"^xui^X^^^^^ c.£.£<:^. ?/sr LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. ©Ijap Oniajrirj^t "^a. Shelf X.l..._ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. L FATHER EELLS OR THE RESULTS OF FIFTY-FIVE YEARS OF MISSIONARY LABORS IN WASHINGTON AND OREGON A BIOGRAPHY OF REV. GUSHING EELLS, D.D. BY MYRON EELLS I) With an Introduction by Rev. L. H. Hallock^ D.D. 477f^ --7 / BOSTON AND CHICAGO CongrEsational ^unliags. School anti Publisfjing Sonctg Copyright, 1894, By Congregational Sunday'-School and Tublishing Society, 9L tribute of affection TO GUSHING EELLS AND MYRA F. EELLS PREFACE. The writer was once at a church meetiug where some things were said, and perhaps justly, against a minister who had preached for the church. His son, who was present, defended his father. There were those at the meeting who by no means agreed with the father but who honored the son for what he said. We, the sons of Gushing and Myra Eells, would at least honor our parents. True, they were not what many call great. "Neither were they perfect. None knew this better than themselves. We believe, however, that they have done a great, good work for Oregon and AVashiugton, and we desire to record this and perpetuate the memory of what they have done. From what was said at the funeral services of Dr. Eells, from the number of memorial services held since his death in large cities in eastern and western Washington, from the contents of letters of condolence received from distinguished Christian men and women from Massachusetts to Washington, from the number and character of those who have expressed a wish that this biography be written, we believe that there are others who have thought very highly of them for their work's sake. Favors in preparing this work have been received from many friends, more especially from L. H. Hallock, d.d.. Rev. J. Edwards, Wallace Nutting, D.D., and Rev. F. P. Noble, of Chicago, the last of whom has rendered great assistance by his criticisms of the whole work. M. E. Union City, Washington, January, 1894. INTRODUCTION The romance of the Oregon Territory, which includes the great States of Washington and Idaho, is unsurpassed in fiction and has the higher charm of absolute truth. Encamped on the eastern border, the early New England colo- nists little dreamed of the vastness of this Western empire or the magnitude of its economic future. By purchase they obtained the vague domain of Louisiana, and afterward became conscious of the existence of an indefinite tract of country stretching ofi" into the far-distant and almost inaccessible Northwest. From Indians and from Pacific navigators came hints and from the Hudson's Bay Company reliable tidings of a fur-producing wilder- ness away toward the sunset, Where rolls the Oregou, and hears no sound save its own dashing. It was not the conquest of territory that first stirred the interest of Americans in this direction; the earliest movement was for evangelization of the native population. It was really a foreign country, and the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions made the first advances. When they sent out such men as Whitman and Eells they sought for souls, not soil. Little thought those bold, indomitable missionaries, who journeyed weary weeks from St. Louis toward the blue waters of 5 6 INTRODUCTION, Puget Sound, that they would live to see there three great states, the pride of the Union, rich in wheat waving on a million fertile fields, bearing a priceless beard of lofty fir and cedar forests, having choice orchards on the banks of rivers which run salmon enough for a nation, and shipping its products to the Atlantic sea- board over four transcontinental railroad lines, and to the far Orient by oceanic steamships from Tacoma to China and the New Japan. But Dr. Cushing Eells, after his rigorous bridal tour of three thousand miles, after a patient service of fifty-five fruitful years, resulting in the evangelization of Indian tribes, the founding of two colleges and many churches, and the ripe accumulations of fourscore years, did see all that; and if his unbounded modesty had not forbidden could have honestly said, concerning the reli- gious and moral transformations at least, '•'' Magna pars fui.''^ The story of Dr. Eells which is now given to the public by one well worthy to be his faithful and loving chronicler is not the history of a man but of a movement, and a movement of great significance to our whole American nation. The vast wealth borne on the surface and buried in the mold and mines of the North- west our children will estimate more accurately than we can ; but whatever its uncounted value shall prove to be, it basks beneath the glorious folds of the Stars and Stripes because such men as Eells and Whitman were here, statesmen as well as Christians, and because they traversed the wild mountains and taught the wild tribes with an intelligent and far-seeing patriotism, wisely coupled with Christian sweetness and light, married also to an indomitable will and undying determination. Such tales as those which follow can have no duplicate. If the men are born, the opportunity cannot recur. Unknown empires INTBODUGTION. 7 within our indeterminate borders exist no longer; the age is late, the titles have been disputed, the domain explored, the lines drawn. We shall send no more foreign missionaries to distant fields and waken to find the land still our own and the title won by a caravan of settlers led over the mountain passes by a conse- crated missionary of the cross, an appointee of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. It is best to read this well, for between the lines of personal biography runs the cipher tale of a new nation, still under the old flag, but destined to play a signal part in the future of American life and national power through its limitless resources. The Indians will pass away, but the Indians of the Northwest will wear in the heavenly fields the white robes, because Father Eells pointed them tenderly to the faithful shepherd, the Christ. The front rank of settlers, the pioneer missionaries, has even now van- ished— Dr. Eells was the last of them; but the institutions they founded, the churches they builded, the works they finished, abide. They molded the infant civilization, and the print of their faith will not be transient. Verily it was an honor to know Father Eells, and a rare privi- lege to sit and listen to his thrilling tales of early struggles and later conquest for his Master. The little penknife given him in Hosmer's store in Hartford, before he started for the frontier, he showed me the Friday before his death, his companion for fifty years ; and many a deft bit of surgery it performed in the hand of its skillful owner. It wasn't much like a case of modern sur- geon's tools, but that difference illustrates the fine contrast between this modest, old-fashioned servant of God and some of his luxurious suooessors. As simple in his faith and in his rigor- 8 INTB OD UCTION. ous economy of living and in his transparent worth as the true blade he carried unchanged for half a century, he was a benedic- tion to all who knew him. And with all that simplicity he had only charity for his brethren and fine appreciation of every mark of respect and deed of kindness that any brother might pay him. I saw his life go out like stars at the coming of the dawn. On Friday he mounted his famous horse, Le Blond, at my door and rode ofl". On Sunday he listened reverently as I preached. On "Wednesday in the early morning, with the old trait of doing promptly what was to be done, he left us for the last journey. The longed-for eighty years were completed, and our Father's House was richer by the entrance of faithful Father Eells. As you read, remember the rigors of his early years, the mellow- ness of his final harmonies, and the rare unselfishness of his whole eventful career. " Whose faith follow." With deep and tender respect I sign myself, in gratitude for the honor, his last pastor, L. H. HALLOCK. Tacoma, Washington, OctQber, 1896. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. BIRTH, ANCESTRY, AND EARLY LIFE. AGE Birth. — Major Samuel Eells. — Other ancestors. — Character- istics of the family. —Justice to the Indians. — Ministry.— Patriotism. — Education. — Lonj? life. — Blandf ord. — Incident. — Conversion. —Education at Blandford. — East Granville. — Dr. Coe. — Monson Academy. — Williams College. — East Windsor. — The Zulus. — Ordination. — Marriage. — Mrs. Eells 15 CHAPTER II. CROSSING THE CONTINENT. 1838. Change of life work. — Early Oregon missions. — Bridal tour. — To New York.- Julia Brace. — Instructions. — Sab- bath incident. — To Cincinnati. — Pack saddles. — Slavery. — Missouri. —Packing. — First day. — American Fur Company. — Mode of travel. — Nicking a horse. — Buffalo meat. — Fort Laramie. — North Fork of Platte. — Rain. —Mrs. Walker. — Crossing Sweetwater. — American rendezvous. —Fourth of July. —Fort Hall. — Bois6. —Arrival at Dr. Whitman's . . 33 10 CONTENTS, CHAPTER III. OREGON IN 1838. PAGE Government. — Population. — Hudson's Bay Company. — Set- tlements.— Passports. —United States in 1838. — Large cities. — "Wagons. — Houses. — Furniture. — Hotels. — Sacks. — Clothes. — Beef. — Matches. — Post offices. — Mail. — Stores. — Money. — Mrs. Eells' impressions. — Indians. — Their number. 63 CHAPTER IV. THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 1838-48. Arrangements. — Messrs. Smith, Rogers, Gray, Spalding, Walker, Whitman. — To Colville. — Selecting station. — At Dr. Whitman's, 1838-39. — To Tshimukain. — Gardens. —Frost. — The Spokane language. — School. — Packing. — Religious instruction. — General work. — 1840. — Habits of Indians. — Religious instruction. — School. — Indian * character. — Pros- pects. — Fire. — Progress. — School. — Music. — Travels. — School. — Dr. Whitman's journey east in 1842-43. — Whitman controversy. — 1844. — Progress. — Maternal association. — Severe winter of 1846-47. — Shoes. — Shawls. — Cheese. — Death of Mrs. Eells' father. — Prospect 82 CHAPTER V. THE MISSION BROKEN UP. Massacre of Dr. Whitman. — Providences which saved Mr. Eells. — Incident about Mr. Walker. — Fidelity of the Spo- kanes. — False rumors. — Cayuse war. —^ Removal to Fort Col- ville. — War whoop. — Councils. — In dangers oft. — Travels. — Good-by to Tshimakaiu. — To the Willamette. — Spokane CONTENTS. 11 PAGE Indians. — Dr. Dart. — "W. H. Bennett. — Yakima war. — Colonel Wright. — Big Star. — Major Lugeubeel. — Spokanes at "Walla Walla. — Chronological chart. — Revival of 1874. — Journey of 1874; of 1875; of 1876. — Results. — Colonies. — William Three Mountains. — Present condition 125 CHAPTER VI. IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 1848-60. The Willamette in 1848. — Government. — Population. — Towns. — Money. — Congregational ministers and churches. — Congregationalism then and now west of the Mississippi. — West of New England. — Teaching at Salem. — Hard times. — At Forest Grove. — Prices at Hillsborough. — Dismission from the Board. — Return to Forest Grove. — Building of the Con- gregational church. — Endowmentof a Professorship in Pacific University 158 CHAPTER VII. WHITMAN SEMINARY. 1860-82. Trip to Walla Walla in 1859. —Determination to found a school. — Summer of 1860 at the Whitman mission. — Walla Walla in I860. — Fourth of July. — First trustees' meeting, 1861. —Winter of 1861-62.— Final removal in 1862. — Congre- gational church at Walla Walla. — Horse stealing. — Vigilance committee. — Location and building of Whitman Seminary, — Dedication. — Teaching in Whitman Seminary. — School su- perintendent of Walla Walla County. — Paying the debt on the seminary. — Burned out. — Removal to Skokoraish. — Teachers in Whitman Seminary from 1869 to 1882 172 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER YIII. WHITMAN COLLEGE. 1882-93. PAGE Dr. A. J. Anderson. — Going east. — National Council.— Disappointment. — Feelings. — Extracts from letters and jour- nal. —Will.— Incidental pleasures. —Relatives. — Blandford. Return to Washington. —New college buildings. — Fiftieth anniversary.- Denominational relations of the college.— President Eaton 199 CHAPTER IX. HOME MISSIONARY WORK, 1872-81. Who is a home missionary?- Puget Sound in 1872. — Sko komish and vicinity. — To Col ville, 1874. — 1875. — Le Blond.— Seventieth birthday of Mrs. Eells. — At Colville in 1876.— Mrs. Eells to Forest Grove. — Magnetic drawing east of the Cascade Mountains. — Northeastern Washington in 1874.— Colfax. — Organization of church. — Letters to the church. — To Dr. D. S. Baker. — Fortieth anniversary of marriage. — Death of Mrs. Eells. — Building of the church at Colfax.— Prayers. — School superintendent. — Resignation as pastor . 219 CHAPTER X. HOME MISSIONARY WORK, CONTINUED. 1875-88. Out-stations. — Dayton. — Chewelah and Colville. — First and last work in Washington. — Cheney. — Charge and right hand of fellowship to Rev. F. T. Clark, Spokane. — Tribute CONTENTS. 13 PAGE of Dr. Atkinson. — Removal to Medical Lake. — To Cheney. — Sprague. — Medical Lake. — Return there. — Pleasant Prairie. —Denominational zeal. —Resignation. — Prayers .... 248 CHAPTER XI. LAST DAYS. 1888-93. Retired, yet preaching. — Fiftieth Anniversary. — Four- score. — Last trip to Skokomish. — Baptism of grandchildren and death of one. — Ministerial Alliance. — Eighty-one. — Death of his brother Charles. — La grippe. — Injury. — Thoughts of death. — Death of fellow workers.— Death.— Funeral. — Memorial Services. — Tributes 272 CHAPTER XII. CHARACTERISTICS. Pioneer. — Memory. — Precision. — Economy. — Prayer. — Benevolence. — Consistency. — Love for Christian education. — For the ministry. — For the missionary work. — Consecra- tion. — Trial and faith. — An answer to skeptics. — An ordi- nary man. — Changes. — In due time ye shall reap if ye faint not. — Conclusion 310 FATHER EELLS OR The Results of Fifty-five Years of Missionary Labors in Washington and Oregon. CHAPTER I. BIRTH, ANCESTRY, AND EARLY LIFE. GUSHING EELLS was born at Blandford, in western Massachusetts, February 16, 1810, and was the son of Joseph and Elizabeth (Warner) Eells. He was the third child and oldest son of a family of ten, all of whom lived to be of age. The first of the Eells family to come to America was John, who arrived in Massachusetts probably in 1630. He lived at Dorchester until 1640, when he returned to Barnstable, England. He never came back to Amer- ica. He took with him his infant son Samuel, who was born at Dorchester, Mass., June 23, 1639, and bap- tized by Rev. Richard Mather. Samuel remained in England until 1661. While there he was a major in Cromwell's army, among those "Ironsides" whose 15 16 FATHEB EELLS, motto was to "trust in God and keep their powder dry." When he was twenty-two years old he returned to this continent and became the progenitor of all of the name in America. He went to Connecticut and was one of the' first settlers of Milford. He was a man of wealth, a lawyer, and commanded a garrison in King Philip's War. He died April 21, 1709. The following is the direct line of descent from him to Gushing : the youngest son of Major Samuel was Rev. Nathaniel, born November 26, 1677, at Milford, who graduated at Harvard University in 1699 and settled at Scituate, Mass., in 1704, where he lived until his death, August 25, 1750. His second son was Rev. Nathaniel, who was born February 4, 1710, graduated at Harvard in 1728, and settled in Stonington, Conn., where he remained until his death in 1786, at the age of seventy-six years, fifty-three of which he spent in the ministry. ^ He married Mercy Cushing, a daughter of Hon. John Gushing, from whence came the name for the subject of this sketch. His third son was Deacon Nathaniel, who was born 1 He Is mentioned in the centennial papers of the General Confer- ence of Connecticut, gathered in 1876, and an election sermon of his, preached before the General Assembly of the Colony of Connecticut at Hartford, May 12, 1748, and printed by the printer to the Governor and Company, is in the possession of the writer. BIBTH, ANCESTBY, AND EABLY LIFE. 17 July 16, 1749. He lived at North Coventry, Conn., and died at Bolton, in the same state, December 20, 1799. His fifth child was Joseph, the father of Cashing, who was born at Coventry, May 12, 1781 ; married, first, Elizabeth Warner, of Windham, Conn., by whom he had nine children, and who died at Blandford, April 27, 1822 ; and second, Abigail Green, by whom he had one daughter. He died at Norwalk, Ohio, January 1, 1861. It is proper here to note a few items in regard to the family in general. Love of justice to the Indian was one strong trait in the character of Major Samuel Eells. The historian of King Philip's AVar says Cap- tain Eells immortalized his name by his opposition to the diabolical act of government (the Plymouth Col- ony) in selling Indian captives as slaves. "In- deed," says Rev. W. W. Eells, a distant relative of Cushing, "had not his plans been overruled by mere force, there would have been no such war." Brownell says in his Indian Races of America : ^ " Not far from this time (July, 1675), the town of Dartmouth, having been in a great measure destroyed by the enemy, a large number of Indians, not less than one liundred and sixty, who had dwelt in the country thereabout, and who were not active partakers in the 1 Page 242. 