Part 3 (1/2)

It rapidly shot down strea it into the s on the side where we desired to land, though a considerable distance below, and we all seized hold of the s and succeeded in ht have been coe; but all is well that ends well The captain and his two sons thought that they could reach the further shore by running diagonally across the current We stood upon the bank and watched the operation, and saw that it was successful

I have stated probably with tooof the hardshi+ps, as well as joy, of pioneering

The trip across the Umpqua Valley and down the Willah slush, and arnered fatness of the clouds I had for enton the anarchistic type His gloo daladly bade him adieu in the hills south of Sale there, I rested and recuperated for ten days I had adopted the maxim, never to pay board when I had the ability or capacity to earn it I therefore considered what it was best to do, and I deteran I drew up a siree settled with families--to offer my services as a school-teacher The prospect proved to be not very encouraging, although I offered to teach a three-months' school for five dollars a scholar, and board Three-days'

effort secured but seven-and-a-half scholars The afternoon of the third day was an alternation of rain and snow I stopped quite late in the afternoon at the house of Mr Waldo, the father of the late Hon John B

Waldo I freely stated to him the object of my visit, and he promptly told me that he did not care to subscribe I stood for a ti for the storm to abate somewhat, when he suddenly asked an” He said laughingly that they wanted no an men, or men from the North to come to this country, for they had already, by their presence, changed the climate

After a moment I asked hiinia, sir” I laughingly replied ”that if we had any inians in this country I feared ould have neither schools, nor churches, nor any other agency of civilization” He said to me: ”Walk into the house, and ill talk this matter over” We walked into the house; and as Cervantes' work, containing the exploits of Don Quixote, lay on the table, the conversation turned upon that I was quite familiar with the work, and its absurdity and wisdom, and we discussed chivalry and its social aspect, as well as its systeovernor of the island, and Don Quixote's profound ht He said tothat as a matter of courtesy, I should see certain friends who held in the school-house, which was also used as a church, he would have it publicly announced at that , that school would be opened byMonday

I followed his advice, and at the appointed time there was quite a full attendance of pupils Mr Waldo was somewhat eccentric, but in him was embodied that principle of the Ro

I ought possibly to have stated that the first person that I called upon in ed est of as over ten years of age He told h arithmetic, and that it would require some ability in a teacher to instruct hiht I could do it; but ned one-half of a scholar During our conversation he told me that he was a poet, that he had crossed the plains in '45 and had written an account of the trip in poetry He said he would like to repeat a portion of that poem; but before he did so he exacted froive him an honest opinion of the merits of his poe to his feet, and with sundry gestures, repeated his poem to me It was a hardthis recitation I only res lay on our way-- It ood beer, I do say”

When he took his seat, I stated to him briefly some of the laws of poetic composition, and then showed him how his lines failed to co his feelings, that genius knows no law, and was not to be judged by ordinary mortals He seemed a little nettled, and replied that he had repeated his poees of poetry, and that they had pronounced it a fine perforiven before he signed one-half a scholar, it would probably have been one-tenth, or a still smaller proportion of a scholar His boys all attended school, however, and he personally urged me to teach another quarter On the last day of school, many of the parents came in and paid me for my services, three hundred dollars, and hired ht in all about three years in that neighborhood

My teaching career was in every way pleasant, and I have every reason to feel proud of the positions of honor and trust attained by at least three of h er, late of the United States District Court of Oregon, was a pupil of mine for about a year He was the son of poor parents, and by sheer force of intellect and study pushed his way to the front, and to the honorable position which he attained, and which he held at the time of his death

John B Waldo, recently demised, was also a pupil of mine for about two years He was a sober, clear-headed, studious and somewhat taciturn boy, quick to perceive and proe of the Supreon for one term His decisions are models of clearness, and directness In addition to his store of legal learning, he probably knew on than any other man He was not a man of robust constitution, and his health was precarious His death, in the prime of manhood, was deeply on Dunbar, was also a pupil of mine He was a frank, open-hearted boy, of deterreat lariter Bishop calls a legal al truths--and superior powers of classification and generalization He is eminently a fit man for the position he holds on the Supreuished member of that Bench--and late may be his return to Heaven!

