The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-09-23

imagined by the attendants of Mrs. Dombey; so
she asked her husband to draw the money he had
placed on deposit for her. Bill Simmer started
off with aacriy to do her bidding, only to return,
crestfallen
'YOu see wife," he began, with look that
would have been haggard but for the flesh upon
his jaws, "I-I-I-a debt can't be outlawed in
Oregon under six years can ?'
"No, William But why do you ask? Idont
o,0e anything"
"But do, or, rather did, Patience. And
your money is all gone"
''WilIiam, you can't mean it ~ cried Mrs Slim
mer her pale face turning paler yet she grasped
the bedpost for support.
eyes Patience, do mean it. And l would that
were dead! You see, dear used to be raksh
and wild, and / spent cords o money, and got
deeply into debt. And l owed Jolly Miller big
sum. / never meant to owe it, 'pOn my word.
But when I come in to Squire NettletOn's store
and put your money on deposit, and took a receipt
for it in my name, it then, according to
law or custom, and under what they call the law
of coverture, my individual property. ! told 'em
il was yours Patience; but my certificate of de-
post, which was all had to show for it, was
made in my name, and so l couldn't 90 back
on the black and white"
"But can hold the money in spite of them un-
der lawsuit w lillam. isn't tnere some sort OF a
statute that tells about a writ of replevn?"
! But Bill Simmer had lost his grip He had no
heart to see a lawyer and work up the case. The
poor fellow had the raw material in him for any
amount of sturdy rustling; but he had always
been supported and protected 10y women and, now
that his last womanly resource was chock-a-bock
with writs and lawyers fees, and the woman her
self tied up i'm the shop and nursery with a
houseful of little SINNERS, there nothing left
for him to do but to 90 Off and die-and he did it.
Mrs. =. Simmer shed few tears i'm the solitude
" her back shop, and followed the remains of her
lord and MASTER provder, law-giver and head, To
Lone Fir Cemetery, where they were buried from
her sight by secret society in glittering badges
She was compelled to confess to herself, as the
three young SINNERS camored for the food she
could not furnish that she was unable to thai
she had gained increased immunity from care ol
responsibilityin the ong-run 10y marrying sum
mer boarder who could only clean chicken
house, mend a doorstep, and boss things.
The little tin sign belonging to Miss p. Simmer
Tailoress, still served a a wndow-pane i'm tn,
front shop, and Mrs. p. Simmer employed
painter, whose coat she repaired a compensation
to paint out the inappropriate "NIiss,n and subst
tute the more appropriate "NTrs." She hung tn,
. sign, and awaited customers with fear and trem
bling. Had she known of Miss p. Slimmerf
goose at the pawnbroker'S, she might have pur
chased the same at a small advance; but she iii,
, not, she used flat-iron instead. She had II,
! knowledge of the business, and of course mad
p many failures. But she lived economically, an,
, profited by her mistakes, and soon became mis-
tress of her craft and is now at the head of
the most popular clothing emporiums of the city
I And Bill SINNERS widow, whose offers of mar
4 rage from the supporting and protecting Sc,
number three per month upon an average, re
mains widow and is incorrigible. Though the.
think she is sane enough all other subjects, tn
5 oiled and perfumed gentlemen who 80 to her for
l faultless fit i'm their finest unmentionables, ar
Y unanimous i'm the opinion that she is crazy upol
e the subject of womans rights.
I Good reader, my story is the barest possible out
line of a life history that might well be elaborate
4 into a volume Bill Simmer no ideal prOduc
Y of my brain, nor was Aunt Prudence Simmer
r myth, Mrs. Patience Leigh a fictitious person
r age Such characters, in all the various shades @
d life, are everywhere existing under governmen
o that not only permits women to be deprived @
. their property "withOut due process of law" bu
stultifies itself continually by its failure to guar