The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-05-18

pie upon or in any way wound this holy
passion that hath naught of self in it.
Your mother will cruelty her own
motherly affection and lay it weltering
at your feet in her own hearts gore,
rather than see you suffer the deserved
results of yonr own ingratitude. She
will gladly allow you to despise her,
and will permit herself to be unjustifed
forever in your eyes, rather than you
snail feel the wounds recoil upon your
self that you inflict upon her. If you
are a daughter who has been unfilial,
your atonement will come when your
own children trample upon your heart
strings. If a son, your trouble will
come in some other way, for retribution
is law of nature, and like all immuta-
BILE laws, refuses to be violated with i'm
punity.
Mrs. Rutherford quivered in every
nerve. Could it be possible that this
faded, jaded, care-worn woman was the
delicate, blooming girl that John Smith
had stolen from her mothers home and
lured with false pretenses from the paths
of filial duty few short years ago?
o, human law, where is thy Wanted
justice? where thy great protection I?
where thy sovereign wisdom?
Echo only answers, where?
A man may get your land by false
pretenses and you can send him to the
State prison. He may get your hog by
theft and you can commit him to the
county Jail; and yon may recover your
goods in either case. But when he
makes false pretenses that lure your
child to a ruin that he can legalize by
marriage laws, you can only welter in
your own agony. On his side lies the
might, and might is right with him and
law.
al know I'm faded, mother, dear
But don't look at me so pleadingly,
please. I am your Edna, your own dar-
ling. wronged you and am ready to
atone. You must be tired. Come with
me to the hotel. want you to see my
babies"
Mrs. Rutherford could not speak.
Edna led the way down to the house
and up the narrow stairs to a primi-
lively furnished room, which she as
signed to her as heL own.
The children We're not Rutherfords,
but Smiths. The grandmother saw this
at a glance, and new disappointment
awaited her; but she choked down the
expression of regret that well-nigh
found utterance and tearfully asked for
Sue.
Little by little the great gaps that the
passing years had made between them
all were spanned and bridged.
Aunt Judy came over in few days
and made a visit, though her manner
was constrained and distant, as though
she feared that any great show of inter
est or sympathy would open the chan
nels of her husbands purse to those
who might become pensioners upon heI
bounty.
"Let her CO." said Mrs. Rutherford
81 was her friend when she needed me-
She was friend to you in your dark est
hours, Edna. Let us love her for the
good she has done and lay the blame o.
her present conduct to her husband, tC
whom she is indebted for her present
prosperity"
HTf 7 couId see n man whose souI wa,
large enough to rise above his own per
sonal consideration and enable him t
look upon woman as an individual will
selfhood equal to his own, could fairly
bow down to him and worship him,
cried Edna, her eyes beaming.
"a phenomenon that you can hardl,
look or hope for, since every man is borl
of woman who is herself a serf," sal,
Mrs. Rutherford. "Men are goo,
enough, considering the circumstance
under which they are generated ant
raised. They are what their mother
make them"
"Then pll train one boy in such
way that he shall know how to treat
woman" replied Edna, looking fondl,
upon her baby son.
"Alas, he's Smith, and the born i'm
age of john" sighed the grandmother
/ averting her tear-stained face and gaz
| ing abroad into vacancy.
ITO be continued
al