The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1880-06-03
CHAPTER xxIX



When a good man dies. the very at
mosphere around his deeomposing tab
ernacle Of clay is burdened with sorrow.
No matter II for years he has been an
unproductive piece OF dilspidated hu-
man machinery, and a consequent bur
den upon the bounty Of his loved ones
no matter If for many day he has been
weary Of life, when at last the vital cord
is snapped in twain and the imprisoned
spirit, no longer able TO animate the de-
caying body, frees itself by vigorous en-
deavor and passes joyfully 70 the higher
life, the ties it leaves behind are so
strong and endearing that the agony OF
a great sorrow sweeps over many lac
Grated heart-siring when he goeth TO his
long home. But when the hour Of final
departure, which no hand can stay. has
come TO the man whose life has been the
persOnificatiOn OF greed and selfishness
aud tyranny, the nearest relatives can
only grieve with quiet gladness, how
ever severely they may be tried by the
circumstances that taccompany his death.
The Obsequies Of the deceased were as
imposing as the family knew how to
make them. No pains was spared to
place the memory Of the Hardine head
in respectful light before the grand
children Of the family, who were now
numbered by the dozens. Bot the sur
viviug John Hsrdine, junior now no
longer, could with difficulty disguise his
impatient Taste far the services 10 be
over.
The neighboThooi, " which at this time
numbered as many families as their
square-mile donation claims, here ard
there subdivided into balf and quarter
sections, could accommodate, turned out
en- nlasse to attend the funeral; but Of
all the actors ia this DER true tale with
whom the reader has been acquainted
from its beginning, but one was there
who knew the decedent from the com
mencement Of nv story save those who
were related 10 the family by ties Of
matrimony or consanguinity, and this
one was Sam Hardpan, now a promi-
nent politician and we'll known incum-
bent Of Judicial honors, who had learned
much OF the partisan chicauery which
he had long managed so successfully
under the tutelage Of the senior and
junior Harjines.
After the obsequies were all over,
Lie returned with her mother to the
paternal home, and sent her children,
except the three youngcst ones, back to
Portland in the custody Of Peter Tubbs,
who thought himself the most abused,
as he certainly had become the most
helpless, Of husbands. Like John Har-
dine, he was looking forward to the
reading Of the seniors will with no lit
tie interest. He remembered well the
broad hint Of bis nephew, who had said,
abiding TO the death;
YOU'RE in luck now, Uncle Pete.
It's an in wind that blows nobody any
good"
But Mrs. Peter Tubbs was quietly de-
termined TO have her own way for once.
She would remain at home with her
mother, AM ber husband and the older
children should return to their Portland
home.
81 can't do anything :" growled Peter
Tubbs. The boarders ~ all leave, and
there's no telling how we'll get living.
I can stay here aud manage this busi-
ness. Women don't know anything
about these matters, anyhow"
"The deceased was my fatherr' ex-
claimed Lie, arousing herself and
speaking with more vim than she had
ever used in addressing her husband
since their wedding day. "He was my
father, and my mother is yet spared to
me. will not desert her now. The
property that we are TO inherit, if any,
is mine, and the time has fully come for
you to begin to act the man, if there,
any manhood in you"
Had Mrs. Tubbs been accustomed thu
TO accost her husband, he would hav,
been used to it; but, as it was, her IN
expected self-assertion cut him to th,
quick. He dropped his head forward a
though a blow had paralyzed his spiua
vertebra, and meekly did as he was bid
den, while John Hardine aud Joe Ridge
way looked on and silently pitied tht
long-suffering, mueh-enduring husban,
Of their unreasonable, unlovable an,
str0ng-minded sister.
"We're ready now TO call lawyer an,
open the will, in the presence Of th
family" said John Hardine, while hi
mother sat like a statue in her grta
chair by the fireside, so benumbed will
the thought Of the great change tha
had suddenly befalleu her that she Wa
mentally and physically feeble.
"All rigbt,n heartily exclaimed th
husband Of Sally Hardine.
"But / am not ready" exclaime
Lie, loftily, "and I insist that, afte
we have been as fair to the world as W
have been to-day, that we consider on
mothers feelings as OF greater mOmen
than our own avarice. God knows
need my portion far more than any O
you, but I'd wait till the first shock 3