The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-01-30

CHAPTER XVIII
The good resolves that Alonzo made
that night were recorded in heaven by
the angels Of mercy. And yet, so deep
is The hold Of evil upon the spirit Of any
one who has once been weakened by its
tyranny, and his conscience blurred by
its defaeing power, that he was des-
tined 10 stumble many times thereafter.
Grace and her mother-in-Iaw drove
for miles in silence before either Of
them felt inclined 20 speak.
The moonlit heavens flooded the
earth i'm sublime and radiant glory. ST.
lent houses nestled here aud there
in the shadows, and cattle slept IaziIy
by the roadside. The distant mountain
ranges marked an undulating line of
darkness upon the horizons rim on
either hand, and glisteniug snow-peaks
lowered ia majestic grandeur from al
most every point Of the compass.
Finally Grace broke the silence, her
voice startling her by its hardness.
"The earth is so beautiful, mother
dear. It seems such a pity that beneath
all the glory and beat.tude Of these
magnificent surroundings, evil, like a
canker-worm, should in some way be
gnawing forever az everything. These
stately trees that bear aloft their feath-
cry branches, appearing so serene aud
self-couscious, are not only disturbed az
times by heavy winds aud rains that
rend and twist them, bus they are iu-
Tested by parasites that suck their blood
and burrow i'm their bark and roots.
And see, D." she exclaimed, as they passed
a biackeued clearing, "the fire fiend
has been at work here, marking his
course with sad devastation, leaving
cruel destruction and eternal ruin in
his train"
"But, my dear child, you forget that
there is another side tothe pictures you
paint. These mighty forest trees never
would have grown strong but fJr the
very winds aud storms that toughened
them. Then, the insects that feed
j.
creations of the InGnite whom it should
be, and doubtless is, the pleasure Of
these trees 20 sustain out Of their great
abundance
"But what good does it do the tree to
yield up its life for other, ?'
"The tree, my child, is like everything
else in nature, aud cannot die. Scien-
lists say that its chemical change, whicb
we call death for the want Of a more ap.
propriate Specification, ~ erely resolve.
it back into its original elements. But
as student Of nature I doubt this. Tn,
tree vauishes 10y the process Of decom.
position, and is gone from our sight 90
the form which was first presented &,
Us, but it rises again, new creature
fitted IN its new form for the susteuanc,
Of man, who devours it, riches IN
thiukingly. Now We are passing
beautiful farm. See the garden, the or.
chard, the meadows, the wheat-feld
How very attractive they appear in the
moonlight. And yet, only few shor
years ago, this farm site was a black.
ened clearing like that one we passed a
while ago. IL is d grand aim of the
economy Of nature, this yielding up o
life for Hfe."
81 don't understand it" said Grace
'There seems 70 be no such thing iu ua.
ture as abiding individuality or persona
entity. And this fact and its accom-.
panying reflections cause me 70 doubt
my own OF any other human being.
Immortality"
'Ihere is nothing immortal within
or about us that the human or materia
eye can see, my child. Neither is ther
any such thing visible 20 us in the tree
but I somehow feel as though there il
an immortal spiritual entity in every
thing that is, or even has been organ
lied into anything materially ami
mate"
Maybe so, mother; but you hay
carried me quite beyond my depth.
never thought Of these things in th
way before, and 7 doubt If compru
hend your meaning now. But every
thingin The world lis to me so strange an
full Of disappoiutments Do you know
70 is scarcely tWo months since I VI
indulging a theory concerning my ow
coniuga, life Of which / have no MOI
experienced the reality than you ha'
realized your long-eherished hop
about Alonzo's life Of rectitude.
doubt if there is anything real uud,
the SUM-"
'Ihe ideal is the real, MY dear.
fondly fancy that every pure and mob
aspiration or longing OF the human so
will some time be realized by us
some way. Il may not, and rare
does come as we anticipate, bat if y
will wait long enough, its fui,ion vi
be reached at last. Eternity is emile,
my child"
"And I am sorry if it is so, molbe
for would this night prefer annihil
ton to anything else in earth
heaven
"AIy darling, / do not doubt tn
you fancy thus. But, IL it could pos