18 FATHEB EELL8, destruction of the town, delivered themselves up to one Captain Eells, upon promises of good treatment. They were nevertheless taken to Pkmouth, sold by the colonial authorities as slaves, and transported to foreign ports. Captains Church and Eells made upon this occasion the most vehement remonstrances, ex- pressed by Church with his characteristic energy and spirit ; but all to no purpose, as it only secured him the ill-will of the government. The act was grossly impolitic, as well as perfidious and cruel." With such an ancestor it has not been strange that the same idea of justice to the Indian remains in the family. An inclination toward the ministry has also been prominent in the family. Major Samuel Eells was not a minister, but he married the daughter of Robert Linthal, the first minister of Weymouth, Mass., who, although she died when her son Nathaniel was only twelve years old, seems to have left such an impress on him that he entered the ministry. So did his son. In speaking of Edward Eells, Jr., then recently licensed to preach, The Presbyterian Banner of Octo- ber 7, 1885, says : " He is the twentieth of the same name and family in the ministry of the gospel since 1703. All but one of these have been in Congrega- tional or Presbyterian churches, graduates of Harvard, Yale, Williams, Hamilton, Pacific University, or the BIBTH, ANCESTBY, AND EABLY LIFE, 19 University of Virginia, and all sound in the faith of the Westminster standards. Besides these, the multi- tude who as deacons and elders have served the Church is unnumbered. And not by any means less are the many daughters of the family, who, as the wives and mothers of clergymen of other names, have served or are serving the cause of Christ in stations no less responsible." Among the children of Rev. Edward Eells, a son of the first Rev. Nathaniel, of Scituate, were three clergymen. In 1836 James Henry Eells, who was the fifth educated clergyman in direct ancestral line, was drowned. Patriotism too has been noticeable. Rev. Samuel Eells (son of Edward just mentioned) was pastor at North Branford, Conn., during the Revolutionary War. He raised a volunteer company from his own congregation, of which he was chosen captain, but fortunately there was no occasion for his services. Captain Robert L. Eells, grandson of the first Rev. Nathaniel, is said, in the History of Hanover, to have been eminently patriotic and an able officer in the Revolutionary War. He was on the committee of correspondence and safety from 1775 to 1780. The same book names Samuel, Samuel, Jr., Robert, and William W., as soldiers in the same war, from the same town as Captain Robert L. Eells. 20 FATHER EELLS. Rev. Nathaniel Eells, of Slonington, Codd. (great- grandfather of Gushing Eells), preached a Thanks- giving sermon in 1777, immediately after the defeat of Burgoyne. He said: " God has blessed the arms of the country with victory and success beyond our most sanguine expectations. And what a damp must this prove to the European troops, when they hear that the Lord is with us to fight our battles, and to pull down our enemies ! And when the news does cross the Atlantic and pierce the ears of the king and ministry and parliament of Great Britain, how they will gnash their teeth and melt away, to hear that their boasted general and so great a part of their chosen troops are become a prey to the poor Americans ! " ^ The preacher was appointed chaplain of a regiment to be raised and stationed at New London, Conn. His son, Rev. John Eells, whose ministry also spanned the Revolution, was so patriotic that when the news of the battle of Lexington reached Glastonbury, Conn., during divine service, it was announced from the pulpit.^ Deacon E. S. Tanner and Dr. Cushing Eells were both in the Walla Walla valley more or less during the Civil War. A considerable number of its settlers » Centennial papers of the General Conference of Connecticut, 1876, p. 77. Ubid.p.50. BIRTH, ANCESTBY, AND E ABLY LIFE. 21 sympathized strongly with the South — so strongly that they elected a man as sheriff . who, when he learned that he was elected, publicly said that he would give five hundred dollars to know that Abra- ham Lincoln was killed, and another five hundred to know that Jefferson Davis was President of the United States. Hence it was not strange that much fault was found with those who favored the Union. Deacon Tanner once said that it made Dr. Eells feel quite badly when he could not at a Sabbath service pray for the President and country without being found fault with severely. One nephew of Dr. Eells lost his life in the Civil "War at the early age of sixteen, and the only nephew of Mrs. Eells able to bear arms was a lieutenant in the same war. In the item about ministers it was said that twenty ministers, all but one college bred, had come from the family. Higher education has been an objective among many of the family. Rev. Edward Eells was for some years a tutor in Yale College, and also for several years a trustee of the same institution. John Eells, a brother of Dr. Gushing Eells, was one of the founders and trustees of the Western Female Sem- inary, at Oxford, Ohio. Rev. James Eells, d.d., was also for some years before his death a professor in the Lane Theological Seminary, at Cincinnati, Ohio. 22 FATHEB BELLS. Long life is another characteristic of the family. Major Samuel Eells died at seventy, his son at seventy-three, and his son was seventy-six. Dr. Eells' grandfather lived to be fifty, his grandmother to be eighty-four. The seven children of this grand- father averaged sixty-nine years. The average age of the nine brothers and sisters of Dr. Eells was fifty-eight, their father having been over seventy-nine years and seven months. It is not strange that Rev. W. W. Eells, of Pitts- burg, Penn., wrote to the author thus in 1872: "I do not know what interest you may take in the gene- alogy of our family, but there is certainly no harm in knowing that we came of honorable and pious ances- try. Ours is eminently such. Wherever I have met any of the name (and I have met very many) they are almost invariably sound in the faith of the old- fashioned gospel. The God of our fathers has kept his covenant with the children." Gushing Eells spent his early years in his native place, Blandford, on a spur of the Green Mountains. To the writer, in 1870, on account of its rocky nature, it looked as if it would make those who lived there energetic or shiftless — energetic if they should con- quer the obstacles of nature enough to obtain a living from the soil, but shiftless if they should succumb to nature, as then they wguld receive no return. The BIRTH, ANCESTBY, AND EARLY LIFE. 23 writer bad evidence that it had acted in both ways, making the inhabitants in 1810 energetic, while having an opposite effect on the man who lived in the Eells homestead in 1870, as he was barefoot, and looked decidedly discouraged. Dorus Clarke, d.d., the early pastor of Gushing, tells the following story of him : — At one time there was considerable religious interest in the community, and Dr. Clarke visited the family to converse on the subject. Cushing, seeing him coming, and fearing that the pastor wished to talk with him, slipped out the back door as the pastor came in the front one, and ran away. And yet this runaway afterwards became a missionary. His own account of his conversion is as follows, dictated by himself a year before death : — *'In 1825, when past fifteen years of age, there was special religious interest in our place. I was working alone in a field when I believe the Spirit of God came upon me. My sins were set in order before me. I was alone, hoeing potatoes. I rested, leaned upon my hoe, and wept. I wept so freely that I was ashamed to ap- pear at home without apply mg water to my face. I went to a spring and washed my face. For several weeks I was under conviction of sin. One morning I awoke with increased conviction, and did not arise 24 FATHEB EELL^. until after breakfast. I walked to the barn. I said to myself : ' I have heard people speak of the burden of sin ; I now feel that burden.' I returned to my cham- ber ; an experience that I cannot well define was had. I realized that the burden was gone. I was fearful that I had grieved away the Spirit, and if I had done so I was apprehensive that my condition was sealed asainst me. I was in o;reater distress than before, and yet the burden had left me. I wanted to get back my feelings, and knowing that a certain young man was working in a field not far distant, I went to see him. My object in doing so was that I hoped he would say something that would bring back my former feelings. He, however, perceived the evi- dence of a change, and said so. I could not readily accept the correctness of his ideas. I returned home. My oldest sister was a professing Christian. She met me as I reached home. She asked me if I felt differ- ently ; I made no replv. I had heard others say that the Bible seemed different to them after they had experienced a change. I went to the Bible and opened it ; it looked as it had previously done. Not many days after I called on this young man again — King Hastings was his name. I said : ' Can it be that my heart has been changed when I have so many wicked thoughts?' His reply was, in substance: 'That is the very evidence that it has been changed. BIRTH, ANCESTBY, AND EABLY LIFE. 25 Heretofore your wicked thoughts did not trouble you ; they do now.' Rev. Dorus Clarke, my pastor, had said that when his heart was changed it was in the night, but it was the lightest day he ever saw. I then thought: 'If my heart shall be changed, I shall know it ; it will be as plain as passing from a dark room to a light one.' I will not dwell on that, only the Scrip- ture saith : 'The path of the just is as a shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' That was my experience — like the dim light of the early morning ; but it continued to grow brighter, and since 1825 to the present time that Scripture has been expressive of my experience." While the evidence to himself and friends was at that time satisfactory that he was a Christian, while his friends of like experience united with the church, while by word and deed he confessed Christ openly — yet, to use his own expression fifty-five years later, he ' ' foolishly and wickedly deferred becoming a mem- ber of the church till the spring of 1827." Simeon Shurtleff, the sou of a neighbor, about that time determined to get a college education. His father, Mr. Eells' father, and their minister consulted and thought that Cushing should do likewise. At first the idea was not acceptable, as he did not think him- self a bright enough scholar, but afterwards, a's he 26 FATHER EELLS, thought more, he determined to do as they thought best. The minister, Dr. Clarke, opened a select school, where four or five scholars went and studied grammar only during the winter of 1825-26. The next spring Gushing borrowed a Latin grammar, which he studied at home. A short time after arrange- ments were made for him to go to East Granville, a town seven miles distant. There he studied the greater part of the next summer under Dr. Timothy M. Cooley, the pastor, walking there on Monday mornings and returning on Saturday afternoons. Near that road lived Deacon Coe. His son David was then at work on his father's farm. As he saw Gushing walking to and from school he thought that he too might do something besides working on a farm. His thoughts took such a turn that he went through Williams Gollege and entered the ministry. For many years, as D. B. Goe, d.d., he was one of the secretaries of the American Home Missionary Society. About forty-five years afterwards, when he commissioned a son of Dr. Gushing Eells as a home missionary to the Pacific coast, he told him how those walks of the father had had quite an influence in lead- ing himself into his great life-work. Through the influence of Dr. Glarke, after a time it was thought best that young Eells should change his place of study, and he went to Monson Academy, BIBTH, ANCESTBY, AND EABLY LIFE. 27 where he prepared for college under Rev. Simeon Colton. The idea of receiving help from the Edu- cation Society was suggested. He walked from Mon- son to Amherst, where he met Dr. Heman Humphrey and President Edward Hitchcock. They recom- mended him to the society, and from that time he received twelve dollars a quarter during his academy course, with the exception of one quarter, when he taught school. After he entered college this aid was increased to seventy-five dollars a year. To obtain this he signed notes without interest ; but when he entered missionary work he was released from all these notes, that being the custom of the Education Society. He always felt grateful to the society, how- ever, and occasionally made donations to it. After he sold his farm, — the Whitman Mission, — in 1872, he gave the society one thousand dollars, thus fully repaying it. In 1830 he entered Williams College. He gradu- ated four years later in the same class with Hon. Alexander Hyde, E. H. Griffin, d.d., and Senator James Dixon of Connecticut. The distance between his home and college was forty-five miles. When he entered his father took him, his few books and small baggage, in a one- horse wagon. During the winter of 1831-32, with a one-horse cutter, his father accompanied him to Pitts- 28 FATHEB EELL8. field, twenty-five miles. At this place his father turned back, and he walked to his destination. The snow path and ice were trying to the strength of pedestrians. In one limb he suffered for several weeks. By the kindness of a friend he once rode two thirds of the distance. At his graduation a sister and brother went and took liim home in a one-horse wagon. The rest of his trips, two or three each year, he walked the entire distance, too poor to do otherwise. In 1829, caught in a snow- storm, he rode seven miles in a stage. In 1835 or 1836 he passed from Hartford to New Haven in a steamer, and in 1837 he rode in a car from Worcester to Boston and back. That was the extent of his use of public conveyances while acquiring his education. After leaving college he entered East Windsor Theo- logical Institute in Connecticut in 1834, three years later finishing his studies. This institution, now the Hartford Theological Seminary, had then recently been established in defense of what its founders believed to be the old Pauline doctrines of the Bible, and was under Dr. Bennet Tyler, the great defender of what was then called Tylerism as against Taylorism, the latter being defended by Dr. Nathaniel Taylor, of the New Haven Theological Seminary. For these doc- trines and this institution he ever retained the warmest affection. When in 1868 his son determined to enter BIBTH, ANCESTBY, AND EARLY LIFE. 29 the ministry, the father turned immediately to the same institution as by far the best. Dr. Eells was in its second graduating class. Early in his studies he thought of the heathen world. One night while walking in his father's orchard, he said to himself: "If I get an education and become a missionary, very likely I shall experi- ence trials greater than I have any conception of now." Through the consecration of Samuel J. Mills and a few likemiuded persons, about 1808, a Society of Inquiry on Missions had been formed at the college. It was called the Mills Society. It was composed of those who intended becoming home or foreign mission- aries if Providence permitted. Mr. Eells became a member. During his last year in college the question came to him: "Which — home or foreign mission- ary?" In the spring vacation of 1834 Rev. George Champion and his intended wife, who were under appointment to the Zulu Mission in Africa, were at Williamstown. He was invited to meet them. Then the sister of his very intimate friend and roommate. Rev. Elnathan Davis, of Holden, Mass., — the native place of Mrs. Eells, — was engaged to be married to Rev. Aldin Grout, who went to the same place. ^ 1 Among the very interesting items of Dr. Eells' trip to New England in 1883-4, was a meeting with that family in Springfield, Massachusetts, Mr. Grout, who was about eight years older than Dr. Eells, being then superannuated. 30 FATHEIt EELLS. These events called his attention to Africa, and in 1836 he offered himself to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions and was appointed to the Zulu Mission. His father could not acquiesce in this decision and never became fully reconciled to it. He left New England for Ohio two years before the son left Massachusetts. Gushing Eells was licensed to preach, December 14, 1836, and was ordained at Blandford, Mass., October 25, 1837, as a Congregational missionary to Africa. Judge R. P. Boise, in an address before the Pioneer Society of Oregon in 1876, in describing his arrival in Oregon in 1850, says: "Learning that Rev. Cush- ing Eells, who was from my native town in Massachu- setts, was living at Forest Grove, about twenty-five miles from St. Helens, and that I could reach him by leaving our craft and taking a new road across the mountains to the Tualatin plains, I bade adieu to my companions on the river voyage and started on foot for Forest Grove, where I arrived in two days without particular adventure. I found Mr. Eells living in -a comfortable log house near where now stands Pacific University. I knew him, though he did not know me, for I was a boy when he left our native place on his mission to the Indians in Oregon. I had seen him ordained for his holy office, and remember now as though it were yesterday of seeing Dr. Davis and BIRTH, ANCESTBY, AND EABLY LIFE. 31 other divines lay their hands upon his head, in the old church at Blandford, and consecrate him to God and the Church ; and of the singing on that occasion of that grand old missionary hymn : — " Go, messenger of peace and love, To people plunged in shades of night; Like angels sent from fields above, Be thine to shed celestial light." While Mr. Eells was pursuing his studies he taught school during one of his vacations in Holden, Mass. He there became acquainted with Miss Myra Fairbank. The acquaintance increased to friendship ; the friendship to affection ; the affection to marriage — to a happy married life of over forty years. She was the daughter of Deacon Joshua and Mrs. Sally H. Fairbank, of Holden, Mass., where she was born Maj' 26, 1805. Her father was deacon in the Congre- gational church from 1818 until his death, in 1838, at the age of fifty-eight. Myra was the oldest of eight children. It is said that both on her mother's and father's side she was a pure Yankee. She made a profession of religion when thirteen, uniting with the Congregational church at her native place, and at seventy said that she had never been sorry that she had begun to serve the Saviour when so young. She received her education at a ladies' seminary at Wethersfield, Conn. Before 32 FATHEB EELLS. her marriage when she was asked by Mr. Eells if she would be willing to become a missionary, she replied : *' I doubt whether you could have asked any one who would have been more willing." In a copy-book of hers, written at Wethersfield in 1835, are two selected poems on missionary work one of which begins : — I go, my friend, where heathen dwell; Then if on earth we meet no more, Accept this cordial, short farewell, Till we shall meet on Canaan's shore. The Holden book of records contains the following simple item : — *' March 5, 1838. Rev. Gushing Eells, of East Windsor, Conn., and Myra Fairbank were married by William P. Paine." CHAPTER II. CROSSING THE CONTINENT. 