The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-08
YOURS TRULY" ON DRESS AND
DRUDGERY, AND so FORTH.

WHICH came near gOiuB uuIedu auu uu-
noticed under the new rag carpet in the
governors room; for be it known, Mrs.
D., Yours Truly has been chief cook and
servant of everybody at Hill Center
Grange during the past fortnight, or
ever since a. c. Edmunds was out in
this region organizing a greenback and
anti-Chinese party.
This is a white mans government,
and I'll have no Cinnamon around these
premises, cheating white folks out of
their honest dues" said the governor.
And to appease his patriotic soul, the
demand for All Guns removal was met
with show OF meek approval by my
husband, Jim. But just how the dis
missal Of the heather in question was to
assist the impecuniOus white men who
would rather lie in Jail than do All
Guns work is a mystery to be solved 10y
abler politicians than Yours Truly.
As might have been expected, the en-
tire labor hitherto performed by our
Mongolian has fallen from his shoulders
upon the not over able ones Of the un-
dersigned, who was finishing up a days
work Of the toughest possible descrip-
tion by the job of painting above men
toned, when her eye fell upon one Of
the numerous "patent outsides' in the
newspapers that Jim had tumbled in a
heap on the floor beside her.
Yours Truly, than whom a naturally
more dainty and dressy girl Of the
period could not have been found a year
ago, and who loves good clothes as well
now as she ever did, was arrayed at the
time alluded to in a wrapper very much
the worse for both wear and dirt. Who
ever saw house painter in nice, clean,
and inviting apparel? Did any one
ever behold a chimney sweep, boot
black, laundryman, carpet cleaner, or
hod-carrier in tidy array during the
closing hours Of a long days work E?
But here's what that paper said, and
surely Jim laid it beside Yours Truly,
right side up, on purpose TO draw her
attention to it as if by accident. There's
no sort Of cunning or connivance at any
thing ever known among the men, how
ever:
at is too true that ladies are apt to
fall into the habit of neglectiug home
attire" said that patent outside, while
Yours Truly shrugged her shoulders and
read on. Consideration of their own
pleasure, as well as for those around
them, ought to prompt them to be al
ways neatly dressed"
Yours Truly got Dlddg OF course
angry would be the better word, or in
digRdHt the best, because most digni-
fed, but mad is the only term that will
express it. always neatly dressed"
indeed Why, Mrs. D., but-pshawl :
What's the use Of talking? Does any
one suppose the wives and daughters Of
the political patriots who are dismissing
the Chiuamen "to keep the money in
the country" for laboring o. men are
making badly-dressed drudges Of them
selves for .fln'
"Jim, see here" said Yours Truly,
pointing with her soiled finger to a sem
tence which ran like this, "I do not be-
lieve that there is one man in a thous-
and so lacking in observation that the
dress Of his wife, whether tidy or oppo-
site, escapes his notice" 'Is that true,
Jim ?"
"Of course Il ism
And then you ought to have seen that
lofty look of wounded superiority,
Mrs. d.
"And DO you like me better in clean
calico, with white neck-tie aud linen
collar, and nieely-arranged hair and
white apron, than you do as now am?''
"CertaiHly"
And then, Mrs. D., you should have
seen that other lofty look.
"Then, Jim, see here ! I care more for
your love than for everything else in
the wide, wide world"
Jim looked the very picture Of self
important pompOsity now.
81 care for your love, not for your
own sake, wholly, for Pm no angel, but
because your love makes me happy, and
I'm selfish enough to want to be both
comfortable and happy. am not COM
Portable in these shabby habiliments,
because they are no more natural to me
than they would be to a canary bird.
But cannot do a Chinaman's toughest
work in tidy clothing any more than
you could keep yourself neat when dig
ging ditches-provided you dug them,
which you haven't undertaken yet,
though you had fifty Chinameu at work
for whole month ditching the beaver
dam farm. But that was before YOU
and the governor wanted Dick to run
for Office"
"Well ?"
''Im not patriot, Jim Johnson ~
There Mrs. D., Yours Truly did not
mean to enlighten your readers with
Jim's surname, but you have it, so let
it go.
II m not patriot. / can't hold Office, [
and I've no interest in country that
denies me voice in making its laws;
and Pm going to have my Chinaman /
back in the kitchen if Dick never gets |
his clutches on the public crib while
life lastsl 1 want to be comfortable and |
happy. 1 want you to love me, because
your love makes me contented. Your
drives me distracted. OIL