The Log School-House on the Columbia | Page 6

be helped. If a
body has the misfortune to be kiting off to the clouds, going up like an
eagle and coming down like a goose, it can't be helped. There are a
great many things that can't be helped in this world, and all we can do
is to make the best of them. Some people were born to live in the skies,
and it makes it hard for those who have to try to live with them. Job
suffered some things, but--I won't scold out here--I have my trials; but
it may be they are all for the best, as the Scripture says."
These forbearing remarks were not wholly meant for Gretchen's
reproval. Mrs. Woods liked to have the world know that she had her
trials, and she was pleased to find so many ears on this bright morning
open to her experiences.
She liked to say to Gretchen things that were meant for other ears; there
was novelty in the indirection. She also was accustomed to quote freely
from the Scriptures and from the Methodist hymnbook, which was
almost her only accomplishment. She had led a simple, hard-working
life in her girlhood; had become a follower of Jason Lee during one of
the old-time revivals of religion; had heard of the Methodist emigration
to Oregon, and wished to follow it. She hardly knew why. Though
rough in speech and somewhat peculiar, she was a kind-hearted and an
honest woman, and very industrious and resolute. Mr. Lee saw in her
the spirit of a pioneer, and advised her to join his colony. She married
Mr. Woods, went to the Dalles of the Columbia, and afterward to her
present home upon a donation claim.
CHAPTER II.
THE CHIEF OF THE CASCADES.
Marlowe Mann was a graduate of Harvard in the classic period of the

college. He had many scholarly gifts, and as many noble qualities of
soul as mental endowments. He was used to the oratory of Henry Ware
and young Edward Everett, and had known Charles Sumner and
Wendell Phillips at college, when the Greek mind and models led the
young student in his fine development, and made him a Pericles in his
dreams.
But the young student of this heroic training, no matter how well
conditioned his family, usually turned from his graduation to some
especial mission in life. "I must put myself into a cause," said young
Wendell Phillips. Charles Sumner espoused the struggle of the negro
for freedom, and said: "To this cause do I offer all I have." Marlowe
Mann was a member of the historic Old South Church, like Phillips in
his early years. There was an enthusiasm for missions in the churches
of Boston then, and he began to dream of Oregon and the mysterious
empire of the great Northwest, as pictured by the old schoolmaster,
Kelley; just at this time came Dr. Whitman to the East, half frozen from
his long ride, and asked to lead an emigration to Walla Walla, to save
the Northern empire to the territory of the States. He heard the doctor's
thrilling story of how he had unfurled the flag over the open Bible on
the crags that looked down on the valleys of the Oregon, and his
resolution was made. He did not follow Dr. Whitman on the first
expedition of colonists, but joined him a year or two afterward. He built
him a log-cabin on the Columbia, and gave his whole soul to teaching,
missionary work among the Indians, and to bringing emigrants from
the East.
The country thrilled him--its magnificent scenery, the grandeur of the
Columbia, the vastness of the territory, and the fertility of the soil. Here
were mountains grander than Olympus, and harbors and water-courses
as wonderful as the Ægean. He was almost afraid to map the truth in
his extensive correspondence with the East, lest it should seem so
incredible as to defeat his purpose.
[Illustration: _The North Puyallup Glacier, Mount Tacoma._]
When the log school-house was building, Mr. Mann had gone to the old
Chief of the Cascades and had invited him to send his Indian boy to the

school. He had shown him what an advantage it would be to the young
chief to understand more thoroughly Chinook and English. He was
wise and politic in the matter as well as large-hearted, for he felt that
the school might need the friendliness of the old chief, and in no way
could it be better secured.
"The world treats you as you treat the world," he said; "and what you
are to the world, the world is to you. Tell me only what kind of a
neighborhood you come from, and I will tell you what kind of a
neighborhood you are going to; we all see the world in ourselves.