1838. A LTHOUGH Mr. Eelis and Miss Fairbank were -^^^ appointed as missionaries to Southeastern Africa, Providence had a different work for them. When Mr. Eells graduated from the seminary two powerful chiefs of the Zulus, Dingaan and Mosilikatzi, were at war with each other, and it was not thought advisable to send out a reinforcement then ; so his voyage was delayed. The next winter was spent in teaching school, an employment in which he had spent most of his vacations. The information gained by the Oregon Indians from the Hudson's Bay Company and other traders and trappers, early in the present century, led them to send four or five Nez Perces to St. Louis, in 1832, to secure religious teachers. Their call was made pub- lic, as that of " wise men of the west," early in 1833, and in 1834 Rev. Jason Lee, with his nephew Rev. Daniel Lee and two laymen, Cyrus Shepherd and P. L. Edwards, crossed the continent under the au- spices of the Missionary Society of the Methodist 34 FATHEB EELLS. Episcopal Church, and began work in the Willamette valley. About the beginning of the same year Rev. Samuel Parker, of Ithaca, offered himself to the American Board to go to Oregon to explore and report. So much time, however, was occupied in consultation and arrangements, that although he started he was too late to accompany the Fur Company's caravan that year, without whose protection it was useless to proceed. Therefore he returned home, and spent the next winter in interesting the churches of Central and Western New York in the work. He then found Dr. Marcus Whitman and Miss Narcissa Prentiss. Both offered themselves for the work. The next spring, with Dr. Whitman, he started across the con- tinent to explore Oregon. When they reached the American Rendezvous, on Green River, a branch of the Colorado, where traders, trappers, travelers, and Indians assembled for their annual exchange of furs and articles of civilized manufacture, so much was learned from the Nez Perces and other Oregon Indians especially, that it seemed plain to Mr. Parker and Dr. Whitman that there was a clear call for mis- sionary work, and that it was much better to give up the plan of both proceeding to Oregon and then returning for assistance. A year would be saved if Dr. Whitman should return from that place and OBOSSmG THE CONTINENT. 35 secure help, while Mr. Parker could go on aud make exploratioDS. This plan was accordingly adopted. Mr. Parker did the proposed work aud returned home by the Sandwich Islands and Cape Horn. Dr. Whit- man returned, married Miss Prentiss, and secured Rev. H. H. Spalding and wife and Mr. W. H. Gray as helpers. They crossed the continent in 1836, the two ladies being the first white women who ever had done so. Dr. Whitman settled at Waiilatpu, in the Walla Walla valley, now known as the Whitman mis- sion. Mr. Spalding chose Lapwai among the Nez Perces as his home, while Mr. Gray assisted in both places. That winter the call for more laborers proved so urgent that Mr. Gray returned east in 1837 for the needed assistance. When he presented the case before the Missionary Board, they asked Mr. Eells if he were willing to change his destination. He aud his betrothed consented and their whole future was changed. The issue proved the wisdom of tlie change, for God makes no mistakes. Rev. Elkanah Walker, of North Yarmouth, Maine, with Miss Mary Richardson, to whom he was engaged, had also been appointed to Africa, but they, too, con- sented to engage in the Oregon work. Rev. A. B. Smith, of Connecticut, and his wife were also secured. Mr. Gray made Miss Mary A. Dix, of Champlain, N. Y., his wife. They were joined at Cincinnati 36 FATHER EELL8. by Mr. Cornelius Rogers, a young man who went as an independent missionary, but after bis arrival in Oregon was appointed an assistant missionary. Thus the missionary band for that year was complete. On March 6, the day after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Eells began their bridal tour, which was not com- pleted for more than a year, until the last of April, 1839. Then they were ready to receive callers in their own home or log huts or pens. The account of this journey is obtained from the journal of Mrs. Eells and from Dr. Eells' recollec- tions more than fifty years afterwards. Mrs. Eells' first item is in reference to parting at home : — "March 5, 1838. My Affectionate Parents: How- ever uninteresting such a memorandum may be to others, it may sometime give you satisfaction to read a few hasty sketches from an absent and far distant daughter; to you, therefore, they are most cheerfully devoted. March G. " Left home and all who are near and dear by nature and affection with the expectation of never seeing them again in this world." [She never did.] From the 6th until the 17th the time was spent in visiting aud traveling to New York city. From Holden to Worcester they were taken in the snow on runners, and from Worcester to East Windsor CBOiSSmG THE CONTINENT. 37 in the mud — a very different method from that in use fort3'-five years later when Dr. Eells made the same trip easily in the cars. At Hartford they met Julia Brace, who was deaf, dumb, and blind, and yet they saw her place a needle on her tongue and the thread in her mouth, and in a few seconds the needle was threaded. She would also distinguish by feeling between two different silk handkerchiefs from the same web, so near alike that other persons could not do tlie same when seeing them. At New York they met, for the first time. Rev. E. Walker and wife, who had been married on the same day as themselves, and who were to be their compan- ions and associates for ten years, as well as trusted friends through life. On the Sabbath, the 18th, the two couples received their instructions as missionaries from Secretary Greene, of the Board, at the Brick Presbyterian Church of which Gardiner Spring, d.d., was pastor. The instructions were followed by remarks from Dr. Spring. The concluding prayer was made by Secretary Armstrong. The next day, having been delayed. Rev. A. B. Smith and wife who were also to be their associates, arrived. On the afternoon of the 20th they left the East, *' after receiving the advice and counsel of many friends in New York." Mrs. Eells wrote : '^ Mr. 38 FATHEE EELLS, Armstrong commended us to God as our only Preserver and Protector, praying that our lives and health might be spared and that we might be abundantly blessed among the heathen and finally receive the welcome plaudit of our divine Master, ' Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.' Mr. W. W. Chester, Mr. S. V. S. Wilder, Mr. Armstrong and others accompanied us to the boat, where we had a solemn parting." Steamers and cars took them rapidly to Chambers- burg in Pennsylvania, where they found a stage to Pittsburg. This part of the journey, which occupied more than three days and nights, was trying. The driver had promised to take them to Pittsburg before the Sabbath, but Saturday night found them still thirty miles from the place. The question arose. Should Ihey stop or go on? The regular stage was full and went on. The missionary party and one other gentleman with his wife occupied an extra stage. Its driver was willing to abide- by the will of the majority. If they should stay, it would cost five dollars a couple ; if they should reach Pittsburg, friends would care for them gratis. It was decided to stop. This very much offended the gentleman and wife, although they said they were Christians and were going West to do good. To appease him the CBOSSmG THE CONTINENT. 39 missionaries paid his hotel bill. On Montlay they overtook the regular stage, which had broken down, and they reached Pittsburg first. At Cincinnati the question of traveling on the Sabbath, while crossing the continent, came seriously before them. The advice of Dr. Lyman Beecher was asked. He said substantially that if he were in a ship on the ocean when Saturday night should come, he should not jump into the sea. Though they were obliged to travel with the Fur Company on the Sabbath until they reached the Rocky Mountains, it caused Mrs. Eells many sorrowful thoughts. She could not see how it was right to break one of God's commandments in order to fulfill another. At the same place Mr. Eells saw an article which he had never seen before and of the use of which he had no idea. He stopped and looked at it but asked no questions. At Independence a pile of these articles for the missionary party greeted him. It consisted of pack-saddles, to which he became as much accustomed during the next twelve years as he had been to the Greek language. In Missouri they saw more of slavery than ever before. Mrs. Eells wrote : — " Our chambermaid is a slave. She is owned by the captain of the boat. She can neither read nor 40 FATHEB EELLS. write. She says that her master treats her kindly. We saw nothing to the contrary. See many poor slaves along the banks of the river, who to human appearances are degraded beyond description." The next da}^ she again wrote : — "To-day I have had my feelings moved almost to indignation on account of the wretchedness of slavery. I believe that it is a curse to the owner as well as to the slave. Our hearts are made to bleed for the misery of the poor slave. Oh, when will slavery come to an end ! " Between St. Louis and Independence they had an opportunity to see log houses with chimneys on the outside, which then seemed very strange, but to which in after years they became even more accus- tomed than they did to pack-saddles, for they lived in such for years. At Independence they met Mr. Gray and his wife. The band now consisted of five men and four women. Here they began their horseback riding, and at Westport, twelve miles farther west, they found the American Fur Company, their escort to the Rocky Mountains. Mrs. Eells' first introduction to this mode of travel was after dai'k on a horse which a woman had never before ridden. Packing now began. It was not easy to put the pack-saddles on Spanish mules, which were not very CEOS SING THE CONTINENT, 41 tame. Then followed putting on the loads. There were eight trunks, bedding, tents, tent poles, food, medicines, and all the paraphernalia of four young families about to start on a land journey of nineteen hundred miles to an unknown home. Says Mr. Eells : — " At the commencement the laboring oar was emphatically with Mr. Gray. Three novices with willing hearts offered ready hands, but their awkward doings were not invariably and entirely helpful. Slowly the loads of the pack animals, the one small wagon, and riding animals were placed in position. There was a forward movement in the direction of Westport. The caravan had not gone far before there was a derangement of packs. The unwelcome disclosure was made that the horse attached to the wagon was unreliable. This load must be improved, that modified. Tlie call was for Mr. Gray here, Mr. Gray there, Mr. Gray everywhere. ''In an attempt to ascend a hill the wagon-horse refused to pull. With all my might 1 lifted at the rear end of the wagon. This was oft repeated. The disobedient animal was stubborn, and the vehicle was thereby demoralized. My strength was exhausted. The next day another horse and wagon were procured at Westport." Mr. Walker gave out at an early date. As he lay 42 FATHEB EELL8, on the ground he said to Mr. Eells : " You must have more help or 3'ou won't have me." Accordingly a large, strong man, named Stevens, was emplo^^ed as packer. He served until the party reached Walla Walla. They also hired another man as hunter, whose name was Richardson. As Mrs. Eells realized more and more that she was getting far away from home, new thoughts would come into her mind. She recorded the following : — "I can hardly suppress my feelings when I think of the many precious seasons spent at my own happy home. I now realize some of the privileges I once enjoyed ; but I am happy in the choice I have made in relation to spending the remainder of my days among the heathen. I love to feel that I am making a little sacrifice, if such it may be called, for the cause of Christ. If I am the means of brinsjing but one soul into the kingdom of Christ, I shall be abun- dantly paid for all my privations. . . . " Westport, Sabbath, April 22. How unlike the Sabbaths at home ! Hold a short season of prayer ; go to church. A Methodist missionary among the Kansas Indians preached in the morning. Feel it a privilege to find a few Christian brethren and an unfinished log church here in this part of the country. Mr. Eells preached in the afternoon. The truth is the same here as in a civilized land. This is probably CBOSSING THE CONTINENT, . 43 tlie last Sabbath this side of the mountains where we can have public worship. Am I prepared to live without the ordinances of the gospel?" As the Fur Company started from that place on that day, the missionary party preferred to remain and start the next day, Monday. They did not overtake the company until the next Saturday night. Dr. Chute, a missionary residing there, accompa- nied them until May 2. He was a good man, and apparently went out of sincere friendship. He was of essential service during that first part of the journey. When he left them they bought his horse to take the place in part of some which were stolen during the first week by the Indians. When asked how he would get home to Westport, he said : " I can dig out a canoe." Extracts from Mrs. Eells' diary are as follows : — " 26th. I am too tired to help get or eat supper. " 27th. Last night we were disturbed by the prowliug wolves, and we imagined Indians. To-day we have sufficient proof of it. Three of our best horses are not to be found." They hunted for them a good share of the day but could not find them. They afterwards heard from them, with some ludians on them. On the 28th they overtook the company at the Kan- sas River. Says Mrs. Eells : — • 44 FATHEB EELLS. " Almost as soon as our tents were pitched Captain Drips and Stevens called on us and had a social talk. The former had command of the caravan, and the latter was an English gentleman traveling for pleasure. We gave them some biscuit and cheese. They appeared pleasant, though they said we had better travel b}" ourselves, either before or behind camp, as they should keep their animals guarded nights, and it might not be convenient for our men to stand guard. Mr. Gray told them that his men expected to stand guard. They seemed to think each company had better take care of their own horses. This gives us to understand that they do not want us to travel with them. However, Mr. Gray did not mean to take the hint, as he knew it would not be safe for us to travel alone ; and he insisted on a due proportion of the guarding being assigned to us. ' ' Indians are on every side of us. They come around our tent to watch us like great dogs. Our dog grabbed one who was nearly naked. Mr. Eells called him off, whipped him, and then tied him. " Will God give me grace, wisdom, knowledge, and strength equal to my day ; make me useful in life, happy in death and in eternity ? Mr. Eells is so tired that he says a bed of stones would feel soft." The American Fur Company had its headquarters at St. Louis and sent a caravan to the Rockv Mountains CBOSSmG THE CONTINENT. 45 every year to gather the furs obtained by their trappers and to buy others from free trappers and Indians. This was as far as they were allowed to go, the Hudson's Bay Company having complete control of the fur trade west of those mountains. To pay for these furs, the company carried out goods which consisted principally of blankets, garments, whiskey, and tobacco. This year they had about two hundred horses and mules and seventeen carts, each drawn by two mules tandem, except the cart of Captain Drips, the commander, which was drawn by three mules. Captain Stewart had a six-mule wagon. The mission- aries had twenty-two horses and mules, and for a time one wagon. This was taken so that for the first part of the way the ladies might ride in it at times, and rest from horseback riding until thoroughly accus- tomed to it. In the whole procession were about sixty men. The wagons were all covered with dark oilcloth. During the night five men were on guard and five were on guard during the day. To make it easy, the night guard changed three times in the night, which gave about two hours and a half to each man, and each man was on guard every fourth night and one day in every twelve. At night the wagons were arranged in a circle into which all the horses and mules were brought and picketed. At half-past three they were 46 FATHEB EELLS. let loose to feed outside the circle until six, when they were harnessed and packed for traveling. This took half or three quarters of an hour. Every man had to know and do his own work. Mr. Walker had one horse for himself and one for his wife to ride, and one to pack. Mr. Rogers had three, one to ride and two to pack. Mr. Gray had three, two for riding and one for the wagon of which he had charge. Mr. Stevens, the packer, had four, one for riding and three for packing, and Mr. Eells four, two for riding and two for packing. These they were to catch, morning, noon, and night. Before starting every man put on his belt, powder flask, knife, and the like, and took his gun on his horse before him. This done, they rode from three to six hours. Once they rode nine hours without stopping. The wagons moved first, then the pack animals and cattle, the missionaries taking twelve of the latter. The ladies rode sometimes behind all and sometimes between the wagons and pack animals. Messrs. Walker and Smith drove the cattle ; Messrs. Stevens, Rogers, and Eells the mules, and Mr. Gray the wagon. Mrs. Eells wrote : — u y^Q generally stop about two hours at noon, turn out the animals, get our dinners and eat ; then Ave wash the dishes again, the men catch the animals and pack them. We mount our horses and are riding over rolling prairies, over high bluffs, through deep ravines CBOSSING THE CONTINENT. 