The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-03-25
CHAPTER XIX.

WIPES DISPOSITIONS.
The first man in America, or, for ough
1 know, in the world, vino practically
recognized the inalienable right OF .
married woman to the personal owner
ship Of such real estate Rs she would ae
quire through her own exertions aftei
marriage, was Oregon's first Territorial
representative in Congress, the late la.
mented Samuel r. Thurston. Prior {,
the passage Of the Congressional Aci
known to Oregouians as the Donation
Land Law, which guaranteed q hand.
some land grant to every settler within
the Oregon borders who should avail
himself OF herself OF its prerogatives
within a given period, no woman, IN
less unmarried or widow, had ever
been respected in her property rights as
femme sole, those wives who had
been so fortunate as to possess property,
real or personal, having been only such
as had received it through gift, devise
or Inheritance. And, even then, unless
by special stipulation in the bond. the
property thus bequeathed or inherited
became the husbands involuntary
surety by being jeopardized for his
debts or contracts.
Mr.. Thurston had come 10 the Oregon
Territory at an early DAY, and had wit
messed the formation OF its provisional
government. lie had noted the priva-
tions, tolls and struggles Of the wives o.
the pioneers, aud his great soul was
stirred by their necessities. So, when
the bill entitling every immigrant to
three hundred and twenty acres of viz
gin soil was drafted by himself, he
rightfuily considered every pioneer
woman as an iuteger in the sum OF hu-
man responsibility, and, as such, as
much entitled as her husband TO prae.i-
cal equality before The law.
John and Tirzah Hardine had spent
six months in weary, monotouous,
apathetic journeying across the conti-
neut in search OF the land Of the setting
sun.
Since the day when her husband had
declared his determination to force her
TO violate her sacred contract with her
parents, Tirzah Hariine had inwardly
detested him. and never, from that day
forward, il il had not been Tor the
Gordian knot that she knew Of no hon
Orable way 10 unite, had she felt that
she could have remained his wife for
single hour. After the dreadful news OF
her fathers suicide, and the arbitrary
ruling that had compelled her to 90 for
ward Oh Ler journey without returning
to her mother, she had scorned and
lOathed the man. I am afraid she
sometimes failed to do him justice; for
John Hardiue had spells Of excellent
temper, and there were times when be
tried hard TO reawaken in her spirit
some show Of the old tenderness that
gradually grew to be a far-off dresm to
him.
Tirzah never quarreled, seldom as
serted her opinion about anything, aud
seemed never to consult her own inter-
est any more than his. She was simply
apatheiic Her neighbors (the few she
had) pitied her husband and censured
her for her unlovable disposition. She
was rarely seen to smile, and very
rarely srusted herself to speak unless
when directly asked a question, and T.
then the reply was as terse as il was un-
sympathetic.
But, good reader, pray excuse me. I !
was going to tell you about the Har-
dimes donation land claim, aud came
near forgetting my subject.
Imagine any one Of hundred beauti- /
ful rolling prairies IN the Willamette
Valley, each 20 much like all the rest
that it is only by improvements aud 10.
cality that the tourist is enabled 10 tell |
one from another. Imagine that you
behold q graceful, undulating, fertile
vale, overrun with grass aud fern, and
hedged about with stately forests Of
evergreen, the beautiful foliage forming
a fringe at the forests feet. Note the
laughing stream that cuts the vale in
half, its outline marked by deciduous
trees that, in the early Springtime to
which 1 now introduce you, are unfold
ing their leaves in response to the kisses
Of the sunshine aud the carols of the
birds. Flowers in manifold variety are
already peeping from amidst the tangled
seed-stalks Of the last years uncut crop
Of grass. Sometimes a graceful deer
ventures from the copse on the brooks
margin aud advances cautiously toward
the cattle that Craze amid the bounties
Of the plain. Yonder, not far from an
Oak-crowned foothill, beyond which you
can see a stately mountain chain capped
by perpetual snow peaks, sits rude log
cabin, hard By 3 gurgling spriuglet that
escapes in glee from its rock-bound en-
vironment aud goes forth singing toward
the vale, only 10 he arrested in its course
by a rude contrivaBce thst turns its Il Nv
toward lakelet, on The border of which
a little dairy has beeu built, upon the
yet undeveloped proceeds Of which Tir-
zah Hardine Is making many calcula-
tions for the future. Not that she cares
for property for it's own sake; not that
she cares 10 accumulate wealth for her