The Northern Pacific farmer., 1880-03-04
DO AS YOU'RE BID.

DO AS YOU'RE BID.
"Mind man?'
These words were uttered in tone
of splendid scorn; but an unseen audi
tor round the corner of the piazza smiled;
and yet he was man.
"But, Doll, you will have to mind your
husband" responded gentle, drawing,
exasperating voice.
'Shall II" returned the clear and
spirited note of the first speaker. "He
has not appeared on the stage yet,
Grace. When he does, it seems to me,
it will be time enough to contemplate
submission"
The gentlemen on the piazza smiled
again, but he rose quietly and walked
away; he did not like to be listener,
however involuntarily, for he was q
gentleman. He did not altogether es-
cape that presence, however, by his
own absence. He carried with him
vivid picture of the tall, slight figure,
graceful as deer: the dark, tender
eyes, that could be full of lightning; the
proud, delicate, sensitive face; the
abundant brown hair, shot with red
rays, like ripe chestnut skin. He had
studied this portrait many days, for he
had known Dorothea Schenck as
child; and though for years they had
not met, this summer, they were to-
gether at quiet little tavern in the
hills of Vermont, Mr.. Horton for rest
from a year of hard work in city par
ish, Dora to be with her invalid mother,
who could not bear her usual round of
Newport and Saratoga.
Dorothea Schenck was a spoiled
child. The idea of obedience was as
distasteful to her as bit and bride to a
wild horse. Her outbreak this morn
ing was excited by some careless Cos
sip of Grace Hamilton's-a girl of her
own age who had come with them to
Adds, partly because Dora had coaxed
her partly because it was cheap, and
Grace was notdtoo rich. - .'':... : 4
The subject of their discourse had
BEEN the suferings, publicly paraded,
OF certain little lady known to this
party, who had been very-and, indeed,
absurdly-extrayagant, and brought
her husband to the brink of failure; so
near that he had been compelled to &C.
cepta sudden and severe retrenchment.
Grace's aunt, who was also staying at
the Saltash house had blamed Mrs.
Blake severely, and Dora had not OBJ
jected till Grace affirmed that she did
not at all sympathize with Mrs. Blake, as
her husband had been very open with
her in regard to his business affairs, and
had lorg since told her she must give
up certain habits of lavish expense, or
expect him to fail-a fact which the
natural levity and folly of the woman's
nature led her to treat as a threat; and
so the end came.
"And I'm not sorry for her; she
ought to have minded him" Grace
said. "A woman's natural duty is obe-
dience; she ought to have known that
it is our destiny to yield to our superb
ors," whined Miss Hamilton; and this,
which seemed to Dora superlative cant,
had brought out her sharp exclama-
ton. She herself was utterly undis-
ciplined; blind indulgence had set her
adrift in life without an idea of duty,
and she had yet to learn any but her
own will, or any restraint but her own
caprices. Poor child! life is the sternest
OF teachers, even with all the prepara-
tions that can be made for its encoun-
ter. and a merciless pedagogue to the
willtul and ignorant. Mr.. Horton was
bewitched with Dora against his judg-
ment; her fresh, piquant grace, her re-
gal beauty, and her very insurgent way
of action and speech, captivated him;
he knew with painful clearness that she
was as unfit for minister's wife as
woman could be, but he knew also that
without her his life would loose its
SAVIOR, and become routine of the dullest
order, perhaps misery, though con-
science warned him not to be so weak as
this, while his work remained to be
done.
The next day there was to be that re-
sort of country boarders in lack of all
other amusement, picnic to Glen falls,
a wild ravine in the heart of the hills,
through which rapid brook tore its
way, plcnging from one precipice to an
other, at no one spot to be seen in full
beauty, but reservlne its coy surprises
for those who had skill and strength to
climb upward to it's source-a clear
mountain pond shat slept amid dark
woods, fed by hidden springs. The day
was warm, yet fresh with the wonder
full freshness of mountain ai-; and when
the long wagon of Saltash house ar
rived at the foot of the ravine all the
younger members of the party were
unanimous in their resolve to climb to
Clear pond, while the older ladies and
one white haired bachelor, who cared
little for scenery and much for mis-