47 and rivers, but through no woods. At night, when our animals are unpacked, the gentlemen pitch our tents. We spread our buffalo skins first, and then a piece of oilcloth for our floor. Then we neatly arrange our saddles and other loose baggage around the inside of our house. For our chairs we fold our blankets and lay them around, leaving a circle in the center upon which we spread a tablecloth when we eat. In the morning we get up at half-past three, turn the animals out to eat ; then we get our breakfast, eat, and have worship. After this we wash and pack our dishes, our husbands catch the animals, saddle the horses, and pack the mules. When we are fairly on our way we have much the appearance of a large funeral procession. I suppose the company reaches half a mile." As the horses and mules were gathered, preparatory to being driven into the Kansas River to swim across, the order came : " Tie up the trail ropes." Mr. Eells obeyed. Ignorantly he wound the rope around the neck of his wife's riding animal, which was rather treacherous. When it landed on the opposite side it realized its liberty and refused to be caught. After fruitless attempts to catch it, as a last resort applica- tion was made to the hunter for help. He proposed the plan of " nicking" it, that is, of shooting a rifle ball through the upper part of the neck in such a 48 FATHEit EELL8. maiiDer as to stun and drop the animal for a few minutes but not to injure it. When the two however found the animal, which by that time had gone out of sight and quite a distance from the rest, to their sur- prise it was quite willing to l)e caught. The rope had become so tight around the neck as to tame it. The unskillful manner in which it had been wound around had turned to good account, and Mr. PLells felt that *' the lot was cast into the lap ; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord " ; for the loss of that animal at that time would have been very embarrassing. Mr. Gray had estimated that four hundred miles would bring them to the buffalo country, and food, especially flour, was taken accordingly ; but the buffalo were not found as expected and the rations became short, so short that when they were found not much food was left, only flour enough for gravy. It was buffalo, buffalo, buffalo all the time. The sudden change to green buffalo meat, morning, noon, and night, did not, however, agree with Mr. Eells. It soon sickened him. When he was at East Windsor planning for the journey, his kind pupils had said ; "Now what can we do for you?" He replied: " Please make two rich cakes, so rich and nice that I can put them in my trunk and carry them across the continent and keep them until I shall need them." This was done. When he was suffering from so much CBOSSING THE CONTINENT, 49 buffalo meat he would dissolve a little of that cake in water aud drink it. This was the only food for which he had any relish for a long time. For this he was more grateful than words could express, and with unwonted emotion he wrote : " God bless those young persons who prepared those cakes." The party had tin plates for eating purposes, but some had small earthen cups for drinking. When Mr. Ermatinger, of the Hudson's Bay Company, saw these during the latter part of the journey, he said : *' Take away your little earthen cups. They gave me one of the little things and I swallowed it right down with its contents." He wanted a tin cup that would hold several times as much as the earthen ones. There was a fright or two from Indians ; that ie, Indians were discovered, and everybody was required to have their rifles ready. Mr. Eells never loaded his, though it was loaded once or twice for him by others. There were no encounters, however, nor serious trouble with them. Mrs. Eells' journal says : — " May 9. All is hubbub and confusion. Camp wants to move early ; horses bad to catch ; dishes not packed in season. Oh, how much patience one needs to sustain him in this life ! " May 12. It rains so hard that notwithstanding we have a good fire we cannot dry our clothes at all. 50 FATHER SELLS. Obliged to sleep in our blankets wet as when taken from our horses. Our bed and bedding consist of a buffalo robe, a piece of oilcloth, our blankets and saddles. Our tents are our houses. Our sheets are our partitions between us and Mr. Gray. When it rains they are spread over the tents. '' 13th. Sabbath. Arise this morning, put on our clothes wet as when we took them off, and prepare for a long ride. I am so strongly reminded of bygone days that I cannot refrain from weeping. "21st. Have seen dangers on every side of us — deep ravines to go through, loose horses taking fright so as to put us in danger of our lives if they come near us. " 24th. Mr. Eells and myself hardly able to sit up, but obliged to eat, drink, and work as though we were well. Think it is trying. " 29th. Husband faint and weak, in consequence of not having such food as he can relish. I would gladly exchange appetites with him, because he is obliged to work so hard. It is true that nothing but the restrain- ing grace of God can carry us through. I trust we both have this grace. "June 2. Kide into Fort William. It is a large hewed-log building with an opening in the center and partitions for various objects. It compares very well with the walls of the Connecticut state prison." CBOJSSmG THE CONTINENT, 61 At the crossing of the North Fork of the Platte it was necessary to make boats out of buffalo skins. The hunters brought in the skins, and others brought willows and made a kind of basket, somewhat like a deep boat, and then they were turned up to dry. As it was raining ver}'^ hard it took some time for them to dry. As there were only two boats it took quite a while to put everything over, for all the carts and wagons had to be taken to pieces and, with the bag- gage, taken across in them, while the animals swam over. As the snow was on the surrounding mountains, the water w^as very cold. Mr. Eells was not lazy ; he did his share in driving the cattle in, and was wet up to his waist for a long time. He became so cold that he suffered severely, and thought that if he should ever feel the genial warmth of the sun again, he would be more thankful than he had ever been before. It rained so much that the camp was flooded, and they were obliged to pile their baggage well up in their tents to keep it from injury. Mrs. Walker was strong, vigorous, and cheerful, with a pleasant word for almost everybody ; but this was too much for her. She went into her tent, climbed on top of a pile of goods, sat down and began to cry. Mrs. Smith said to her: "Why, Mrs. Walker, what is the matter?" The reply was : "lam thinking how comfortable my father's hogs are ! '* 52 FATHEE EELLS, The journal continues : — " 13th. Mrs. Gray and myself hold a short season of prayer for ourselves and husbands. " 15th. We crossed the Sweetwater. I rode along the bank, saw the carts cross, and thought it was about three feet deep, though many of the loose horses were swimming. I felt a little afraid, and said to Mr. Gray, ' We will stop until our husbands have taken the mules across and return for us,' as Mr. Eells had gone to lead the way for the pack animals, and the other gentlemen to drive them. Mr. Gray, the last after the mules, said : ' The ladies come directly after us.' Mrs. Gray went first and I fol- lowed her. My horse mired, entering the river. I somehow managed to dismount and wade through the water and mud on to the bank again, but saw no one coming to my assistance. As soon as I could I went back and tried to help my horse out, but he struggled so that I could not reach his bridle. Then Mr. Smith came to my help. As soon as we were both out I saw Mr. Eells and myself covered with mud, and found my strength nearly gone. Mr. Eells asked me if I was liurt. I said I thought only frightened. By this time the company were all over and gone, and we must not stop. Mr. Eells had a tin cup fastened to his belt, and he rinsed the mud off my cloak, and then set me on my horse again and we went safely across. CB08SING THE CONTINENT, 53 We then rode four and a half hours without getting off our horses. By this time the upper side of my clothes was nearly dry, while the under side was as wet as when we came from the river. At noon I changed my shoes and stockings, dried my other clothes on me as well as I could, and in the afternoon rode three and a half hours again. This to me was a pretty sorrowful day, though I had great reason to be thankful that I was not hurt ; neither did 1 take cold. 1 " 19th. Mr. Eells and myself renewedly conse- crate ourselves to the God of missions." On the twenty-third of June they arrived at the American Rendezvous, and there they remained for nearly three weeks. " 24th. Sabbath. To-day for the first time since we left Westport we have a Sabbath of rest. Mr. Walker preached in the forenoon, from 2 Peter 3 : 7. Mr. Eells preached in the afternoon from Psalm 66 : 13. Trust it has been a profitable day to us. Hope some good may result from the sermons. Some eight or ten men came from the company to attend worship." The Fourth of July was spent there, but with no especial appropriate ceremonies. Captain Drips, Walker, and Robbins took dinner with them. But 1 j;eU8' Indian Missions, p. 36. 54 FATHER EELL8, duriug the night they were troubled exceedingly by drunken white men, who came to their tent and wanted to settle accounts with Mr. Gray. Mr. Eells talked with them as best he could. Mr. Gray stayed inside and loaded a gun, and Mrs. Eells and Mrs. Gray, who were both in the same tent, made preparations for escape. But after a time they went off, and there was no further trouble from them. Of the next day she says : — "Captain Bridger came in about ten o'clock with drums and firing, an apology for a scalp dance. After they had given Captain Drips' company a salute, fifteen or twenty mountain men and Indians came to our tent with drumming, firing, and dancing. If I might make the comparison, I should think they looked like the emissaries of the devil, worshiping their own master. They had the scalp of a Blackfoot Indian, which they carried for a color, all rejoicing in the fate of the Blackfeet in consequence of the smallpox. The dog, being frightened, took the trail, crossed the river, and howled so that we knew him and called him back. When he came he went to each tent to see if we were all safe." On the following day she again says : — " Last night twelve white men came, dressed and painted in Indian style, and gave us a dance. No pen can describe the horrible scene they presented. CBOssma the continent, 55 I could not imagine that white men, brought up in a civilized land, can appear so much to imitate the devil." The prices of things at that place were given as fol- lows : flour, two dollars a pound ; sugar, coffee, and tea, a dollar a pint ; calico, worth in the States twenty or twenty-five cents, was five dollars ; a shirt, five dol- lars ; tobacco, three to five dollars a pound ; whiskey, thirty dollars a gallon, and yet on some days nearly the whole camp of the trading companies was unfit for business because of its use. About this time Mrs. Eells wrote : — " There is much more danger attending the journey than we supposed. Since we left the States we have found the horseback riding in imagination and in reality two different things. During a considera- ble part of our journey we are liable to be met by war parties of wild Indians, and if we are not suffi- ciently strong, our animals may be taken and we left to wander in the wilderness. The first week after we left Independence three of our best horses were stolen, which cost us two hundred dollars. We often speak of the journey as going to sea on land. I be- lieve we all agree that no pen can fully paint the real- ity of it so that one will understand it who has not tried it. We have had very few whole days in camp since we left Missouri. I think one day in crossing 56 FATHEB EELLS. the Kansas River, two in crossing the North Fork of the Platte, which we did in boats made of skins, and two at Fort William, are the only davs we have not traveled some distance. Before reaching Rendezvous we had to travel eleven hundred miles west of the west- ern boundary of Missouri. Camp means any place where the company stops. Fort means a place pre- pared by the company to stop and recruit animals and exchange if necessar3\ Fort William is about halfway between the States and Rendezvous. Fort Hall is about halfway between Rendezvous and Walla Walla. Rendezvous is any place where the companies meet to trade with the Indians and with each other. It is generally, if not always, in the Rocky Mountains. "Our Sabbaths have always been the hardest day's work. This has led me very much to question the duty of going to the heathen in this way. I cannot tell how it is consistent for us to break one of God's positive commands to obey another. This you see we must do to go with the company. To stop would not be safe. We have now traveled eleven hundred miles and have not seen anything like a house but once." Washing was done in kettles for tubs, and they heated water, w^ashed, boiled, and rinsed the clothes in the same kettle. CBOSSIITG THE CONTINENT. 57 The missionary tour came near being stopped at this place. It was the intention to come this far with the American Fur Company, then at this rendezvous to meet the Hudson's Bay Company, who were to escort them the rest of the way. But that year the Fur Company had become vexed at the Hudson's Bay Company, and instead of meeting them as usual, went to a new place a hundred and fifty miles north. This usual rendezvous was on Green River, a branch of the Colorado ; but this year it was on the Popoazua, a branch of Wind River. In passing east the year before, Mr. Gray had said to Mr. F. Ermatinger, of the Hudson's Bay Company, that he expected to bring a party out the next year ; and as Mr. Gray had favored Mr. Ermatinger, the latter intended to meet the party at the old rendezvous. But when Mr. Ermatinger arrived no party or trace of one was to be found. The American Fur Company were about through with trading, and were ready to return east in a day or two. It was unsafe for the missionaries to proceed alone. They found a party of trappers going to California. They must either return east or go with this party to California and attempt to make their way thence to Oregon. They had about half determined on the latter course when Providence favored them. Some one who was somewhat friendly to the missionaries, either Dr. Robert Newell, an inde- 58 FATHEB EELLd, pendent trapper, or a half breed named Black Harris, who had learned of this rendezvous of the American Fur Company, had with charcoal written on the old storehouse door : " Come to Popoazua on Wind River and you will find plenty trade, whiskey, and white women." The words " white women," told them what was meant, and Mr. Ermatinger went immedi- ately there, arriving only four days before the com- pany was ready to start on their return to the States. With him were Rev. Jason Lee and Mr. P. L. Edwards, of the Methodist Mission, who were on their return east for reinforcements. They brought the welcome intelligence that Dr. Whitman and Mr. Spalding had sent fresh horses and provisions to Fort Hall for them. *'This," Mrs. Eells wrote, " at first almost overcame us. We felt that the God of missions had foreseen our wants and seasonably supplied them beyond our expectations." As to their provisions she wrote at the same time : — '* When we leave we expect to find buffalo meat for twenty or twenty -five days. After that we shall find no game for ourselves. Our meat is to be cut thin, dried over a slow fire, and packed for the last part of our route. We cannot say we have suffered for food, though coarse has been our fare, and sometimes short. The change from vegetable to animal food was so great that for many days some of our company could not CMOS SING THE COX TINE NT. 69 eat enough to keep them comfortable. Mr. Eells and Mr. Walker have suffered the most. We took from Independence provisions to last lo the buffalo country four weeks. Since that time we have made our meals of tea, coffee, and buffalo meat. We have the milk of two cows, which, with a little flour, makes us a good gravy with our meat. When we left Independence we had a hundred and sixty pounds of flour, fifty-seven pounds of rice, twenty or twenty-five pounds of sugar, a little pepper and salt — but our salt is almost gone, and we cannot buy it at any price here. Mr. Gray has just been out and bought a pint of tea for three dollars. Coffee and sugar are all the same now. These we expect to be our luxuries to Fort Hall. From there