The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-02-11
CHAPTER TX.

While the changes recorded in the
two previous chapters were transpiring,
other matters of importance occupied
the inmates of the farmhouse at Mo-
lalIa Moorland.
AS soon as her mother was we'll out of
sight, Madge inaugurated a revolution
in the house that drove all comfort
away from the premises until her i'm
provements were completed.
Among the effects left by the late
Mrs. Andrews were two sets of antique
bed-curtains that had once been snowy
white, but were now yellow with age.
To wash and rejuvenate these was her
first work. The little cabin, with its
two "stick tight" bedsteads upon the
first floor, and its crowded rows of the
same rough furniture in the one room
overhead, was very uninviting resort
for any person with ideal tastes, and
these Madge possessed in a wonderful
degree, considering her lack of culture
The stools and dry-goods boxes which
had long been the only seats the house
afforded, had lately given place to tol-
erable chairs of clumsy workmanship
the only furniture the primitive estab-
lishment could boast which Madge and
her brothers had not made.
"Tm going to have things ever so
nice by the time mother gets home"
Madge said to the numerous band at
her feet. "You must get me any guam
tity of spruce boughs, and every kind of
moses and ferns and flowers you can
find; and you'll see how pretty every
thing will look when Pm through"
Madge's Transformation was almost a
magical one. The floor in the main
living-room had recently been relaid,
for there was saw-mill up the gulch
now, and frame-houses began to dot the
prairies here and there; and the recent
addition of a sash factory had enabled
Jason Andrews to procure windows, in
lieu of the oiled paper which had hith-
erto served the purpose; so there was a
better opportunity for the qualification
of Madge's taste than at any previous
period of her life.
The wide, fiat sprigs of hemlock,
gathered by the children from the
woods, were trained over the rough
walls and fastened with tacks in such a
way as to represent running vines on
wall paper, with an odd effect of rustic
bass-relief that was peculiarly pleasing
The antique muslin curtains were taste
fully looped over the rough bedsteads,
and so skillfully economical that
enough was left to curtain the two win
dows, that had been an eye-sore to the
young house-keeper from the date of
their advent because of their naked
ness. Fern leaves were trained around
coarse wood-cuts, that, in lieu of better
pictures, were pasted upon the walls,
and great bouquets of wild flowers did
duty in gourds that served as vases.
The work in the kitchen was still
more thorough, and when the last
touch was made in both departments,
and well-cooked supper awaited the
return of the marketing party, Madge,
in clean calico dress, with her heavy
black hair combed smoothly over her
low, square forehead, and depending
from her short neck in glossy braids
reaching to her waist, sat in the door
way, gazing abstractedly at nothing.
''HuLLOa! what have we here ?" ex-
claimed horseman, to himself, as he
suddenly drew rein in frent of the
cabin. "'Pon my word, like the looks
of thingsw he continued, as, with the
air of an adventurer, he hitched his
horse to a post and stepped briskly
through the yard.
Madge rose to her feet as the stranger
approached her, and courtesied bashfully.
Her hands, blackened and battered by
the hardest and toughest usage, seemed
badly in her way, and her feet, clad in
unshapely cow-hide, looked a world toe
big for her short, square body.
"Good-evening, Miss" said the blue
eyed stranger, as he lifted his hat with
an air which Madge had read of in
novels, but had never encountered until
now.
Again Madge courtesied, while hel
cheeks glowed like June roses, and hel
eyes snapped expectantly.
81 want supper and nights lodging
Can be accommodated ?"
ave never keep strangers" said
Madge. "That is, mother is away, anC
we children are alone, and she wouldn't
like it."
But Madge really wanted the stranger
to tarry. Aside from her sudden inter.
est in one of the long-dreamed-o
worlds people" she was very proud Of
her recent home improvements, and
wanted to display them. Hesitating q
moment, she added:
Mother will be at home in little
while, sir. You may come in"
"You are very kind, but would pre-
fer sitting here in the shade till sun.
down."
Suiting the action to the word, ht
threw himself upon the grass, and rest.
ing upon his elbow, gazed through the
open door with curious, inquirins
stare, and then planted his eyes full