The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-04-06
YOURS TRULY's" TRossBAU.

luz SONeEuOE ud0 OSeu dlIlicIeua IOE
weary while with an extra attack Of
rheumatic twinges (gout, you know,
and the Centennial Fourth was coming
on, and the summer rains had delayed
the haying season, and the hired men
were determined to enjoy the "ge-lori-
Gus Fourth" for a week, and mother
was more feeble than ever. Phil was a
candidate for the legislature (got de-
feated, though, and Yours Truly's glad
of it, for he would have voted against
equal rights for women) and of course
he couldn't help with the harvest, for
he had to serve his country, for his own
good, as he fancied, and Dicks family
cares were decidedly oppressive (he has
a wife that has all the rights she wants,
and that includes all in the connubial
calendar), and the governor was in an
avail way about help.
'I can hire four or five Chinamen,"
said Jim.
"Thmader" roared the governor
'Tsn't Dick candidate for the legisla-
ture on the Democratic ticket? And
would dare to hire Cinnamon and de-
feat his chances ?"
"Chinamen can't Vote, and I'd like to
know what that would have to do with
Dicks election" said Yours Truly.
"That's all a woman knows about
politics." was the lofty reply.
"You see," said Jim, "there are ever
so many demagogues on the alert every
minute for political capital. Men who
will not work themselves are deter
mined that Cinnamon shall not, and
they'll write to Luce and Tony and stir
up strife, if"
81 see" interrupted Yours Truly, as
visions of the Independent and Standard
foated before her eyes, with anti-Chi-
nese resolutions and threats in display
type at the masthead. "But pll tell
you what we can do, governor. Wecan
put Chinaman in the kitchen, and I
can drive the mower and help stack hay.
Jim and can do the work by ourselves"
"Whdt?" said Jim, and the earnest
look from his flashing eyes was enough
to drive a girl of the period half dis
tracted with love. "You don't mean
that your little arms and hands can do
a mans work ?''
81 do mean that samev ~ was the
quick reply. 'I do more and harder
work, every day of my life, than any
man on the rancho could stagger under
The idea that girl Of the period who
sweeps and dusts and sews and scrubs
and makes beds and churns and washes
and irons and washes dishes and boils
and roasts and bakes and stews and
fries and patches and cleans vegetables
and waits on sick people and entertains
company and frizzes her hair and but
tons her boots and pins ribbons on her
neck and flowers on her hair and wears
muslins and laces and f1ounces and
makes rag carpets and mends deer-skiu
gloves and waits on brothers wives and
brothers babies and looks after the
brothers themselves and goes a-shop-
ping"
'Stop, please" said Jim, with that
irresistible smile of his that always sets
Yours Truly's heart in a f1utter; 'I
couldn't do half you've enumerated al
ready, and there's no telling where it
would end if didn't interrupt you."
Well, the upshot of it was that we
got Chinaman, who managed to cook
food enough to keep us going, with
what help Yours Truly gave him at odd
times, though she could in any day
have done all in one hour that he did in
ten; and that blessed hay harvest was
done in a maze of bewildering dreams.
To sit atop of that elegant mower and
drive the governors dappled grays,
while swath after swath of the rank,
green grass obeyed the busy, scythe-
like fingers that tossed it rapidly to its
proper place with such unerring precis-
ion; to hear the birds warble, and listen,
once in an hour, to Jim's kindly voice,
as we made the rounds, was worth a
hundred Centennials.
But all these things interfered with
the bridal trossedu. Time had been
when Yours Truly would have ordered
everything that was fine and foolish
from the best dry-goods stores, and
given herself no thought as to cost. |
But she had learned the luxury of
bank account and the value of beauti- |
full home, and was disposed to draw
lightly on her fifty dollars a month"
81 must have cosy suite of rooms at
the gable end of the great farmhouse,
that shall be ours, and ours only" she |
resolved, after her mind was made up to |
accept Jim.
But such a change would cost money,
and expensive wedding toggery was out
of the question.
The governor was SO delighted with
the neatness and dispatch of that hay
harvest that he was anxious to retain !
Yours Truly as farm hand; but Phil |
came back after while from the can
vass, disgusted with politics, and the
weaker party had to give way. Like
Davenport and Hill, poor Phil couldn't
get an Office, so be became 'refomer." |
A critic, you know, is one who has
failed as an author Dainter moot Or