The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-11-04


ten years"
'Y-e-e-a-a-s ,"
'''d ask you to spell that word, only I know I
couldn't survive it. The way you speak ii is all
can bear" And wave of laughter seemed rip
pling over his face. 'Now you have prayed th.:s
three times a day, for ten years more. Thirteen
words is it, each time? Very good; that is
thirty-nine words each day, notwithstanding the
multiplication on his fingers-"twO hundred and
seventy-three words a week, one thousand and
ninety-two each month, thirteen thousand one
hundred and four in a year, and in ten years one
hundred and thirty-one thousand and forty ~
''Y-e-e-a-a-s? Well ,"
90. +. D.u
"What's that, JOhn?'
demonstrates, proves. Don't you see it ~
81 don't see that you have proved anything
Don't you think all those words wasted?"
'No, sir I'-Quietly removing the pan of steam
ing beans from the table and placing them on the
floor behind him.
The young man had at this moment finished
his first plate. Beans being the only dish that
graced the table with tin shoes, he mechanically
passed his plate for more.
"Hullo ! where are the beans, Uncle ~
The deep gray eyes looked out from beneath
the shaggy brows upon the humorous face op-
poslte with a stern expression.
seedlings heard as well prayers young
man. The Lord has removed them.'
The brown mustache curled again, the blue
eyes twinkled, grand swell of laughter shook
the stalwart Frame but he controlled himself with
effort
Pass on the beans, Uncle; l haven't half
finished yet with comicaly sober face now
pray, John ~
''TO YOU ~
''To the Lord. He alone can answer prayer"
Nonsense, Uncle you removed the beans"
"A humble instrument in His hands, young
man !'-speaking still more sternly. pray ~
Il don't think will
Il am positively certain, John, that He will
never influence me to restore those beans until
you express yourself penitently i'm prayer"
"Never prayed i'm my life, Uncle Luke"
Never too late To mend Pray u
''Nou will have 10 teach me-"
Il have been teaching YOU for years
For what He paused. but with a strong
effort composed himself, and commenced again:
For what we are about 10 partake, may the Lord
make Us thankful
Gravely were the beans placed upon the table
again. and the meal was finished in silence.
When ended, Uncle Luke, seeking out from the
mysterious rccesses of his bunk certain articles Of
soiled clothing, gray shirt, pair Of drawers,
and some cotton handkerchief took his way
down 20 spring in ravine, short distance be-
low the cabin. John came out, lit his pipe, and
stretched himself upon the dry leaves beneath the
glossy foliage Of livc-oak, which overhuug the
cabin.
They We're strange couple, these two men,
partners together for 80 many years. The young
man, as he lay upon the ground, began TO review
ago, he had forgotten how long, he remembered
being upon a steamer bound from the sultTy, ma
larious lsthmus to the port of san Francisco. He,
mere youth, had been victim 90 the fever that
turks in the depths of the tropical forests While
thus sick, and stranger among the crowded pas
sengers, one among the number had taken pity
upon him, and nuTSed him to health and strength
IA rough man, of uucOuth features ragged beard
and huge shock of gray hair covering his head
Uncle Luke, who scrubbing away at that
dirty shirt down there by the spring. His real
ever had known; he had always called him Uncle
Luke. Their fortunes had been one for ten long
years; poor fortunes at best prospecting in the
placer-mines.
lie had never thoroughly understood his part
ner. His secret belief was that Uncle Luke al
though the soul of honor i'm all his dealings,
whose word truth itself, was, nevertheless,
something of "a hypOcrite. He always had a faint
suspicion, that when Uncle Luke was i'm his stern
est mood, il only cloak TO hide the mirth
within him, that his piety was more of "a burlesque
than otherwise, and that, if he would act his
real nature he would often indulge in freaks as
mad as his own, play jokes absurd as his, and
laugh As uproariously.
Uncle Luke, scrubbing away at the soiled shirt
down i'm the ravine, also rejecting on the
past, and on his young companion. Forgotten,
too, johns name, although ne believed when
he first met him on the crowded steamer that he
was called Iauchlin-there was an old Valise in
the cabin now, somewhere, marked -. L. He
ran over in his mind all their wanderlngs through
cailon and ravine the days and years of weary
tTamping and toll, the promise of good fortune
here and the bitter disappointment there, ana the
steady whitening of his head, and the growing
pains in his limbs the years crept ON. He
loved .Iohn-nOt with the love of father for son,
not bIolneT loves bIoiitir bul Win an dll''-
tion he could not fully analyZe. But he, too, was
doubtful if he really understood his young partner
lie believed his uproarious mirth, his Jokes and
whimsical tricks, were often screens TO cover
heart-aches and sore disappointments.
SO diverse in temperaments and tastes each
was to the other mystery, and each was happy
/ i'm the other.
The warm June day passed away. The wash
/ ing finished, the cabin put i'm order, the few
periodicals on the shelves of a rude cupboard over
| the window had been looked through by LAUGH
! lin, and Uncle Luke had read from a pocket
Bible, guiltess Of cover several chapters from the
/ Prophecies of Isaiah The jays had ceased chat
were mourning, and the martial cries of the quail
were hushed. They two sat together i'm the twi-
/ light, in two rustic chairs under the thick boughs
| of the live-oak.
Uncle Luke nodded. LaUchin smiled and
picked up "a pine-needle The old man nodded
again, and then his head sunk upon his breast
] opd ba rn1ttarod sou1ptbino n his slp