerry, provided, of course, that she b
the daughter of the man for whom sh
does the work.
After the washing was over the twelv
o'clock dinner for the men must b
o made ready, for they'd be tired, an
a men couldn't work to support wome
; in idleness unless the dear, gentle, pre-
4 tected darlings would keep them i
. proper food. So the peas and potatoe
= were brought from the garden an
= cooked & great ham yielded of il
!. savory substance to instantaneous broi
ing; a custard, golden and creamy
4 beamed from the depths of a gres
yellow bowl; corn bread smoked on th
table, and Strawberries, smothered
sugar, sat by glass pitchers of lusciou
cream. Pickles flanked the platters
I,o nd haffla
/ over the stale brown bread, withoI
,e which the governor would court II
It dyspepsia.
l. Among the hired men was new on
re which the governor had that mornin
If employed to "boss the hands" throug
harvest. As the new recruit came
g Yours Truly wanted an introduction
"a Don't laugh, Mrs. D. In spite of h
% rusty clothes and bronzed features, IL
if newcomer was a model for a sculpto
g Six feet two he stood, if an inch, al
4 his broad brow and kindly eyes, shade
If by a wealth of curling hair of a nu
5, brown tinge, would have been sadly o.
e. of place as igure-head for another al
less commanding form.
" Yours Truly hates little men; pc
II sibly because she's so Insignificant he
g self, and nature delights in contrasts.
t, The new foreman did vigorous justi
~ ~ to the roller towel, and then Joined Il
" throng of hungry feeders with hesit
ed ting air.
NJ "Why don't you introduce me to Il
,t stranger, governor ?" asked You
a. Truly, aside.
/ 'Nonsense! He's nobody !" was t
81 curt reply. "Bring up pitcher of BIT
v termilk from the cellar" he said, a
OF thoritatively.
ed "Pm tired" replied Yours Truly.
a 'rTired ~ was the amazed rejoind,
Nc Nc and the governors voice was raised tC
al sufficient pitch to attract the strange
al attention. "If hadn't any more to
than yOu have, pd never think of bel
n. tired ~
Iy "Then, governor" said Yours TruI
of archly, flor she remembered little el
rs rs sode in that dignitary's history of on
Mt few months before, when he had tri
rs. her work for a few minutes, and be
he glad to abandon it as anything else b
~ play), "then, governor, if there's moi