The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-02-15
cHAPrER Ill

CHAPTER III
The customs Of advanced civilization
admit at last that something shall be
taught the rising generation concerning
the laws Of physiology. But even the
present standard, so far in advance Of
the ideas of half a century ago, falls in
finitely short of the depths Of practical,
scientific knowledge so necessary to the
understanding Of natures most impor-
tant laws.
Ny husband was what the world
called scholar. He could compute the
distances and density Of the planets,
theorize upon the component elements
of the sun, speculate upon the ether Of
infnitude, and talk learnedly, even
then, of molecular action. He under
stood navigation and engineering per-
fectly. He was a poet, too, Of no mean
order, and, had he turned his head to
authorship, he would have made a Mot
ley or a Gibbon.
1 worshiped him. BY his side I
shrank into a satellite Of the sixtieth
magnitude. The beautiful clothes with
which he had adorned my person were
gifts Of his bounty. And what had I
brought him in return
In my innocence and self-abnegation,
counted my unselfish abandonment to
his behests as naught; and yet, long be-
fore we had reached Melbourne, was
nervous, Disconnected, unhappy crea-
ture, jealous without reason, and irasci-
bic without apparent cause. What did
it all mean?
All, understand it now; and would
to heaven the world were ready to have
the truths OF MY bitterly bought expert
enee so plainly taught TO its children
that none might ignorantly err in re-
gard to all that is most important for
humanity to know.
But I am talking quite too much
about myself Let Us take peep at my
neighbors.
Elder Chalmers was a Presbyterian
minister Of Calvinistic ideas and Scotch
proclivity. He was a tall, erect gentle
man, with a narrow head and a promi-
nent bridge to his nose. His beard was
always kept short stiff, and bristly, as
though it were occasionally clipped
with the scissors, and it was of a salt
and peppery cast, half gray and half
black, that corresponded- exactly with
the struggling, bristle-like side locks,
that he eombed upward, in imitation Of
a window brush. / have seen hand
somer men in my time.
Mrs. Chalmers was a dainty blonde
some twenty years her husbands junior
She was a bride, too, and the contras
between her lord and herself was a
great as that between my own gran,
match and me.
Elder Chalmers had buried one wifi
and eleven children in the bogs of Ire
land, where he had labOred for thirt,
years in the ministry. He was an aus
tere man, who was never seen to smile
His young wife, poor thing, was natu
rally brilliant, fond of a laugh, and ful
of little pranks, very natural and verl
becoming in a person Of joyous dlsposi
ton. But the Elders missionary worl
on board ship was almost wholly di
rected to the cure Of every sembIance o
humor, especially upon the part Of hi
wife. He rarely rebuked me for levity
though, in truth, he did not have yer
frequent occasion, for was as a fish ou
of water. My native element was nc
Of the learned order, and here we ha
Demosthenes for breakfast, Dante fo
lunch, Angelo and Raphael for dinne
and Byron, Scott, Moore, and hosts {
other English lights for side dishes.
While grew petulant, Mrs. Chain
ers grew depressed. We often went o
deck Of a fine day, when the ship wa
becalmed in the tropics, where W
would spend hours in silent revert,
Not that we had nothing to talk abou
but each was too wary TO confide in tn
other We learned better in the afte
years.
The Reverend Mr.. Motley was a Gle
gyman Of the established church. H
was young gentleman Of aristocrat
ideas, the third son Of an eminer
pi'-Nff VIZ AaA Adllel 10 Duu MIN
living in England, and had cons
quently sent him with his wife upop
mission to the jungles Of Australia
Mr.. and Mrs. Motley seemed a we
matched couple. They were neither O
nor young, both were healthy, hopef,
and handsome; and ] had not been
bride three days before 1 would ha
been willing to barter the wealth
India, had it been mine, for the ease a
freedom with which the wife conyeri
with her learned husband upon
most abstruse subjects.
The six of us should have been M
congenial set, and felt that but for
the others would. have been "
matched, upon the score Of intellec
ality. ] think this knowledge, or fan
if such it was, had much to do with
timidity, and it certainly enhanced
awkWardness.
The conversation turned, one din