we have supplies from Messrs. Spalding and Whitman." The twelfth of July they started from this rendez- vous with a company of about twenty men. On the next day in crossing a ravine, which was deep and narrow, so much so that her horse refused to carry her, Mrs. Eells got off, the horse jumped through, and she climbed through on her hands and knees. On the 14th they were on the backbone of America ; scenery romantic, mountains of red sandstone piled on moun- tains on every side, so steep that they could only go up and down them sideways. On another day they rode an hour and a half on the side of a mountain the angle 60 FATHER EELLS. of which was judged to he forty-five degrees, and no path hilt what they made. Had the horses made one misstep they must have been precipitated about a hun- dred and twenty-five feet. On the nineteenth of July the ground was covered with flowers, but snow was all around them. "July 22, Sabbath. The Indians are about our tents before we are up, and stay about all day. Think they are the most filthy Indians we have seen. Some of them have a buffalo skin around them. Mr. Walker read a sermon, and although they could not understand a word, they were still and paid good attention. They appeared amused with our singing." On the 27th the^^ reached Fort Hall, where they stayed two days, being received very kindly by Mr. McKay, the chief factor. Here through inducements held out by the company and statements made by Mr. Ermatinger, they left their cattle, American ones, and afterward received in exchange Spanish ones at Fort Colville. On the ninth of August they passed Salmon Falls, and on the 14th arrived at Fort Boise, where they feasted on milk, butter, turnips, pumpkins, and salmon. Here they stayed two days, Mr. Gray and wife leaving the rest of the company and hurrying on to Walla Walla. But one night is described here as a restless one. "The dogs bark, the wolves prowl, the horses take fright and break loose, some of the men CROSSING THE CONTINENT, 61 about the fort have a spree, the winds blow our tent over, and the Indians are about watching for an oppor- tunity to take what they can get." On the 23d three of tlieir horses were stolen by the Indians. Two days afterward as they came into the Grand Ronde Valley, Mrs. Conner, an Indian woman, was taken sick. Mr. Conner, Mr. Smith and wife stayed with her, and they did not get into camp that night. The next da}' being the Sabbath, the main party rested, and about ten o'clock the others arrived, Mrs. Conner briuo-ing an infant daughter. She had ridden about fifteen miles that day and twenty-five the day previous. On the 27th Mr. Rogers was thrown from his horse and hurt badly. He tried to go on, but could not, and was bled. Accordingly Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Conner stayed with him, while the others moved on. The next night while on the Blue Moun- tains they were cheered by meeting a white man who had been sent by Dr. Whitman with fresh saddle horses. "Wednesday, August 29, the journal has the follow- ing entry : — "Rode seven hours, thirty miles; arrived at Dr. Whitman's. Met Mr. Spalding and wife, with Dr. Whitman and wife, anxiously awaiting our arrival. They all appear friendly and treat us with great hospi- tality. Dr. Whitman's house is on the Walla Walla 62 FATHEB EELLS. River, twenty-five miles east of Fort Walla Walla [now Wallula]. It is built of adobe, mud dried in the form of brick, only larger. I cannot describe its appearance, as I cannot compare it with anything I ever saw. There are doors and windows, but they are of the roughest material, the boards being sawed by hand and put together by no carpenter, but by one who knows nothing about the work. There are a number of wheat, corn, and potato fields about the house, besides a garden of melons and all kinds of vegetables common to a garden. There are no fences, there being no timber of which to make them. The furniture is ver}' primitive ; the bedsteads are boards nailed to the side of the house, sink-fashion ; then some blankets and husks make the bed ; but it is good compared with traveling accommodations." The next day Messrs. Smith, Rogers, and Conner arrived, and the day following they settled with their hired help. The long journey of one hundred and twenty-nine days from the Missouri River, and one hundred and seventy-seven from the starting place in Massachusetts, was ended, and the distance between the Missouri and Walla Walla had been traveled a second time by women. CHAPTER III. OREGON IN 1838. THE Oregon of 1838 was very different from the Oregon of 1893, when Dr. Eells died. Not alone Oregon, but Washington, Idaho, and a small part of Montana and of Wyoming were then called Oregon. It had not been decided, however, that it belonged to the United States. The treaty between Great Britain and the United States which settled that controversy was not signed until Dr. Eells had been in the country eight years. Even the provisional government for Oregon formed by the Americans for their own pro- tection, independent of the United States until one government or the other should assume control, was not formed until 1843. Indeed, in 1838 there were not enough Americans in the whole country even to wish to form such a government. Previous to the arrival of this missionary reinforcement of 1838 there were, as nearly as can now be ascertained, only fifty-one Ameri- cans in Oregon, thirty of whom were connected .with the Methodist Missionary Society and the American Board, and hence expected to govern themselves, leav- ing only twenty-one who needed further government. 64 FATHER EELLS, In fact the Hudson's Bay Company ruled the country. It of course governed its own employes, but it also did much more. It located the missionaries, placing the Methodists in the Willamette valley, although they had planned to settle east of the Cascades, because the company thought that region too far inland for easily protecting them. It located the mission- aries of the American Board, who had expected to work west of the Cascades, east of those mountains, because the Methodists were there when they ar- rived. The company had about the only goods in the country. Everybody was dependent on it for sup- port. It managed the Indians, and generally quite well, as it was for its interest so to do. Although by treaty between the United States and Great Britain Americans had as many rights in the country as Englishmen, yet the company drove out every American trading company, at least eleven of which attempted to enter the region previous to 1838. This it was its interest to do. The company told the missionaries what articles they might trade to the Indians and fixed a price for each. When it said, " Do not touch beaver skins," the missionaries obeyed. If they did not obey, they must perish or leave the country. From about 1821, when the company estab- lished itself in the country, until, after 1838 it was " monarch of all it surveyed." The factors were, OEEGON IN 1838. 65 however, kind to the missionaries, and assisted them in all reasonable ways, as long as they attended to their proper business. At that time in Oregon, which in 1892 contained about 900,000 inhabitants, ^ there were only thirteen settlements : the mission stations of Dr. Whitman at Waiilatpu in the Walla Walla valley, of Mr. Spalding at Lapwai among the Nez Perces, of the Methodists at The Dalles and near Salem ; and the Hudson's Bay Company's forts at Walla Walla (now Wallula), Colville, Hall, Boise, Vancouver, Nisqually, Umpqua, and Okanogan, and the settlement at Astoria. Neither California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, nor Alaska belonged to the United States, all the people over whom our country had direct control in the legion now covered by all these states and territories being comprised in the above- mentioned fifty-one Americans. This was even then so much of a foreign country that it was necessary for the missionaries to procure passports from the secre- tarv of war. ^ Un 1S90 Washington had a population of 349,390; Oregon, 313,767; Idaho, 84,38"); five counties in southwestern Montana, and one in north- eastern Wyoming, which were in the Oregon of 1858, 65,862; total, 813,404. In 1^9•2 the population of Washington had increased to 395,589. It has been impossible for the writer to obtain the figures in regard to the rest of the region above specified for 18'.)2, but if it increased as rapidly as Washington, the total population would have been 932,469. 2 The following is a copy of the passport of Mr. Eells, which waa given in duplicate:— 66 FATHEB EELLS, At that time, in fact, the whole United States con- tained less than seventeen million people, only about one quarter of what it did at the time of Dr. Eells' death. The cities too had changed as much or more. Pittsburg, with its quarter of a million, had only twenty thousand people when his party gave up the privilege of spending a part of the Sabbath in it, that they might " remember the day to keep it holy." Cincin- nati, where he saw his first pack saddle, has increased during those years from about forty thousand to three hundred thousand. The St. Louis of to-day, with nearly a half a million, was then a border town of about fifteen thousand. Chicago, now the second city in the United States, with its million and a half of inhabitants, had not previous to 1838 been of sufiB- cient size to have a United States census taken of it, and had only 4,470 people two years later. New York, with her more than a million and a half, had only about two hundred and ninety thousand when The Rev. Gushing Eells, Missionary and Teacher of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to the tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, liaving signified to this Department his desire to pass through the Indian country to the Columbia River, and requested the permission required by law to enable him so to do, such permission is hereby grante wheel a wheel. live. Kain We pe la m tr=: ets - in - ko sing kaits We . chow. pray. This has been very popular and is still sung with earnestness by those Indians. Mr. McLean, of the Hudson's Bay Company, said that he had heard the Indians singing it on the tops of the Rocky Mountains. The next winter was so severe that only about fifty THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 105 Indians remained near the station. What could be done was done to teach the few children there. Pub- lic worship was conducted three times each Sabbath and twice during the week. There was respectful attention to religious instruction. Many knew their duty, but did it not. During the year ending March 1, 1841, Mr. Eells traveled for the station twelve hundred miles on horsel)ack, work which took him from home fifty- seven days. He also went more than four hundred miles to teach the Indians, which took him from home twenty-three days more. On some of these trips sick Indians thronged him, appearing to think he had med- icine to cure every ill. At last he was obliged to tell them that white people were sick and died, notwith- standing the fact that they were attended by skillful physicians. This confession obtained a respite from their entreaties. A few Indians were seen wearing the papal cross. ^ During that winter besides the school at the station, which numbered only eleven, another was kept up five miles distant which had twenty- two scholars, and was visited by some one from the mission almost daily. ^ After this the school continued, but seldom num- bered more than fifteen ; yet progress was made. 1 Missionary Herald, 184.<, p. 81. 2Annual Report A. B. C. F. M., 1843, p. 171. 106 FATHEB BELLS. More labor than usual, too, was performed for the older Indians. Never before had there been half as much done for them, and never before was so much tro'uble experienced or abuse received. In proportion to the compassion bestowed and labor rendered they vexed and tried their teachers. Still there was satis- faction in the consciousness of having tried to do them good. The missionaries were armed with an answer when tauntingly asked what they had ever done for the Indians ; and they cherished hope that in due time fruit would appear. ^ In the autumn of 1842 began the ever-memorable journey of Dr. Whitman to the East in order to do what he could to save Oregon to the United States, as well as to attend to missionary business. The history of it belongs to the life of Dr. Whitman and the history of Oregon and Washington. It has been thoroughly discussed by the writer in his "History of Indian Missions," and by other writers in various books and newspapers. Hence it will be necessary to speak here only of Dr. Eells' connection with it. Rev. H. H. Spalding was about the first person to make known the fact of Dr. Whitman's going east on a political errand. Dr. G. H. Atkinson learned of it, and believed that this work ought to be set to 1 Missionary Herald, 1IS44, p. 386. THE MISSION ESTABLISHED, 107 the credit of missions. He said so piiblicW. In his journey east in 1865 he told the secretaries of tlie American Board that while they had been accustomed to look upon their Oregon mission as a failure, it was a grand success. They were very skeptical, and thought that many extravagant assertions had been made about Whitman's achievement. Dr. Atkinson replied : " Write to Dr. Eells, as you know him to be careful in his statements, and are accustomed to rely on what he says." Secretary S. B. Treat did so. Dr. Eells, under date of May 28, 1866, made a full statement, which was published in the December num- ber of The Missionary Herald. In it are the follow- ing statements : — "The Hudson's Bay Company at an early day was aware of the existence of mineral deposits in that portion of Oregon claimed both by England and the United States. If I remember correctly, I had not been long in this country before the statement was made that gold had been found on the Columbia River, taken to England, made into a watch seal, brought back here, and worn by a gentleman con- nected with the Hudson's Bay Company. In those early days Dr. Whitman made in my hearing the fol- lowing statement : — " ' There is no doubt that this country abounds in the precious metals. In the autumn or early winter of 108 FATHER FELLS. 1843 a German botanist was traveling with employes of tbe Hudson's Bay Company, and, having had some knowledge of mining operations in Germany, he ex- pressed to his fellow travelers the opinion that pre- cious metals existed in a designated locality. He was particularly interrogated as to the reasons for such an opinion ; and when they were satisfied that it was an intelligent conclusion they replied : ' We know such to be the case from actual investigation.' But while the resources of the country were measurably appre- ciated, special effort was made to produce the impres- sion that the country was of small value and that much of it was worthless.' "Previous to 1843, Mrs. McDonald, at Fort Col- ville, had a collection of mineral specimens, a portion of which she presented to Mrs. Eells. These were shown to Dr. Whitman on his return in 1843. They attracted considerable attention, but there were no means at hand to ascertain their value. "In entire accordance with such representations, Chief Factor A. McDonald expressed himself dis- tinctly and fully to me. He also gave it as his opin- ion that if England should obtain the desired portion of Oregon (then including Washington Territory), it would be made over to the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1842, if I mistake not, the same gentleman asked me who, fifty years hence, would probably compose THE MISSION ESTABLISHED, 109 the inhabitants of this country. He answered the question himself by saying substantially, ' The de- scendants of the Hudson's Bay Company.' Dr. Whit- man said, with reference to the same class of persons (of mixed blood) : ' Fifty years hence they will not be found.' Dr. Whitman understood, with a good de- gree of correctness, apparently, that it was the plan of the Hudson's Bay Company to secure this country to the English government. Undoubtedly he felt strongly in reference to this subject. At that time his missionary associates judged that he was disturbed to an unwarrantable degree. The result has furnished accumulative evidence that there was sufficient reason for determined earnestness on his part. "An unyielding purpose was formed by Dr. Whit- man to go East. The mission was called together to consider whether or not its approval could be given to the proposed undertaking. Mr. Walker and myself were decidedly opposed, and we yielded only when it became evident that he would go, even if he had to becon:,2 disconnected from the mission in order to do so. According to the understanding of the members of the mission, the single object of Dr. Whitman in attempting to cross the continent in the winter of 1842-43, amid mighty peril and suffering, was to make a desperate effort to save this country to the United States, 110 FATHER EELLS. "On reaching Washington he learned that repre- sentations had been made there corresponding to those which had been often repeated on this coast. * Oregon,' it was said, ' would most likely be unimpor- tant to the United States. It was difficult of access. A wagon road thither was an impossibility.' By such statements Governor Simpson (the territorial governor of the Hudson's Bay Company) had well-nigh suc- ceeded in accomplishing his object of purchasing this country, not for a mess of pottage, but a cod-fishery ! Dr. Whitman was barely able to obtain from Presi- dent Tyler the promise that negotiations should be suspended. "His next object was to expose the falsity of the statement that the Rocky and Blue Mountains could not be passed by immigrant wagons. It soon became known, to some extent, that Dr. Whitman would ac- company those who would attempt to go to the Colum- bia that