The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-08-03
know us best are bound by personal in
terest to speak most highly of us.

know us best are bound by personal in
terest to speak most highly of us.
'MajOr, are you not going to attend
the convention that is soon to be called
to organize Territorial Legislature ?'
asked Mrs. Marblehead, one evening,
after they had been several months mar
ried, and the prospects of such a con-
vention had been talked of here and
there for months among the scattered
settlers.
"I don't know as 1 care anything
about it, wife. Man-made government
is but carnal at best. Our days are as
the grass. Why need we concern our
selves about political affairs? We'd
better build a church and get the people
together to worship God"
"But, Major, think of the opportuni-
ties that await you if you carry your
wisdom, acuteness, piety, and oratory
into politics. Think of the country's
immediate future. You're not old, and
will not be for years to come. Think of
being governor, or, possibly, United
States Senator When I first saw you
in Grand ROnde Valley, at time when
your soul was stirred to its depths by
sad bereavement, which 1 am vain
enough to hope 1 have somewhat con-
soled you in, said to myself, There's
man with a soul and brain a man
born to rule and Lead And when l
heard your fervent prayer, and listened
to your fearful eloquence, 1 said, There's
craftsmanship for you. There's man
who's bound to stand in high places and
sit among the rulers of the land.'"
Major Marblehead was as susceptible
to flattery as a simpering schoolgirl.
He believed every word his wife had ut
tered, and he strobe through his cabin
with the Importance born of new i'm
pulse.
fright, wife! Right y he said, as he
stroked his beard and gave his scatter
ing locks an extra twist on the top of his
head, where they met above his shining
pate like the comb of an outbuilding.
"Yes, Major, and it's necessary, if we
would have wise and wholesome laws,
that good men, like yourself, should
have hand and voice in their making"
1t was this last argument that decided
the Majors political course. His wife
apparently was honest in the belief that
he, of the few men of her acquaintance,
was the one of whom the public stood
most in need.
Good reader, do not laugh. More
than one man has been President whose
wife thought, and who fancied himself
the only individual in the Union who
could be properly entrusted with the
high position. Some well-knOwn men
have wanted to occupy the White House
for a second and even a third term, lest
nobody else could be safely entrusted
with the position. L hope you do not
fancy, the light of modern political de-
velopments TO tie contrary, that any
man seeks office from personal motives.
| There's nothing like the promise of an
opportunity to serve ones country to
take the selfishness out of a man.
Spring came, and with it so much OF
necessary labor to make new farms and
provide in every way for the future
comfort of the settlers, that Mrs Mar
blehead's political dreams lay slumber,
ing.
In the meantime, Kingston Green's
borough, true to his promise, had dis
posed of his possessions in Galestown
and all unknown to his affianced, was
making his way to Oregon by the 18th.
mus to join her.
By this time Martha was developed
into restless, fault-fnding, nervous
woman, wholly unlike the strong
Drained girl to whom the reader was in,
troduced in the opening chapter. Ii
spite of the fact of her marriage, SHE
, was disappointed in love. Not only haC
} her heart been wounded to the quick il
/ its most secret aud sacred temple, bu
, her pride had been humiliated, her con
: fidence in man destroyed, and her hap
piness, and the hope of it, foreve
blighted. Yet Martha was determine,
) to do her duty. The thought of being
other than true TO her marriage vow
| did not once possess her pure imagina
/ ton.
All, reader, what unjust judges W
are. Standing upon the pedestal of ou
own fair fame, we say to others VIII
s may have been tempted beyond wha
] they were able to bear:
e "Stand aside! 1 am holier thar
s thou %
o Alack and alas ! How know we thai
e were we in their places, we should b
e able to walk, as we'll as they, the nal
s row planks upon the slippery verge {
s great Temptations?
Through the long rainy winter th
L girl wife had kept the even tenor of he
allotted way, enduring, as best sh
d might, the ceaseless monotone
t Thomas Jones' conversation and th
o constant nliSerere of the falling rain.
r The one excitement of the winter ha
been her mother-in-laws plans for til
s future. Had she loved her husband, a
/ L. = l.. Il