The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-06-15

for mercy to the power of the Infinite
that Edna could not but wonder at, see
ing the pastor did not believe restora-
ton after death to be possible. Yet,
somehow, the simple and sublime truth
of the words of love, forgiveness, and
tender mercy that he uttered sank into
her heart like balm of healing.
John is 10 the hands of God, Edna.
Let US leave him with the Author of all
existence" )" said Mrs Rutherford, gently
drawing her daughter away from the
open grave, and leading her back to the
wretched cabin, which the kind-hearted
miners had by this time cleansed OF
every vestige of the awful tragedy its ST.
lent walls had witnessed.
81 guess l needn't work at the hotel
now, MOTHER" said Edna, "for there
will no longer be any need that shall
hide from John. Some ministering an
gel must have prompted him to thwart
his own designs by suicide, else he would
live to plague me yet. But, mother, do
you think did my whole duty"
"Dear child, have no reproaches to
offer. After the marriage, which was
the first great misguided step, the other
wrongs came naturally. Human laws,
at best, are human imperfections, and
only God can fully interpret the divine.
There is nothing left for US now but to
look to the future. The past is sirrevoca-
bic. Let it bury it's dead, though the
phantoms of its memory will ever haunt
u.s."
A year passed, and Edna and her
mother were again inmates of the hotel,
but this time as owners. Strict atten-
tiOn to business in the flush times, with
no idle, dissipated overseer, or legal
owner, to spend her money, had made
the bondwoman whom suicide had res
cued an independent owner of her own
income. Everybody in Idaho Flat was
pleased at her success. Her children
grew and thrived, and everything she
handled seemed to turn to gold.
Jim Young, the unfortunate consump-
tive, who had once lured poor Sue Ran
dolph to the very depths of infamy-
poor Sue, who had only been rescued at
the eleventh awful hour by Edna's
kindly assistaDce-became a coughing,
helpless, irritable, and impecunious in
valid, to whom Sue became a veritabIe
good Samaritan. She ministered to his
many wants, often serving him men,
tally, in the capacity of nurse, even
while her lip curled with scorn, as she
remembered the adv Intage he had once
taken of her dire necessities to lure her
to degradation.
"He was kind to me once, for he
brought me mychild, when but for him
L should never have found her." she
would say, by way of explanation,
when any one presumed to question her
conduct, and she cared for him till death
relieved her.
Mrs. Rutherford and Edna improved
the hotel property till it became a mar
vel of cleanliness and convenience, for
the inn of pioneer mining town is not
always the excess of cleanliness.
Edna was as brilliant as energetic.
Everybody courted and fiattered her,
but to all entreaties for another matri-
monial alliance she was strictly deaf.
The grave of John became a very
bower of beauty.
81 have a notion that angels visit
earth sometimes" she would say, "and
l feel sure that God inspires me to sur
round the remains of John with pure
and beautiful devices, that only the
good and pure may be attracted thereto.
My conduct may or may not assist the
departed. Nobody knows any more
about that than do; but one thing is
certain; the living may profit by visit
to this spot if they will but heed its
teachings"
Quaint devices were formed around
the grave with rocks and pebbles, into
which various kinds of plants were
placed, forming notices and quotations,
every one containing warning or ex-
postulation which none could pass by
unheeded.
Busy as Edna was with all her other
cares, she found time to visit the town
daily, always calling at the post office
on her return, and almost always re-
ceiving a mysterious package which she
carried to her own private room to read
and answer.
But, as we have said, year had
passed since the awful tragedy that had
removed the bondage from her life, and
all was prospering, save only that Sue
RandOlph's charge would linger on and
could not die. Six months later, and
with the roseate return of spring the life
of the invalid waned and fiickered and
then died out. A quiet funeral and all
was over.
Three women who were widowed in
deed, took up their daily burdens and
carried them, and the world believed as
before that women were supported and
protected by men.
Aunt Judy, who visited them occa-
sionally, chad all the rights she
wanted" so long as her husband lived.
In fact, her marriage seemed to have
turned her head. as we'll as her heart