The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-07-13
CHAPTER III.

had become so thoroughly accustomed
to the wonders of travel in the mighty
West, that long before reaching Grand
Ronde Valley they had failed to fully
appreciate the grandeur of the SEEM
ingly illimitsble waste of uninhabited
country through which they painfully
plodded. Hence, it was not to be won
dered at that they should fail to see
prospects for future success in settling,
according to the white mans idea, upon
the beautiful plain, over which Indian
ponies roamed at will through the wav-
ing bunch grass, while their lazy own
ers sprawled upon the sodded earth in
idle recklessness concerning their future
subsistence.
1t was late at night when the party
bad halted beside the purling stream
that meandered through the fertile vale.
Mrs. Marblehead, wearied with the
long journey, and feeble from many
causes of which she was happily as ig-
norant as innocent, was too restless and
nervous for sleep.
Good reader, if you have never been so
tired of constant toll as to be compelled to
toss for many hours upon bed of restless
ness, from which you arise at last scarcely
more refreshed than when you consigned
your aching limbs to its keeping, you
do not know the definition of WEAKNESS.
And, if you never was compelled to pro-
tract the same routine of ceaseless en-
deavor until the very "grasshOpper be-
came burden" you have never learned
the limit of human endurance, or con-
ceived the converse of what it means to
'suffer and be strong"
Young people, in vigorous health, can
never suffer overmuch in either mind or
body. True, they often think them
selves the victims of severest agony be-
cause of some evanescent disappoint-
ment in love or ambition, and they
fancy then that none other ever endured
such misery as they are compelled to
bear. They may grow weary, too, in
the discharge of some pressing duty, and
fancy themselves abused because COM
PEELED to labor, yet they sleep, after
their toll, when older persons wrestle
with fatigue, and are rested and ready
to resume their labors on the morrow
without an ache or pain, when those
around them who are far less able to
struggle than themselves, find neither
rest nor recess.
Martha" cried the Major, early on
the morning following their advent in
the valley above alluded to, "yOu must
hurry your stumps. The old woman's
qru1lty, as usual, this morning, and
thinks she can't get breakfast"
Considering that the "old woman" il
question had scarcely ever failed to gel
breakfast, dinner, and supper for nearly
thirty years, with washing, ironing
scrubbing, cooking, dish washing, sew
ing, knitting, quilting, patching, darn
ing, and baby tending thrown In, tht
Majors hint that helplessness was he
normal condition was wholly uncalled
for; but it would not have been half ST
VI IA hG nav OhlJ SPOhCu III a hSl 81
low that it would not have reached tn,
weak and weary woman's ears.
Then, too, the effect of such speecl
upon the young and unreaecting daugh
ter led that young lady to consider her
self the most abused of mortals, sine
she must be awakened from sleep tina
had no touch of restlessness to cater t
the appetites of the hungry family, G
whom herself was an average specimen
A cloudy face in family will seem t
tinge the whole world with gloom
prospects. A chill will fall unbidde
upon the heart of every member of th
breakfast board because of the gloom
fault-finding of only one.
Major Marblehead did not dream this
be was responsible for setting an exam
pie of discomfort before his daughtt
through the grumbling tones in whic
he bad called her to her morning dutie
But he was as savage as an untame
bear when he discovered her petulai
air and discontented mood.
"Ever since you've considered you
self too big to whip you've been the to
ment of my life p' he said, with an a
Of indignant martyrdom that made IL
daughter more inwardly petulant tha
ever, while the boys from the least
the greatest made her the butt of pra
tical jokes that drove her into fur.
and her feeble mother wept bitterly b
cause of her inability to longer 'bei
the brunt," and thereby tighten Il
gloom that ever hOvered in their dome
tic atmosphere.
Religion is a good thing when
makes its possessor happy, cheerily CO.
tented and radiant. 1t cannot be
blessing, in earth or heaven, when
makes q man a gloomy tyrant in h
own household. And yet, religion
not to blame for the petty selfishness
humanity the blame lies in making
the scapegOat rather than the illumiu
tor of everyday existence.
The sun arose from behind the adj