The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-05-27

euSc 10 lub leLleI ul a CoutIacA hulCA
had been killed in spirit in its very out.
set, what wonder that she failed to FIND
it?
am aware that I am trsading now
upon forbidden ground. good reader.
well know that there be those who read
these pages who will cry out in WE'LL
assimulated horror, as though the wrong
were 10 my own imagination rather
than in the facts I state. But all the
outcry Of all the Pharisees in all America
will not cause me 10 swerye a single
inch from my duty, which consists in
declaring 10 you the whole power Of the
truth, God-made and humanity-vio-
lated, which visits the sins Of the par
ents upon the children to the third and
fourth generations Of those bound 10
wedlock who, whether openly or se-
eretly, hate each other, instead Of being
tone fiesh, OF one IN heart and thought
and love and purpose, as only those
should be who unite 10 bestow existence
upon the children Of uen. Rail, Phari-
see; cant, hypoerite; blush, mock
modesty; deny, ye consciously guilty
but the truth will live on aud way
down, deep in the inner conscience Of
thousands Of my readers, will my earn
est thoughts lnd answering echo.
There is, there can be, no other sin so
heinous as that OF unloved or unloviug
wedloek, for there is no other sin that
so constantly breeds discord, crime and
misery as this, and none other that
brings them forth like this to curse the
race.
But, while I am moralizing here, n
messenger is coming in hot haste from
the home Of the senior Hardine. \ half
mile away from the Junior Hardness
stately-lookingf farm house sits the cabin
home Of the old man, a low, biackened,
moss-grown pile Of logs, leaky and
wind-shaken, and, except that it has re-
ceived additions in the shape Of another
room and some dingy out-houses, ap-
pearing but little different from the
homestead as we last beheld it, fifteen
years ago. But the mile-square farm,
like the junior Hardine's, has been sur
rounded by high, old-fashioued rail
fences, and the broad acres are smiling
in the face Of the Summer sun, ladeued
with many tons Of maturing wheat
We have only time to note all this, for
here, and already entering the junior
Hardine's doorway, is the identical
messenger, Joe Ridgeway, now a mid
dle-aged man, who once surprised Tirzah
in the long ago by bringing the sad
news that her father, Squire Inglcton,
had committed suicide.
The doors Of memory swung wide be-
fore the weary woman at her brother-in-
laws approach.
"Hou're bringing me bad tidings,
joe" she said, rising 10 lay her sleeping
babe in lis cradle. II know it, for you
look just as you did when you came to
tell me that my father was dead"
"And have news Of the same pur-
port, Tirzsh. The senior Hardiue
breathed his last an hour or 30 ago."
This is very sudden - exclaimed
Tirzah, turning ashy pale 81 thought
he was in his usual health"
$50 lie was, TO all appearances. But
lie never got over exposing himself TO
all sorts Of bad weather in the mines.
But you needn't worry. John Har-
dimes lucky dog, and you're richer by
twenty thousan' than you were a weel;
ago."
"HoW's that, Joe.?"
"The old mans been cioselcd with
John a heap Of la.e, and it turns out
that he's got a clear deed to every
thing"
"Surely he didn't forget to make some
provision for poor 'Lize?"
81 don't know whether he forgot it or
not, but / do know be didn't leave her
anything. Seems to me you take the
matter cool, Tirzah. You just ought to
see Sally. She's taking on awful"
Tirzah did not reply to this last re-
mark. Indeed, she was conscious Of so
little emotion over the sad event that
she felt ashamed of herself
"Where's John ?"
"Goue over to Sapp's, as usual. I
hardly ever see him nowadays"
The brother-in-law muttered some
sort Of an imprecation which TIIzah did
not hear.
Cant you go over and tell him,
81 s'pose I could but Pve got to rush
round aud inform the rest OF 'em. WHY
not send Henry ?"
because the boy has more on his
shoulders now than he ought to carry.
And then. l wouldn't send one Of NV
children where that tgoman is for any,
thlngw
81 can't see but that woman as you
call her, is just as good as the boys
father"
Tirzah had often thought as much,
but loyalty to her conceptions Of duty
had kept her silent.
"You forget that John Hardine is my
husband, aud the sister Of your own
wife, Joe Ridgeway"
''No, don't forget il. Would to God
I could, unless he'd do better. But
there! Don't get angry It beats all
tarnation the way women will hold up
for their husbands, right or wrong.
We've no time 10 discuss these things
now though and, If we'd all the time
in the universe, and would discuss iem
fO eternity We uavnr con1d ograa Tfu