Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1885-01-16

And YOU oug hter to he ashamed of your
silt. for doesn't she tell US We must treat
people we'll in our own houses. Howsom
ever, ! was kinder glad to hear you speak
Tor morning. aS Mrs. Fundy said. feel rs
if we should never have another day at
Miss Dprothv'S."
That's some more of your nonsense, Su-
sanna. You're always feeling what is go-
Ing to happen. If thought it would come
true this time, I'd never smile Tomorrow
once"
I'm sure hope not, just as much as you
do; but what is going to happen, I'll hap
pen, whether or no, | reckon" After a
few more words. the visitors rose to leave
and i'll twenty minutes fires were covered
and all was quiet in the log house of Simon
Gravitt. Perhaps they dreamed of the
coming day, perhaps they did not dream at
all, but while they sleep we will tell some
thing of the woman and the dav, that
caused all this excitement.
Dorothea Langley had been delicately
nurtured, had been accustomed to every
comfort and even elegance of life, yet at
the a.e of thirty five We find her living
among the mountains in one of our border
States, apparently as much at home among
the simple hearted country folk, as she had
formerly been with the cultured and re-
fined. She wore small cap of white mus
lin, that merely limited at her golden
brown hair, and tied under her chin with
snowy strings, like her grandmother's in
the old-fashioned portrait at home. This
cap would have been most unhecomin9
adornment to ninety-nine women out OF
every hundred. but Miss Dorothy was the
one out of the hgndred to whom it was an
ornament. 1t gave an added sweetness tC
the curve of the chin, and sOftened the
brightness of her hazel eyes by its soft
edges. Yes. her cap was becoming to her
and though she found this out after having
worn it year or So, it had no effect what
ever upon her. She wore it for reasons OF
her own, entirely apart from the question
of beauty or looks.
To have lived thirty five years, possessed
of more than usual attractions, was suii-
cient in and out of itself to set idle
tongues wagging; but to leave society
and the great world of fashion, put u
Quaker like cap upon her head, and settle
among the wilds of distant mountains
leaving no clue to her whereabouts, keep
ing up no connection with the old life;
surely this was more than a nine days
wonder, and even among the class to whom
she had come As an angel from heaven, il
was mystery constantly forcing itself
upon their notice.
1t was the last day Of the year 1881. and
the morrow, or, miss Dorothy's Day." was
in the thought of old and young for many
years. She had come when alaleas and
rhododendrons were in full hloom, and the
mountain sides showed neither bowlder or
barrenness because of the verdLre and
bloom that concealed them. She had
bought twenty-five acres OF Wild wool
land, had put men with strong muscles at
work to clear it., with an eye t.
final beauty; and here she had seen
her log house built. If she was to
be anything to these people she
must meet them where they We're, not on
her own level, so the house Was OF logs like
their own, with all the added beauty that
taste a.d refinement could give. She knew
enough of human nature to be assured of
a welcome not altogether hearty, and hei
first step must be to win their confidence.
1t was slow progress she made, but sure.
The log house did much for her. for il
spoke constantly to the passers, saying,
"Here dwells u woman without nonsense
and airs" but with the logs all similarity
ended.
Everything within and around it was a.
aesthetic as if belonging to a poets home.
and all its beauty was planned with Q
single intent, viz: that they should see,
admire and initiate. That this had not
been in vain, we can CLEAN from Simon
Gravitt's words; that Miss Doruthea her
self was not satisfied was just as true. The
worker never sees the full effect of his
" hs -
to feeling of discouragement that would
have astonished the people who saw far
ther than she, and felt more deeply than
she dreamed.
Perhaps the greatest good she had done
them had been Just where she would have
placed it least of all. This was in teach
ing them to set apart certain days of the
year for holidays, whereon they must
dress in their best and meet together for
social enjoyment.
She began with Christmas, by inviting
them to meet in the school-hOuse, where
she had prepared a Christmas tree and
some trifing gift for each. Next year she
added the Fourth of July; then Thanks
giving, and followed 1t the s1me year by u
cordial invitation to her own home for
New Years Day, where she entertained
them from morning till night, gave them a
bOunti.u ul repast and sent them home as
happy as mortals could be. From that
time the beginning of every year found
them gathered together at her house, and,
far and near, the day had come to be
known as miss Dorothy's Day."
The mountains where all this life went
on, were a range running from northeast
to southwest through one of our Southern
States, that through the war formed "a bOr-
der land between North and South. They
were bold, and hih at their s.d.s. and hid
beneath their surface mines of iron and
wasteful humans. On their tops, road
table-lands stretched for miles, as lev ! as
the rolling prairies OF the West, anu rich
with lunlJer for the needs OF the future.
Capitalists passing over these mountains
made note OF all these possibilities whert
some day they might invest surplus capi-
tai; but to the dwellers OF the region, no
thought OF marketable values ever came:
To them it was place where nature joined
hands with human nature TO help IL To
thrive without effort, and this was the rea,
son that no homes, worthy the name, could
be found there, when Dpro ny Langley
first came among them. Occasi )naliy a
struggling visitor, deslrous OF discovering
some new region, would stop at tn foot Oi
the mountain, hire ricketty wagon and d
driver to take him to the wonderful table
lands of which he had h. ard nori. Tie
was glad to return In short time, and
would describe it as "semi -barbarou' in
habited by shiftless ne'er do weels."
After Miss Doroshv's house was built
gradually the neiGh3orhood about hel
changed its aspects. Over the log houses
vines were trained-roses and honey
suckles and trumpet -creepers and passion
flowers in glorious profusion. At the win
dows curtains were seen, and within rag
carpets, and shelves oramented with
mosses, met theeye.
There was old grandmother who still
smoked her pipe In the chimney corner