season in this manner. The fact induced numbers to decide to go who would not otherwise have done so. If I judge correctly, the testimony has been unvarying and abundant that the success of the expedition depended upon the knowledge, skill, en- ergy, and perseverance of Dr. Whitman. Extrava- gant language has been used, expressive of the confidence of the emigrants of 184.3 in his ability to conduct them successfully through difficulties which, THE 3IISSI0JV ESTABLISHED. HI in the estimation of many, were regarded as utter im- possibilities. The fording of the Platte with such a train was an untried and in some respects a perilous undertaking ; and yet it was signally successful. *'In 1839 Rev. J. S. Griffin and his missionary associates traveled from the western frontier to Fort Hall with wagons. They were there told by agents of the Hudson's Bay Company that it was impracticable, if not impossible, to take their wagons to Walla Walla. Consequently teams and wagons were exchanged for pack animals and fixtures. In 1840 Rev. H. Clarke and other missionary laborers performed the same journey in like manner. At Fort Hall they were induced to leave their wagons. In 1843 this game was tried again, and at the opportune moment when Dr. Whitman was absent from camp. On his return he found some weeping, others much disturbed. He at once comprehended the plot, and then and there is said to have addressed them as follows ; ' My coun- trymen, you have trusted me thus far; believe me now, and I will take your wagons to the Columbia River.' "I may not be able to furnish evidence entirely sat- isfactory^ to others, but in view of all the past relating to this subject, of which I have been an eye and ear witness since August, 1838, I am prepared to sa}' that to my mind there is not the shadow of a doubt that 112 FATHEB EELL8, Dr. Whitman, by his efforts with President Tyler and Secretary Webster, in 1843, and his agency during the same year in conducting an immigrant train from the western frontier to the Columbia River, was instru- mental in saving a valuable portion of the Northwest to the United States. Am I extravagant in adding that the importance of this service to our country will not be likely to be overestimated? When the iron track of the Northern Pacific Railroad shall have the two oceans for its termini, and the commerce of the world shall move over the most direct route, and when the latent resources of this vast region shall have been fully developed, there will be a theme worthy of the best endeavors of the statesman and orator." Dr. Treat made public use of this statement in the autumn of 1866, at the meeting of the American Board, and it was copied far and wide by the eastern and western press. About 1880 these facts began to be questioned, then denied, by such persons as Hon. Elwood Evans, Mrs. F. F. Victor, Judge M. P. Deady, and others. It was denied that Dr. Whitman went East with any political intent whatever, that he did anything politically while there, that any meeting of the mission was held authorizing him to go, and even that he went to Wash- ington at all. The discussion which followed, often called the Whitman Controversy, was long and volu- THE HUSSION ESTABLISHED. 113 minous, especially in 1884-85. Dr. Eells followed it with the greatest interest, though he let others do most of the w^riting. At times he almost feared that from Dr. Whitman, from the cause of missions, from the cause of Christ would be snatched the honors which he believed belong to them. Among other state- ments made during this controversy the following was made by Dr. Eells : — "September, 1842, a letter written by Dr. Whitman, addressed to Rev. Messrs. E. Walker and C. Eells at Tshimakain, reached its destination and was received by the persons to whom it was written. By the con- tents of said letter a meeting of the Oregon Mission of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was invited to be held at Waiilatpu. The object of said meeting, as stated in the letter named, was to approve of a purpose formed by Dr. Whit- man, that he go East on behalf of Oregon as related to the United States. In the judgment of Mr. Walker and myself that object was foreign to our assigned work. With troubled thoughts we anticipated the pro- posed meeting. On the following day, Wednesday, we started, and on Saturday afternoon camped on the Tou- chet, at the ford near the Mullan bridge. We were pleased with the prospect of enjoying a period of rest, reflection, and prayer — needful preparation for the an- tagonism of opposing ideas. We never moved camp 114 FATHEB EELLS, on the Lord's Day. On Monday morning we arrived at Waiilatpu and met the two resident families of Messrs. Whitman and Gray. Rev. H. H. Spalding was there. All the male members of the mission were thus together. In the discussion the opinion of Mr. Walker and myself remained unchanged. The pur- pose of Dr. Whitman was fixed. In his estimation the saving of Oregon to the United States w^as of par- amount importance, and he w^ould make the attempt to do so, even if he had to withdraw from the mission in order to accomplish his purpose. In reply to considerations intended to hold Dr. Whitman to his assigned work, he said : ' I am not expatriated by becoming a missionary.' The idea of his withdrawal could not be entertained, therefore to retain him in the mission a vote to approve of his making the perilous endeavor prevailed. He had a cherished object for the accomplishment of which he desired consultation with Rev. David Greene, secretary of correspondence with the mission at Boston, Mass., but I have no recollection that it was named in the meeting. A part of two days was spent in consultation. Record of the date and acts of the meeting was made. The book containing the same was in the keeping of the Whitman family. At the time of their massacre, November 29, 1847, it disappeared. "The fifth day of October following was desig- THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 115 nated as the day on which Dr. Whitman would ex- pect to start from Waiilatpu. Accordingly, letters, of which he was to be the bearer, were required to be furnished him at his station in accordance therewith. INIr. Walker and myself returned to Tshimakain, prepared letters and forwarded them seasonably to Waiilatpu. By the return of the courier information was received that Dr. Whitman started on the third of October. It is possible that transpirings at old Fort Walla Walla hastened his departure two days. *' Soon after his return to tliis coast Dr. Whitman said to me he wished he could return East immediately, as he believed he could accomplish more than he had done, as I understood him to mean, to save this coun- try to the United States. I asked him why he could not go. He said : ' I cannot go without seeing Mrs. Whitman.' She w^as then in the Willamette valley. *'I solemnly affirm that the foregoing statements are true and correct, according to the best of my knowl- edge and belief. So help me God. (Signed) ''GUSHING EELLS. " Sworn and subscribed to before me this twenty- third day of August, 1883. (Signed) " L. E. KELLOGG, *' Notary Public^ Spokane County^ Washington Territory.^' The journal of Mr. Walker afterwards discovered 116 FATHEB EELLS. confirmed Mr. Eells' statement about the meeting being held and its date, by writings made at the time, and the unearthing by Dr. S. J. Parker, of Ithaca, N. Y., in 1891, of a letter of Dr. Whitman's in Wash- ington, D. C, written by him in 1843 to James M. Porter, secretary of war, and by another writing made at the time, proved beyond possibility of dis- pute that he went to Washington with political intent. Dr. Eells had the satisfaction of living to see the facts so thoroughly believed that they were published not only by the missionary and religious press and Gray's '' History of Oregon," which might be accused of bias in their favor, but by Barrows' '' Oregon," Butterworth's "Log Schoolhouse on the Columbia," Gilbert's "Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whit- man, Columbia, and Garfield Counties of Washing- ton, and Umatilla County of Oregon," Lang's " His- tory of the Willamette Valley," Brown's " Political History of Oregon," and Scudder's "History of the United States, for Schools and Academies." When Dr. Eells was presented with a copy of the latter work, which contains also a picture of Dr. Whitman leaving his station for Washington, it was most plain that the truth learned by the school children had been fostered by God and would be scattered so far and wide and deep that no combination of learned men or human reasoning could successfully oppose it. THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 117 Although at first Dr. Eells was decidedly opposed to Dr. Whitman's going East, and only yielded when the reasons seemed sufficient, yet he afterwards said that the little he had to do as a member of the meet- ing which authorized Dr. Whitman to go at that time gave him great satisfaction as one of the best episodes of his life. A letter written by Mrs. Eells to her sister in Massa- chusetts gives the following items : — " Our Indians were never more about us than now. Some three or four are at work for Mr. Eells prepar- ing timber for a new house to be put up in the spring if prospered. Besides we try to employ a number of boys and girls for the threefold purpose of keeping them out of idleness, encouraging industry, and fur- nishing them food. Mr. Walker employs about as many. The Indians are quiet and very submissive at present but do not seem inclined to seek the one thing needful. They spend a great deal of time in gam- bling and jugglery. If we could see them embracing the truth in the love of it, our hearts would leap for joy. If I was sure I had not run before I was sent, I would on no condition leave them, though I may never in this life be permitted to see much fruit of our labor. " Mrs. Walker and myself observe the last Wednes- day afternoon of each month in concert with the other 118 FATHEB EELL8. members of the missions as a season of prayer for our children. There is quite a large maternal associa- tion, of which perhaps I may tell you I am president. I have never seen half of the members and probably never shall. . . . " We observed last Monday as a day of fasting and prayer in connection with the churches at home for the conversion of the world. We observe the monthly concert and our Tuesday evening meetings, though we seldom have more than our own little number, four. I think there have never been more than six pro- fessors of religion present at any one time, and never more than three men." The maternal association mentioned in this letter was probably the first on the coast, and was organized September 3, 1838, at Dr. AVhitmau's. It then con- sisted of the six women connected with the mission. By 1842 seven others had joined it, two of whom were the wives of persons connected with the Hud- son's Bay Company, and the other five were the wives of men who came to the country as independent mis- sionaries. The preamble says : — '' Sensible of the evils that beset the young mind in a heathen land, and confident that no arm but God's can secure our children or those committed to our care from the dangers that surround them and bring them early into the fold of Christ and fit them THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 119 for usefulness here and glory hereafter, we the sub- scribers agree to form ourselves into an association for the purpose of adopting such rules as are best calculated to assist us in the right performance of our maternal duties." Its name was the Columbia Maternal Association. Thus affairs went on without much change until the winter of 1846-47. This season was very severe. Mrs. Eells wrote : — " The past winter has been the most severe in the memory of the oldest Indians. The snow began to fall about the middle of November ; about the middle of December it was not far from two feet deep and it continued to increase to the first of March. For more than five months the earth was clothed in a robe of white ; for more than three months we were literally buried in snow ; all the west side of our house was banked to the roof and would have been dark only that the snow was shoveled from the windows. Our meetinghouse was not opened from the seventeenth of January till the last Sabbath in March, and then Mr. Eells went on snowshoes. Several Indians went to worship on the first Sabbath of April, but Mr. Eells went on horseback ; sometimes it was so cold that the air cut like a knife and about the first of March we could not keep ourselves comfort- able. From the middle of December until some time l20 FATHER EELLS. in April, men, women, find cliiklren traveled on snow- shoes — ever3^wbere outside of the everyday beaten path. The extent of Mr. Eells' and Mr. Walker's traveling was to the Indian lodges and about a quarter of a mile to feed their horses and cattle ; it was only by unwearied labor and the greatest economy in feed- ing that enough of our cattle and horses were saved for present use. Only one horse has died, but we have lost twelve cattle. We have, however, had an abun- dance of the necessaries of life, and more of its luxuries tlian has sometimes fallen to our lot. " The fore part of the winter, both Indian men and women spent a great part of their time and strength digging away the snow so that their horses could get grass. Sometimes they would cut long grass and feed them ; but almost all died before the last of January. The old chief says he had seventy horses and thirty cattle but before the close of April he had no horse and only two cattle. The Indians generally had from one to ten horses, some more, some less, some not any, but all alike are now on foot. I do not know of half a dozen live ones in all this region belonging to the Indians. They had nearly forty cattle which they had obtained through our instrumentality ; there are only three or four left. A band of sixteen cattle belong- ing to the Ray Indians was sent to the Spokane River to winter ; onh' one of them is now alive. THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 121 "At Colville the Hudson's Bay Company had two hundred and seventy horses ; by April only thre.e were alive. Every one of another band of eighty horses belonging to a single man is dead. The horses of the Indians in that region and also of the Bay Indians farther north are all dead. At Colville some of the cattle froze to death standing." In April, 1847, she writes about shoes which were sent from the East to her children, who were then about three and a half and five and a half years old : — "They have many thanks to send their little cousins for their contributions (though they never saw but one pair of shoes) , which are certainly very valuable in this country where the snow lies on the ground four or five months in a year. They usually wear moccasins and are obliged to stay in the house or have wet feet." About the same time she wrote about a shawl which had been sent in a box from the Eastern States. She says : — " Mrs. AYalker and I had each our red merino shawls that we wore in the States (nine years previous) and our plaids are pretty good, though they have been washed several times, and we concluded it was best to send the shawl to Mrs. Whitman, as we were pretty sure she had none. She has since sent back many thanks, as she was destitute," 122 FATHER EELLS, Their experience in making cheese is given in this way: — " Last year and the year before we had milk, so that we made a few small cheeses. Just to prove how necessity can invent new ways when old ones are not at hand, I will tell you how we went to work. At first, I believe, Mrs. McDonald, of Fort Colville, gave us a little rennet, but we could bring no curd with it. Then Dr. Whitman gave us a little beef's rennet, but we succeeded no better with it. At last Mrs. Walker thought that perhaps young deer's rennet would do, so after a while an Indian brought us one which we tried, and it did well. But perhaps you will say. Why did you not have calves' rennet? Because a general feeling has prevailed that calves must not be killed. *' Now for the cheese basket and tongs, and some- thing to dress it in and with. The first named uten- sils we did without. We succeeded in getting a two- gallon keg sawed in two, which served for hoops, and at first we pressed with stones and bags of musket balls. Last year Mrs. Walker made herself a lever which saved her strength some, but I did not try any- thing new." About the same time, March, 1847, she wrote her mother a letter which shows her filial affection. ''My dear father, he is gone! I shall never more see or hear from him. O death, thou hast done thy THE MISSION ESTABLISHED. 