With such a triual attainments, and judicial honor, a teacher may well feel proud While it is the duty of the teacher to aid and assist his pupils and to iht, yet this is not his whole, or principal her and nobler mission is to arouse into action all the latent forces and qualities of his pupil's nature and to inspire him with a noble ambition to conquer in the arduous conflicts of life If he succeeds in the accomplishment of this, he has fully performed his mission

After I ceased to teach public school in Marion County, I became the private tutor of the children of R, as at the titon I also becah not a learned ious nostic, and he read more of Shakespeare than he did of the Bible He was a rity, and a capable and faithful administrative officer He was much interested in Indian civilization, and talked much of it He was of the opinion that the syste in principle, and not fruitful in good results

He maintained that the first move in this work of civilization was to improve the physical condition of the Indian, and that the moral improve full of the subject, he concluded to call a council of the chiefs and the principal head men of the various tribes under his jurisdiction, and to impart to them his ideas in this behalf The tieneral council hall in the city of Sale their attendance R, while he had a good residence in town, usually spent most of his time upon his fine faro with his When we arrived at the council chamber we found from fifty to seventy-five Indians seated on the floor with their backs to the wall After a general salutation, R

took a seat on the rostrum and requested an Indian whom he knew to act as interpreter As the interpreter could not speak in the language of the various tribes represented, the jargon was adopted as thethat R briefly stated to them the object of the council, and then asked the question, ”Did they desire fine houses, fine horses and cattle, and plenty to eat and wear”: R was a very emphatic man and spoke in short and positive sentences

The Indian is a stoic, and if any eitates him it is not betrayed in his countenance I was much interested in the interpreter

He seemed to be full of his estures of R Having asked the question, R his that he had mentioned, and which they desired, were obtained by ”work” He reminded them that many of them had visited his fine house in the city, and had seen his fine furniture and other things, and he asked: ”How did I get these things?” He again answered, ”By work” Having concluded his short, emphatic and impulsive speech, silence prevailed for a short tireat deliberation adjusted his blanket about hi accoood talk of our father; ill consider it; we cannot answer now” He suggested that one week froood father at that place and tell him their conclusions

We afterwards learned that they appointed ould call a coations, when they found a hly clad, followed him to his house, found that it was a very hus; then they followed up the ood clothes, to his home, and they found a fine house filled with fine furniture; they also applied the same test to the saloon keeper Neither theto their vieorked at all On our way hoest to R that most of the wealth of this world was in the hands of anized, or directed labor or work, and but a small pittance in the possession of those who actually performent that the Indian had no conception of this work of directing and organizing labor, and that he would not consider it as work at all At the appointed time for the answer, the spokesman for the Indians narrated what I have briefly stated above, and announced very plainly and flatly as their conclusion, that what the good father had said was not true R was eneral movement upward in the line of Indian civilization I aed on the doust The subject of Indian civilization fell, henceforward, into innocuous desuetude

Looking at the surfacethe ability to look deeper into that complex machine called society, we cannot be astonished at the conclusion reached by the Indian coton Territory in Congress, and by request of several members of the Committee on Indian Affairs hom I was acquainted, and while the bill reported by theeneral debate was in order, I made a speech on Indian civilization I shall not reproduce that speech here, nor give an extended synopsis of it I commenced with the declaration that the philosophy of an Indian's life was to put forth an act and to reap immediately, the result of that act; that he threw a baited hook into the water, and expected to obtain fish; that he sent an arrow or a bullet on its fatal ame; that he did not plant nor sow, because the ti and enjoyment of the result of his work, was too distant; that it requires the highest degree of civilization to do an act, or to make an investment, the profits of which are not to be realized until the lapse of considerable time: that this primary law inherent in an Indian's philosophy of life is fundaard it My next cardinal proposition was that Indian tribes, if civilized at all,the lines of their past history, habits and modes of life; that soes, on the products of ocean, lake and river: that these are sometimes called fish Indians: that to riculture, or the successful operation of the farm, is a wasteful expenditure of public money; they are naturally sailors, and have carried the art of canoe er canoes are th; that in theo out on the ocean a distance of 40 or 50 miles to obtain halibut, codfish and fur seals Let the Government, I said, if it desires to civilize these Indians, build the-vessel of a hundred tons or more capacity, and they will ale it; it would act as a consort for their larger canoes and as a storehouse for the profits of the sea taken or captured by them; that with such a boat, the Neah Bay Indians, for instance, would soon beco, and influenced to soe number of copies of this speech were sent by me to the people of the Territory, and to all our Territorial papers; but none of these, so far as I know, noticed it further than to say that I hadits points, were published in many of the Eastern papers, while two published it in full There was soenerally they were approved So far as the Neah Bay Indians were concerned, the Govern-vessel of smaller dimensions, however, and many of the Neah Bay Indians have like vessels of their own, and have beco and prosperous The same policy in a modified form, but in fact the developent of the Yakiiven up their nomadic mode of life; they have sardens, chickens and a large accumulation of domestic ani the line to a higher civilization

