The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-23

"The unprincipled, NANCY cur" be
exclaimed, in excited tones. 1--WE good
will to thrash him within an inch Of his
worthless life."
ats too late now, pap" responded
the good wife, as she laid the table and
prepared to dish up the evening meal,
for which neither Of them had the
ghost Of an appetite.
'1f you hadn't been fool, old woman,
you wouldn't have been taken in by the
sleek-tongued scalawag. A woman al
ways allows her sentimentality TO over
run her judgment Confound Itr'
Mrs. Emerson felt as guilty, and was
as deeply conscience-stricken over this
assault as though she had deserved it to
the uttermost. But she was not pre-
pared to take the accusation as meekly
as she might had the conditions not
been so desperate. She felt that she
had already had as much trouble 10 bear
as her heart could endure without
/ breaking, and she answered him spirit
edly and reproachfully, and in a manner
wholly unlike herself:
"If you'd a. took more interest in the
gals yourself pap, p'faps it had been
better for all Of Us. And / mightn't be
so weak and sentimental, either, If
had somebody in the shape OF husband
to love me little now aud then"
With this, Mrs. Emerson broke into
a eonvulsive lit Of weeping, aud it mat
tered not to her or her not over-fastidi-
Gus lord that her plentiful tears fell like
rain upon her freekled hands and oc-
casionally rolled of upon the viauds size
was mechanically preparing for his sup
per.
Possibly The Captain felt the force Of
her Tebuke. At any rate, his strong
good sense attained the mastery over
his anger, aud he replied in a tone Of
couciIiation;
"Never mind, mother; never mind.
We're left alobe now, you aud 7, aud it
would poorly become " to have our
first quarrel under the present circum-
stances" And Captain Emerson actu-
ally went over to the stove aud took his
wife in his arms and fondly hugged and
kissed her.
Instead Of the thorough beating which
Captain Emerron felt so strongly in
clined to bestow upon his son-in-law,
he sought him in the barn where he had
hidden himself away, aud earnestly be-
sought him to Join them at the supper
table.
The meal passed in wretched aud
awkward silence, and after it was over,
Alonzo retired To- his room, and for the
first time since long years before, when
he remembered himself as conscieu-
tious schooi-boy, the erewhile seif-opin-
donated and fast young man began to
realize that he must hiring his sins aud
follies up at round turn, else they
would speedily hurl him to destruction.
"And poor Nancy Shaddon is madr'
be exclaimed, with a sob. "Would to
/ heaven it were my own miserable sell.
/ Why was ! ever born, if my existence
only brings sorrow and woe to others ?n
Then, falling upon his knees, the siu-
burdenej and utterly humiliated bene-
diet involuntarily invoked divine as
si-tauce, his deep contriilon proving a
complete surprise TO himself.
"God being my helper, / will yet be a
man." he exclaimed, rising to his feet
and pacing the room like an imprisoned
/ lion.
/ Mrs. Emerson overheard this deter
mined ejaculation, aud a strong impulse
rose within her to 90 aud comfort him.
There is more joy in heaven over
one sinner that repenteth, than over the
ninety and nine just persons that went
not sstray," she said, half inaudibly,
1 though her husband had just left her for
[ the usual weekly visit to his lodge, in
the village a few miles away, aud there
were none present to overhear but God
and the angels.
The feelings Of Captain Emerson were
not 10 be envied a. lac rode away to his
accustomed weekly haunt, leaving his
wife alone as he had done Thousand
times for like purpose during their pi-
oneer life, with never a paug for her
neglected existence until now.
"Mother was good deal more than
half right in her accusations" he So
iloquized. / haven't been the husband
TO her nor the father to the girls ought
TO have been. But it's never too late to
amend ones ways. I'll announce nv
intention this very night to Withdraw
from the lodge and try to get a little
better acquainted with the mother OF
my children. Neglected and coarss
aud shabby as she now is, She was as
, handsome as Grace or Lii when I first
+ met her. Zounds. Suppose my daueh-
: tiers should deteriorste in the next onar-
{ ter OF century as she has in the NO,
. twenty-five years2 Would I be- win.
I ing to see them walk the road that -.
has Travelled ? No, by giugerr Tg
b horse-w hip any he-deviI that woul5 H.,
e TO bring them through that self.s,a,,
o road by which 1 have unscrupulousI,
70 led or driven her"
Had Mrs. Emerson imagined Tn
i, thoughts that were surgiug in her hus
O bands heart that evening, she woul
/ have been happy in spite Of her grea
e sorrow. But she did not know, and a
i she listened to the audible lamentatiou
= and fervent supplications Of the one pei
i son, her daughters husband, who ha