123 work for my dear father ! My dear mother, a very dear mother ! — I know that she has lived to a good old age ; and I know too that sickness, care, and anxiety must have made a great change, both in her physical and mental powers. I know that the aged must die. Is my dear mother coming down to the grave like a shock of corn fully ripe ? Oh, happy thought ! Am I preparing to follow her? I, as well you know, am past the meridian of life. How much we have to praise the Redeemer for, if we shall be permitted to meet at his right hand ! I often pray that we, with all my dear brothers and sisters, may be so unspeakably happy as to meet in heaven with our father and all the redeemed saints, forever to celebrate the love of Jesus. ' ' Edwin and Myron think very much of the books sent them last fall ; I think they learn books very well, but they can never know the noble, exhilarating feel- ing there is connected with going to worship in a good meetinghouse where they can understand what is said, or to a good school with others of their own age. But I have no doubt the Lord will take care of them if we do our duty. * ' It is true that we have passed a long and dreary winter, and we are still in it ; but if we could see the perishing Indians taking the milk and honey, we should feel amply repaid for all our privations. *'We have been here almost nine years and have 124 FATHER EELLS, not yet been permitted to hear the cries of one peni- tent or the songs of one redeemed soul. We often ask ourselves, Why is it? Yet we labor on, hoping and waiting, and expecting that the seed though long buried will spring up and bear fruit. We feel increas- ingly interested in our work, and though we do not see the immediate fruit of our labor, yet we cannot fiud it in our hearts to leave the people. We cannot say that they have persecuted us so that we should be authorized to ' flee to another cit3\' They listen to the Word respectfully, but it appears to produce no saving effect." CHAPTER V. THE MISSION BROKEN UP. "TN 1847 occurred the saddest event in the history -■- of missions on the Pacific slope and one of the saddest in the entire history of the coast. Dr. Whit- man, his wife, and eight others were massacred at his station on November 29, and four others soon after, making fourteen in all. The result was the entire breaking up of the missions of the American Board, never to be resumed as such. The history of this, like that of Dr. Whitman's journey to Washington, belongs to the history of Oregon or the life of Dr. Whitman. Only such bearings on it as relate to the life and work of Mr. Eells require record here. Twice it was the intention of Mr. Eells to be at Dr. Whitman's at the time of the massacre, and twice his purpose was thwarted as plainly as was his going to Africa. The long cold winter at Tshimakain, and especially that of 1846-47, together with the apparent want of success in inducing the Indians to become Christians, had been very trying to health, especially to that of Mr. Eells. Four children at that station were old enough 125 126 FATHER EELLS, to go to school, three of Mr. Walker's and one of Mr. Eells', and more soon would be. The large number of immigrants, many of whom came by way of Dr. Whitman's and some of whom stopped there, made the importance of that station greater than that of the others. Dr. Whitman was breaking down under his work. He greatly felt the need of more help, especially that of an ordained minister. The Methodists were closing their missions in Oregon. They offered their station at The Dalles for sale. Dr. Whitman considered it a very important point. Here had been the most successful mission of the Methodists among the Indians, and here for a long time to come the Indians would congregate in large numbers on account of its fisheries. It would also be an important point among the whites, the gateway between eastern and western Oregon. Dr. Whitman was looking out for the religious and educa- tional interests of the whites as well as of the Indians, and was urging the Home Missionary and Tract soci- eties to send laborers into the field. His idea was that a college should be located at The Dalles. Con- sequently that station was bought, and at the annual meeting of the mission in the summer of 1847 it was decided that Mr. Walker was to move there and have charge of it; Mr. Eells was to move to Dr. Whit- man's, spending his winters for the benefit of the THE MISSION BROKEN UP. 127 whites, and his summers in itinerating with the Indi- ans. Mr. Spalding also was to move there. Thus man in his wisdom proposes ; God in his higher wis- dom disposes differently. Mrs. Walker's health was such in the fall that they thought it unwise to move, and it seemed decidedly better for Mr. Eells to remain with them. For some reason now unknown Mr. Spalding also did not move as contemplated. It became necessar}^ to send Dr. Whitman's nephew, Perin B. Whitman, from his sta- tion to The Dalles, and he and Mr. A. Hinman were to have charge of it for the winter, the latter having taught school at Dr. Whitman's. Thus P. B. Whit- man and the families of Messrs. Spalding and Eells were kept away from Dr. Whitman's at the time of the massacre. Again, during several weeks previous to the mas- sacre, an artist, J. M. Stanley, had been busy at the mission stations and posts of the Hudson's Bay Com- pany, making drawings and pictures of various scenes and of whites and Indians. About the middle of November he was at Tshimakain, and the time was very near when he intended to return to Dr. Whit- man's. Mr. Eells proposed to accompany him. Mr. Stanley had gone with Mr. Walker to Fort Colville. On the first night out from Colville they encamped at a specially favorable place for preventing their animals 128 FATHEB EELLS. from straying. Nearly the entire band of horses and mules was there. They were properly hobbled ; yet not one of them was found the next morning. An ineffectual search was made for them during the day. To human view this disappointment could not be understood ; but Mr. Walker believed that ''Behind a frowning Providence He hides a smiling face." and said to Mr. Stanley: "This means something." It did. It meant the saving of Mr. Eells' life. The delay was such and so much snow began to fall that Mr. Eells questioned the advisability of his making the journey as proposed. In prayer he decided not to go. Had he gone as at first planned he would have been ready to leave Dr. Whitman's on the morn- ing of the massacre. Whether he would have been killed there is not certain, but he always felt that, if not killed then, he would have been followed and killed before he could have escaped. Mr. Eells tells the following incident about Mr. Walker : In the early years of the mission the latter went to Mr. Spalding's for flour with two Indians. When they reached the North Palouse in returning they found that stream so swollen with rains that it could not be forded. A raft was made. One Indian attempted to convey Mr. Walker across. He did not make the landing and jumped ashore, intending to THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. 129 take hold of the raft and pull it ashore ; but in jump- ing he pushed it farther out into the stream. Mr. Walker was borne rapidly down the current. The Indians ran to note the place where he would be drowned. But Providence grounded the raft just before it reached the fatal spot, and he was saved. In reply to a question from Mr. Eells as to his feelings, when alone on that doubtful ride, Mr. Walker did not immediately repW, but said that on subsequent reflec- tion he had concluded that his work was not yet done. The same was undoubtedly true of Mr. Eells. His work, as shown during the next forty-five years, was not yet done. As Mr. Eells did not go with Mr. Stanley, an Indian named Solomon went with him. When they reached Dry Creek, a few miles from Dr. Whitman's, they learned of the massacre and turned and went to Fort Walla Walla (Wallula) . Solomon returned, and through him Mr. Stanley reported the essential facts of the massacre and added that the Cayuse Indians intended to send a party to kill those at Tshimakain. Mr. Eells did not believe it, though the. others were disturbed by the assertion, and Mrs. Eells spoke of the fitness of being prepared for a sudden death. Another announcement a little later, however, did disturb Mr. Eells. Indians from that region were accustomed to go to the Willamette valley for 130 FATHEB EELL8, employment by the whites. About sixty were there at the time of the massacre. The Cay uses sent word to the Spokanes that in retaliation for the death of those at Dr. Whitman's the Americans had killed these Indians on the Willamette. The statement was made to induce the Spokanes to join the hostile Indians. As it was in accord with Indian practice the Cayuses expected the Spokanes to believe it. Mr. Eells under- stood the whole plot quickly and said : "The rumor is false and of mischievous tendency." The chief be- lieved him, as he also saw through it; but the great difficulty lay in inducing all the Indians to believe him. The chief, however, sent runners in all directions with the words : " Believe not the message. It is not the way the Americans do." He said to the mission- aries: "Avoid being out after dark; make the door fast ; place a strong shutter over the window. If there be a call for admittance, delay ; make inquiry. By the dialect of the applicant may be determined from what band he comes — whether from those well or evil disposed." It was, however, reasonable to believe that Messrs. Walker and Eells would be the especial objects of attack. They were compelled to look death squarely in the face, and in case it should occur make provision for widow and orphans. " Never," says Mr. Eells, " has this right hand so reluctantly guided a pen as THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. ]31 when it wrote to Mr. Lewes, then in charge of Fort Colville, that in the event of my meeting a violent death, he would have the kindness to take charse of those thus bereaved, conduct them down the river to Fort Vancouver, see them safe upon a Hudson's Bay Company's vessel for conveyance to the Sandwich Islands, to the care of the mission of the American Board there." But He who had twice kept Mr. Eells from death now kept death from him. Soon after the massacre the government of Oregon raised volunteers, chiefly in the Willamette valley, who chastised the Cayuses, built Fort Waters at Dr. Whitman's station, and drove the Indians out of their own country nearly halfway to Tshimakain. Tliis brought the enemy so near that there seemed to be more danger than before. Mr. Walker went to Fort Colville about the first of March to consult in regard to their safety. Mr. Lewes said: "Remain quiet at the mission as long as you can. If you shall be con- vinced of real danger, come to my fort, and I will protect you equally with myself and family." The Spokane Indians were now showing great friendliness. They saw the strong probability of losing their teachers. This made them all the more friendly. On one Sabbath, about the first of March, the chief, on being invited to speak, so exalted the excellence of the glorious gospel tliat Mr. Eells said 132 FATHER EELL8. that he would have given five dollars to have had an exact copy of the speech. But the hostile camp was now only about sixty miles from Tshimakain. It began to seem unsafe to stay any longer. Mr. Walker and Mrs. Eells were constitutionally timid and wished to leave. Mrs. Walker had strong nerves, but her six children made her cautious. She was on an even poise. Mr. Eells was not satisfied that there was danger enough to render it necessary to move ; but he alone anchored the fourteen persons there, and the responsibility was too great. It was decided to leave for Fort Colville. So happy were the timid ones at this that notwith- standing that it rained when they started and their first camp was in the snow, and they did not reach Colville until the fourth day, yet the move was made without a murmur. The next week Messrs. Walker and Eells and Edwin Eells, then six years old, returned to Tshima- kain to look after what was left. There they spent the Sabbath. Towards night a war whoop was heard in the timber not far distant. It was enough to startle a brave heart, for it proceeded from a band of Indians mounted on horses, who were rapidly coming nearer. It was impossible to do any- thing except to await the result and learn whether they were foes or friends. THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. 133 They cast about for means of protection. These were slight. As calmly as possible they awaited the result. Mr. Walker in after years never could forget how that war whoop sounded in his ears — as if death by hostile Indians were at hand. As the Indians came nearer Mr. Eells first was able to distin- guish the horses and then the friendly Spokanes. The chief and a large part of his people had moved westward from Tshimakain twenty-five miles across the Spokane River. From his camp an Indian went to hunt strayed horses. In his hunt he stopped at the camp of the Cayuse murderers. He found that a few of the Cayuses were gone, but could not learn where. He suspected that it was to Tshimakain. If so, he was certain that it was to murder those there. Con- sequently he returned to his people. On his way he came upon fresh horse tracks which so strengthened his suspicions that he walked all night, reaching camp about noon. Quickly he told the chief, who imme- diately said : " Young men, catch your horses ; hasten to Tshimakain and see how it is with our teachers." Twenty-one did so, and with the few weapons at hand commenced the ride of twenty-five miles. They rushed down the steep hill south of the Spokane so rapidly that they left hoof tracks plainly seen several days afterward. After they had crossed the river they watched closely, expecting to see some woman 134 FATHER EELLS, or child in flight. When about two miles from the station they became satisfied that no one had been killed, although they believed that hostile Cay uses were in the region. Those in the van waited for those farther behind ; then they shouted with joy that " their teachers were safe," and at the same time to let the enemy know, if lurking around, that they must let these teachers alone. As they suspected that spies were near the mission, horses were placed in a pen and locked up, fires were kept burning, and a watch during the night. One of these Indians, named Charles, was more intelligent and less excitable than many. When asked what they would have done if they had met the Cayuses with evil intent at Tshimakain he replied: "We would have fought them." Such acts and statements, with others like them, showed evidence of sincere regard by those Indians for their teachers. The Indians then asked Messrs. Walker and Eells to go to their camp to hold a council. The decision was, however, that it was better for them first to go to Colville, consult with Mr. Lewes, and then return for the council. Accordingly the next day they started, guarded through the prairie by the Indians. Most of these returned by another route after a short time, a rather secret route, so that the enemy might be led to believe that the teachers were well THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. 135 guarded, but a few of them kept guard all the way to Colville. It was then decided that Mr. Walker should remain at the fort while Mr. Eells should go to the council, as Mr. Walker was five years older, considerably more infirm, much heavier, and would be a hindrance if they should be hard pushed and attempt to flee. Mr. Lewes objected to the plan, still it was adopted. A sufficient guard of Indians was, however, procured, not one who was asked declining. True they were now all safe together at the fort, where they could remain until it should be safe to go elsewhere. But they were not looking out for them- selves alone. The work now was to keep the Spo- kanes and as many of the neighboring bands as possible from joining the enemy, for lying rumors had been so spread abroad that even the Indians about Fort Colville had become so hostile that Mr. Lewes had at one time during the winter kept his fort guarded night and day for two weeks. When Mr. Eells reached Tshimakain all was quiet with no evidence of devastation. From this place one half-breed turned back, afraid to go further. He was willingly allowed to depart. Such a person would be of no use. The next afternoon Mr. Eells was at the appointed camp. There was a large gathering and all the bands 136 FATHEB EELLS. were represented. Suc-a-tal-ka-ku-sam, the father of the present Moses, was there. When Mr. Eells asked whether it was wise for him to pitch his tent the reply was, " Yes ; the Cayuses are afraid of us." That night the largest lodge was closely packed. When Mr. Eells asked what they wished their reply was : " We are loyal to the Americans. We are ready to make proof of what we say. AYe are scantily sup- plied with arms and ammunition. We wish you to write our words to the white chiefs — those wise in heart, great in war, and powerful in speech." Mr. Eells took a Testament from his pocket and asked Ce-lim-klim-a-lak-a-lah and 8uk-a-tal-ka-ku-sam to place their hands on it, and in the presence of Him whose book it was, to speak truly and faithfully. Their faces showed that they knew the meaning of the act and words. The letter was written and three trusty Indians went with it on foot, first westward across the Columbia, then south to Fort Walla Walla (now Wallula) where they recrossed, and Ah-ma-mel-i-kan, one of their num- ber, afterwards the patriarchal leader and preacher, took it to Fort Waters at Dr. Whitman's station. At that place orders had been given to shoot every Indian approacliing the place unless he had a white flag. The sentinel saw the Indian coming without a flag, as he THE MISSION BROKEN UP. 137 did not know of the order or custom. The apparent fearlessness and innocence of the Indian stayed the shot. A kind Providence preserved him, but he was told that when he should come again on peaceful errands he must show a white flag. When he returned, though by a less circuitous road, Mr. Eells was there again to receive the package. For two mouths communications passed constantly between him and the military. His work was to cor- rect false rumors, quiet fears, and keep the army and those at Fort Colville posted. He was mostly on the move. When the families had been at Fort Colville ten weeks he had been there ten nights. All this time he never went armed, believing that he was safer with- out arms. He was counseling for peace. He had, however, a swift horse, which no Indian could catch, and a pack mule which could scent an Indian half a mile or more. In camping he selected some secluded place, hobbled his horse aud staked the mule. If any Indians came within smelling distance, the mule would snort and tear, awaken his master and warn him of the approach. Only two or three times did he feel alarmed. On