The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-09-30
FAIRY QUEENS HOMESTEAD.
BY ABIGAIL SCOTT DUNrwAY.


Fairy Queen was not petite her Christian
cognOmen would indicate, nor was she of royal
blood, as her surname would seem to signify. On
the contrary, she was large, rubcund and feshy,
and belonged to a family removed in the remotest
possible degree from all semblance of royalty.
Nor was the prospect of her title to high position
as a ruler of the commonwealth one whit en-
hanced when she became the prospective bride of
Titus King called Tite for short, and appropri-
ately too. for another reason-for be it known
that there was nor is no tighter man in money
matters than the lucky swain who won the heart
of Fairy Queen, whose wise step-father reiOicedin
the patronymic Of Smith-John Smith-while her
mother bore the equally euphonious appellation Of
Nancy Jane
John Smith and his wife Nancy Jane had found
it so hard to make a living on the Missouri bar
rens over in Pike, that they struck a bargain for
a change with Titus King, Senior, who brought
them to Oregon i'm early day, while Fairy
Queen, whose father had left her posthumous
contribution to the charities of the world Yet
an infant of tender age, with quite school of lit
tie Smiths for company.
The incidents of their journey across the conti-
nent with teams of oxen need not be repeated
here. Suffice it to say that when they came, the
available lands in the valleys of the Willamette
Tamhill Rogue, Umpqua, Santiam, La Creole
settlers, and Titus King Senior, resolved to 20 to
Eastern Oregon and follow the cattle business re-
tanning in his employ the step-father Of my hero
inc and his patient podding, industrious servant
Nancy Jane. The lands they chose broad
treeless and hilly, rich i'm waving bunch-grass, and
well watered through the middle by a winding
willow-bordered stream.
The family of John smith and Nancy Jane in
creased in the ratio peculiar to sparsey settled
regions and Fairy Queen became foster-motherto to
the clamorous brood, who, during her mothers
frequent seasons Of indisposition, looked to her
their maid-of-al-worE and was also the chief
spoke i'm the wheel OF agricultural enterprise that
fed the little Smiths-the ever lucrative dairy and
poultry business.
I pray you, imagine for minute that
heroine was overworked. Save your sympa-
thies Z teg,.f for the overtaxed and falling wife
1f ha giH's good, easy-gong, good-for-nothing
dsone OF a step-father, whose comprehension
scarcely rose above the occupation of drones i'm
general
Fairy Q1eenwas none of your signing, lacka-
dai-ical alTs, either. She read dime novels only
to curl her lip with dsdain over the follies they
portrayed, and gathered practical knowledge from
the weekly newspapers that taught her the mys-
terry ~ success i'm managing cows and chickens.
She ha, the good sense to be acquisitve, too; and
when. ~ the age of eighteen, she informed her
ster-fa sr that she was entitled to the profits of
her own earnings henceforth, and he consented 10
her proposal to remain inmate Of his shabby
home and take care of his family for her board,
upon the condition that she should be permitted
10 enter largely into the poultry and dairy busi-
uess on hcr own account, she accepted her lot and
was happy.
Fairy Queen prospered Her hens laid honest
eggs ant batched thrifty chickens, and the
knightsl lords of her different harems crowed "a.
Justify and ruled as pompousy though they
had been hufnat beings of the masculine persua-
sion engaged in making laws to regulate the taxa
ton of their toiling wives and mothers.
john smith was proud of his step-daughter, and
often sounded her praises at the precinct meetings
and many the spurred and leggined suitors
who came to his house for Sunday dinner, only
to 90 away with loaded stomachs and disappointed
hopes, after receiving Fairy Queens prompt re-
fusal Of their profIered protection and support
But Titus King, Senior, was wiser by far than
the young men Of his neighborhood. Had he
been widower, it is possible that he would have
married Fairy Queen himself But he was kind
husband and good provider and his happy wife
was in excellent health, and therefore he was not
in the market. But with his son, Titus Junior, il
was different. He wanted a wife And when
ever he returned from a visit to John Smiths
house, after haYng been regaled by one of Fairy
Queen's superb dinners, and sought the shades Of
ms bachelor cabin on his own homestead he
slgheh rom utter loneliness much aggravated bv
The lneiplent dyspepsia arising from the indgesti-
ble cookery of ms own incapable hands.
But Titus Junior was bashful-far too basbful to