Civilization is a slow process It takes all the forces, ious, now in successful operation, to hold the world fro back and to her plane of civilization While it is a tedious and arduous, if not an impossible task, to make a white man, in his habits and modes of life, out of an Indian, yet the descent of the white man to the modes, habits of life and appearance of an Indian, is a sadly speedy process

In a trip I ton, in 1856 there came into our camp one day a person whom I supposed at first to be an Indian He was dressed in buckskin, ornaes and beads, with a blanket over his shoulders; his hair was long and unkept, with no hat on his head and his face bronzed like that of an Indian; and he was besmeared across the forehead with red ochre, or soe that he was 36 years of age At first he refused to talk, except in jargon; but after a while, ere alone, he beca of his history He spoke good English He claies, and I have no doubt his claiotten into so as an Indian for soht years, or more To all appearances he was an Indian; he looked like an Indian and acted like one I was in his coood English; he said he loved this wild and nomadic life, with its perfect freedom from the shams and hypocrisy of so-called civilization He said that the hills, the mountains with their snoned culminations, the dark woods, the silver thread of the streareen as it went leaping and rollicking to its ocean home, were to him an unwritten poem, the ryth to interpret He quoted tothe pleasures of the pathless woods, and froon, And hears no sound, save his own dashi+ngs”

On the evening of the third day he rode away in the continuous woods to enjoy, I suppose, their poetry and solitude This case illustrates the facility of the descent, by even an educated white , however, in his soul, still glowing, so at R's I wrote a series of eight articles for The Oregonian, showing the necessity of old taken out of the gold reat abundance by its citizens froonian, by onian was the leading opposition paper in the Territory, with Silver-Gray Whig tendencies The leading Democratic paper was The Statesman, published at Saleent, and effective editorial writer ”Toonian was familiarly called, was an editorial writer of considerable ability Drier usually added some introductory matter to my articles, and also some matter of amplification, or illustration It was to me a matter of interest, and amusement, to note that the editor of The Statesman was always able to point out to its readers the onian's ”hired man,” and as added by the editor Bush did not knorote these articles, nor did anybody else know except hly of these articles and enforced, in editorials of his own, the logic and necessity of the policy recommended by them These articles had much to do with the establishon These ton is woefully lacking, so far asis concerned, I am tempted to recall, with a Seattle application, one of the ic of those articles Seattle has a population of 250,000, ill say It costs at least 700 each for the feet clothing of such people for one year This would give the sum of 1,750,000 for boots and shoes alone When we co, for belting and the other purposes for which leather is used, we have over 2,000,000 taken annually from the people of this city for leather, and its fabrics The absurdity of this thing appears e consider that we have a great abundance of hides, which are sold for a , and are received back in ; in fact, the raw iving serious consideration to the subject will soon be convinced of its great iht we shi+p the logs cut in our forests to foreign countries, or the Eastern States, to be manufactured into furniture, or finished lumber, as to shi+p other raw materials away and receive their finished products back, paying for the froht both ways No country can stand such a drainage, and prosper

It was in the summer of 1855, if I remember correctly, that I was nominated by an opposition convention to run as a candidate for the Lower House of the Territorial Legislature in Oregon I did not attend the convention at which I was noate thereto