Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget SoundDenny, Emily Inez
History
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
Denny, Emily Inez
Indians of North America -- Northwestern States; Oregon Territory -- History; Washington (State) -- History
The little brown hands were busy from morning to night in and about the
cabin or cottage; seldom could a disagreeable task be delegated to
another; to dress the fish and clams, dig the potatoes in summer as
needed for the table, pluck the ducks and grouse, cook and serve the
same, fell to her lot before the children were large enough to assist.
Moreover, to milk the cows, feed the horses, chop wood occasionally,
shoot at predatory birds and animals, burn brush piles and plant a
garden and tactfully trade with the Indians were a few of the
accomplishments she mastered and practiced with skill and success.
In the summer time this mother took the children out into the great
evergreen forest to gather wild berries for present and future use.
While the youngest slept under giant ferns or drooping cedar, she filled
brimming pails with the luscious fruit, salmonberry, dewberry or
huckleberry in their seasons. Here, too, the older children could help,
and there was an admixture of pleasure in stopping to gather the wild
scarlet honeysuckle, orange lilies, snowy Philadelphus, cones, mosses
and lichens and listening to the "blackberry bird," as we called the
olive-backed thrush, or the sigh of the boughs overhead.
The family dog went along, barking cheerfully at every living thing,
chasing rabbits, digging out "suwellas" or scaring up pheasants and
grouse which the eldest boy would shoot. It was a great treat to the
children, but when all returned home, tired after the day's adventure,
it was mother's hands prepared the evening meal and put the sleepy
children to bed.
Everywhere that she has made her home, even for a few years, she has
cultivated a garden of fragrant and lovely flowers, a source of much
pleasure to her family and friends. The old-fashioned roses and
hollyhocks, honeysuckles and sweet Williams grew and flourished, with
hosts of annuals around the cottage on Seneca Street in the '60s, and
at the old homestead on Lake Union the old and new garden favorites ran
riot; so luxuriant were the Japan and Ascension lilies, the velvety
pansies, tea, climbing, moss and monthly roses, fancy tulips, English
violets, etc., etc., as to call forth exclamations from passersby. Some
were overheard in enthusiastic praise saying, "Talk about Florida! just
look at these flowers!"
The great forest, with its wealth of beautiful flowers and fruitful
things, gave her much delight; the wild flowers, ferns, vines, mosses,
lichens and evergreens, to which she often called our attention when we
all went blackberrying or picnicing in the old, old time.
The grand scenery of the Northwest accords with her thought-life. She
always keenly enjoys the oft-recurring displays of wonderful color in
the western sky, the shimmering waves under moon or sun, the majestic
mountains and dark fir forests that line the shores of the Inland Sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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