Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-04-06
i0SEPH'S ADVENTURE.

who had returned from hls many
years travels Ia the bush, and was
sitting with me and my wl'e, And
though h. had been absent 80 long,
hc was, 80 10 speak, young man yet
Adenla'ei Well, ! have mel
with plenty, Rough onea, Isome oI
them,
please toll ~ one, chimed 10 Mary,
Joseph laughed Il can tell you ol
q queer 0ne that | net with 10 The
mounlalus.'
Oh yes, do Which mountains 7
'ln CalItornia-up In ono OF ils wild
Districts
That will he the very thing
Wel,' said Joseph, running his
taper dngers through his hair aad
smiling At my wife, III soften down
thugs IN The telling NJ well as my
blunt speech aud uncivilized modes Of
thought will admit Of, and you must
excuse tho rest,
'Oh, I'll excuse anything Please
begin
when ! started from home toseltle
in unlrequented districts, began Jo-
seph, Il sci up n theory that no man
should ask woman TO marry him
until he has prepared home for her,
1t ia surprising how much You begin
to think Of a wife west yonder which
arises, | suppose, from the extreme
lonlinesS OF ones existence. was no
exception. The land 1 took up was
in the Rogue River Valley, and after
| had got it bit ship'shapc ! worked
away with only o'e object in view
TO bring home Il WIFE,
But, Joseph, had you selected n
wife 7 asked.
No. ] intended to do that as soon
as could, though you may say / was
rather young to be thinking of it. |
worked on. aud was pretty successful.
| built me a house, got Il considerable
-,oeL OF ca,tic, m"do " aewsr S..a'"
for my wife, and even put up the pegs
and nails, she would want to hang her
dresses on. I intended that same
autumn to mount my horse, ride
through the Wallamct Valley, find
my wife and bring her home
AT the notion Of courting in that
of-hand style we laughed'a little
Joseph laughed too. as if the recol!ec-
ton pleased him.
You think it strange, | sec. 1t was
not so very strange in those days out
there, where girls were as scarce as
angels. There was not a girl within
forty miles OF me aud / assure you
that the very thought of one, as |
drove in those nails for her garments
to hang on, went through me like a
thrill. You don't believe? Go west
yourself and try it,
But l do believe.
Il had about two hundred and fifty
head of cattle, y good house with a
garden, young orchard, vegetables
growing, sweet-scepted flowers, all
in readiness for the wife l hoped to
bring home to bless me and to take
care OF these my possessions. And
what do you think happenedt to them =
We could not tell.
There came such plague of grass
hoppers upon the valley that every
thing perished. Crops, orchard, flow
ers, grass--every green and delight
full and promising thing ; the grass
hoppers destroyed all. You remem-
Der the second chapter of Joel 7
nodded.
"The land is as the garden of Eden
before them, and behind them desc
late Wilderness I Was ruined. My
stock died-at least the greater portion
of it ; the cattle had nothing to feed
upon. Yes, it was complete and alb.
solute ruin.
Joseph paused moment, mentally
looking at the past.
i considered myself disappointedin
love too, he resumed in the quaintest
of tones. Though l had not yet been
out to find my girl, l knew she was
somew here in that other valley wait
ing for me and when the greedy
grasshoppels ate up everything | felt
that | had been tilted. 1t actually
gives me pang now to think of those
useless pegs on which my imagination
had so often seen girls pink cotton
dress and white sun-bonnet.'
Joseph gave great Sigh. He was
an eccentric fellow.
4 became mislnthropic-said TO
myself that between Fate and the
....,s l. o.xa.. Lal Laat, Lnllu ucad