his last trip but one, when at Tshimakain, and ready to start for Colville he was induced by Indians, chiefly Palouse, to go southward in an opposite direction fifty 138 FATHEB EELLS. miles to near where Sprague now is. The result was favorable, for he was enabled to send nine Indians and a white man direct to Fort Waters through the midst of the enemy's country. In returning he and Edwin were alone. He wished for an Indian helper, but his Indian goods, with which he had been accus- tomed to remunerate them for services while with him, had run low. He also thought he would test them, as he was now working for them. The result was he and his son were alone. While resting at noon an Indian with a gun came along. The thought was, Has he come to kill us? Each caught a horse as a shield; but they were not harmed. On reaching the Spokane they found the only canoe on their side while all the Indians were on the other side. Mr. Eells was not accustomed to paddling a canoe and the stream was very swift. They drove their horses into the river and the animals swam across. Mr. Eells then put baggage and saddles with his son into the canoe, took it some distance up, and started across. The current was so swift that they were carried down an alarming distance only to land on the same side from which they had started. An- other attempt was made ; again they were carried fearfully near the rapids. The Indians saw their danger and shouted ; at last when very near the rapids they came so close to the banks that Edwin grasped THE MISSION BE KEN UF. 139 a pole which au Indian stretched out and they were saved. They caught their riding horses and pack mule. AVhile Mr. Eells was saddling one the boy held the other two. The mule and then the horse started to join other horses near. The boy held on well ; the horse kicked, the boy fell. When he was picked up his head was very near a rock, which it had barely missed, and the foot of the horse had barely missed him ; so no bones were broken. This journey had, however, delayed them five days beyond the time for reaching Colville ; consequently those there became so anxious that they sent to learn about their safety. After Mr. Eells met this mes- senger they rode rapidly, for the son had said : " Let us whip up ; mother is anxious." The reply came to the last letter which Mr. Eells had written to Fort Waters. To meet it Mr. Eells made one more trip. The delegation from several Indian bands was welcomed ])y the soldiers. That was the consummation of what Mr. P^ells had endeavored to do. Boldly he had said : "The troops will not harm those Indians who do not join the Cayuses." He was relieved. Then he discharged his Indian helper, as all danger was over, and went alone from Tshimakain to Fort Colville. There was no occasion for haste, no call for courage or energy ; and then his spirits sank to 140 FATHER SELLS. the lowest ebb. He imagined himself dogged by one taking advantage of his lone condition. Timidly he sought a camp in a secluded place, near Chewelah, not even pitching his small tent, but tying his faithful horse and mule near his head. He slept soundly and his courage revived. Mr. Eells went on to the fort, where he arrived May 26. During the preceding ten weeks he had traveled about fourteen hundred miles. Chief Factor John Lee Lewes furnished him a paper, unsolicited, giving his testimony to his Christian perseverance and praise- worthy assiduity amid much personal risk as well as bodily fatigue,^ On May 28 two Indians brought two letters to the fort. One was from Colonel H. A. G. Lee, in command of the volunteers. These forces had chased the Cay- uses north of Snake River and so far out of the coun- try that it seemed useless to pursue them farther, although the avengers had not captured and punished the murderers as they wished. Colonel Lee wrote : — "When we found that it was not expedient to pursue the flying Indians farther, we halted. The question was asked : Shall we go back to the Willa- mette and leave the two mission families of Rev. Messrs. Walker and Eells? That could not be thought of. They could not look Americans in the face and » Annual Report A. B. C. F. M., 1849, p. 203. THE MISSION BROKEN UP. 141 say: *We have left two missionary families in the In- dian country in these times.' Volunteers were asked for to bring away those families and sixty responded. Major Joseph Magone was placed in charge." The Other letter was from Major Magone, who stated that he would be at Tshimakain on Sunday, May 28, — the day the letter was received at Fort Colville, — ready to take them out "bag and baggage," provided it was best to go. On consultation it was thought best. Mr. Lewes had protected them when there was no other way, but now he was of the opinion it was best to go. The next morning Messrs. "Walker, Eells, and a son of Mr. Lewes went to Tshimakain, where they arrived before sunset — seventy miles. Consultation was had until the next day at noon. The Spokane Indians were decidedly opposed to their leaving. When the fleeing Cayuses had come towards their country the Spokanes had sent word that they must not come to their lands. The Cayuses replied : "We shall not re- gard what you say." Then the Spokanes had prepared to fight, though this did not prove necessary. Now they said they could protect the mission families. They were told that if these families should remain and mischief should befall them, their people might be involved in trouble. They said that if necessary they would take the families with them, even to where they 142 FATHEB EELLS. should dig roots. One Indian, opening his blanket, said he would protect them as a mother does her child under her blanket. The gentlemen started on Tuesday afternoon for Colville, where they arrived Wednesday noon. By Thursday noon all were ready to leave, and they reached Tshimakain on Saturday. The opposition from the Spokanes, however, continued to be so strong that the missionaries changed their plans of remaining there over the Sabbath, crossed the Spokane that night, and spent the Sabbath on its south side. June 3, 1848, they said good-by to the station which had been the home of the adults for more than nine years, and the birthplace of the two children of Mr. Eells, and five of Mr. Walker. Good-by it was forever for most of them, Mr. P^ells and his youngest son being the only ones of that number who have ever revisited it. The following lines, written by Mrs. Mary Walker for her children, are very appropriately inserted here : Tshimakain 1 Oh, how fine Fruits and flowers abounding ; And the breeze through the trees Life and health conferring. And the rill, near the hill, "With its sparkling water; Lowing herds and prancing steeds Around it used to gather. THE MISSION BnOKEN UP. 143 And the Sabbath was so quiet, And the log-house chapel, Where the Indians used to gather In their robes and blankets. Now it stands, alas I forsaken : No one with the Bible Comes to teach the tawny Skailu i Of Kai-k6-len-s6-tin.2 Other spots on earth may be To other hearts as dear ; But not to me ; the reason why It was the place that bore me. On the Sabbath there was a service in the forenoon for the whites, the families sitting upon bales, the soldiers on logs. Towards evening Indians came about, and Qual-qual-a-hive-tsa said: "We do not know when we shall hear you again. "Will j^ou not have a service for us?" It was held. The Scripture applied, " The people departed, sorrowing most of all that they might see our face no more." That week took them to Dr. Whitman's station. Two Indians, out of affectionate regard, went with them to Snake River, and there Charles said to Mrs. Eells : " Our hearts weep to see you go, but we acqui- esce." The next week took them to The Dalles. From this place Mr. Eells took the animals and went over the Cascade Mountains by the Barlow route to Oregon City, accompanied by the volunteers. The rest went » People. 2 God. 144 FATHER EELL8. down the river by water and reached Oregon City June 22. Mr. Eells arrived two days later, and all were ready to listen on the following Sabbath to the preach- ing of Rev. G. H. Atkinson, the first person sent by the American Home Missionary Society to Oregon. It was his first sermon at that place, he having arrived during that very week. Colonel Lee then declared the upper country closed to American settlers, as the gov- ernment could not protect them. Thus it remained, until opened by military proclamation in 1859. The missions of the American Board in Oregon were broken up. Could they be resumed ? The only mis- sion in regard to which there was any hope was that among the Spokanes. Hoping that the way would open for their return, Messrs. Walker and Eells did not formally sever their connection with the Board for five years. The Indians were very anxious to have them return, and in 1851 journeyed four hundred and fifty miles to Oregon City to obtain teachers. Dr. Dart, superintendent of Indian affairs, did what he could to aid them, but after thoroughly weighing the matter neither Mr. Walker nor Mr. Eells could feel it his duty to return ; for, first, there was no adequate pro- tection at Tshimakain, and, second, the cost of resum- ing and sustaining operations was very great, owing largely to the high prices resulting from the discovery THE MISSION BROKEN UP. 145 of gold in California. Mr. Eells calculated that transportation would cost ten times as much as pre- viously ; indeed, procuring supplies would occupy so much time and strength that little would be left for missionary operations. Hence in 1855 their connection as missionaries with the Board was formall}' dissolved. '' This step," wrote Mrs. Eells, " has been very trying to my feelings, but I have acquiesced in it, as not seeing any other way to do." Yet although thus out- wardly released, their hearts were still in the work. Mr. Eells made visits to the Spokanes when he could, and Mrs. Eells as long as she lived prayed for " the aborigines of the country for whom they had labored." To bring this whole subject together it may be well to anticipate and record later facts about these Indians and the results of the missionary work. The Indians had been left by their teachers, and the question was, Would they return to their former practices? Instead of retrogression came advance. If not members of the visible church, — and not one had been thought fit for church membership, — some showed that they were members of the invisible one. Several, as if divinely called, took position as leaders and teachers. There were public Sabbath services and daily worship in their lodges. If the head man were absent, another took his place. If the praying men were all away, the praying women took their places, 146 FATHER BELLS. Annually some of these Indians were accustomed to go to the Willamette, especially to Oregon City, the metropolis, for work. Their constancy and apparently devout manner of attendance on public worship were noticeable. They asked persistently to be supplied with religious teachers. In the spring of 1850 or 1851, when about to return home, they asked with especial earnestness of Dr. A. G. Dart, superintendent of Indian affairs, for such teachers. He was expecting to visit their region, and when they knew this he said: *' They would not leave without a promise that one of their former teachers would accompany me." Mr. Walker decided to do so. Notwithstanding all the commotion about Tshima- kain in the spring of 1848 the wheat had been sown in hope that it might be needed. When the mission- aries left in June Mr. Eells gave the Indians the two sickles and they were instructed to cut it when it was ripe and put it in the barn, and if the missionaries did not return before the snow should fall, they might thresh and eat it. It was harvested, but the chief said it must be kept for the use of tlieir teachers on their return. It was used in time of need for seed, but was replaced. When they expected Mr. Walker to visit them they carried it to Colville, had it ground, and brought it back for the use of the party. THE MISSION B BO KEN UP. 147 Dr. Dart and Mr. Walker started accordiog to expectation, but were overtaken by a messenger, who informed them that Dr. Dart was needed in southern Oregon to look after the Indians there, and the trip was necessarily abandoned. To the Indians this was a great disappointment. In 1855 Mr. Eells was living near Hillsborough, Oregon. About that time the Colville mines were discovered. Among those who went was William H. Bennet, one of Mr. Eells' neighbors. When he and his party reached the Spokane River they at first found no way of crossing. Looking down the river they found some Indians, who assisted them. Mr. Bennet told them that he was acquainted with Messrs. Walker and Eells. Then the Indians' faces brightened and they worked with delight. After cross- ing it was time to eat. The whites said that since the Indians had been so kind they ought to ask the chief to eat with them. They did so. When they were seated the chief looked as if he were waiting for something, the white men could not tell what. When they had almost, or quite, begun eating the chief bowed his head and asked a blessing. The whites were rebuked. When one of them told Mr. Eells about it afterwards the narrator said : " Those Indians were better Christians than we were." The Yakima war of 1855-56 followed, which 148 FATHEB SELLS. extended from Rogue River in southern Oregon to the Spokanes on the north; but with them it stopped. One of them made himself especially useful to the whites in the Indian attack on the Cascades. In the war of 1858, which resulted in the defeat of Colonel E. J. Steptoe and the campaign of Colonel George Wright, the main body of the Spokanes were engaged, together with the Palouses, Yakimas, Coeur d'Alenes, and Pen d'Oreilles. When the Spokane council was held, in which it was decided to unite with the other hostiles, Big Star, the chief of that band, among whom missionary labor had been mainly spent, opposed it as long as he could. When the decision was made he drew off with his band, saying that he would not fight against the whites.^ Kip, in his " Army Life on the Pacific," speaks twice of Big Star and says that he talked peace. Major P. Lugenbeel was in command of Fort Col- ville, that is, the new United States fort, for years. He also acted as Indian agent. In 1861 he said to Mr. Eells : "Those Indians of yours are the best Indians I ever saw. I wish you would go back and resume missionary operations among them." From 1860 to 1872 Mr. Eells was in the Walla Walla valley. In 1862 he revisited Tshimakain for the first time and spent a Sabbath there. A large number 1 Eells' Indian Missions, p. 236. THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. 149 came from within fifteen miles to meet him. Of that visit he says: "I made note of the evidence of increasing good fruits of mission work. Those who had experienced the saving power of the truth and Spirit of God were distinguishable. By word and deed they showed forth the praises of Him who had called them out of darkness into his wonderful light." During the time he was at Walla Walla a number of them came to that region, especially to the Toucliet and Walla Walla valleys, and worked for farmers. Many often attended the Congregational church at Walla Walla. They could not understand the serv- ices in English, yet they came to be present even at these, for they said that they likod to be there, as they knew that God was being talked about. After church they remained at Sabbath-school, where Mr. Eells gathered them into his class and taught them in Indian. This class varied in numbers, the highest being thirty-six. A pamphlet called "Scripture Cuts," full of Bible pictures, was given to them during the early mission- ary period. It was very helpful in assisting them to remember the Bible. This they carefully preserved and often when they had an opportunity asked to have these pictures again explained. To help them to remember dates a simple chronological chart was 150 FATHER EELLS. made, a long line representing a hundred years, a shorter one ten years, and a still shorter one a year. Thus the time from the creation to the deluge, to the time of Christ, and to the present dates could be illustrated. This was kept until May 21, 1868. The next day they were to leave Walla Walla. After a talk with ten of them at Sabbath-school until four o'clock Mr. Eells went home, six miles ; but that evening three walked to his house for further instruc- tion, and A-ma-mel-i-kan presented that paper, say- ing, ^^ Tem-e-icalsW (It has come to pieces). By constant use it was literally worn out. A new one was prepared and given to them. In 1872 Mr. Eells moved to Skokomish, on Puget Sound. Before this Rev. H. H. Spalding had returned to his work among the Nez Perces, and the years from 1871 to 1874 were his most successful ones there. When these Spokanes knew not where else to turn for instruction they applied to him. He went among them in 1874 and without organizing any church baptized two hundred and fifty-three. Over a hundred more were baptized after his death ; not that these were all professing Christians, though many were. Another reason brought others to this step. In 1871, when President Grant adopted the peace policy, the Spokanes were assigned to the Colville Agency, which was under the Catholics. There was THE MISSION BBOKEN UP. 161 much effort to induce them to become Catholics, especially to be baptized. Some years previous a Catholic mission was established about forty miles above Tshimakain and a number of converts were made ; but the Protestant portion would not accept Catholic teachings, and to save themselves from con- stant importunity by Catholics some who were not real Christians asked for and received baptism. AVhen this was done that importunity ceased. Still many new ones became Christians, for Mr. Spalding had preached earnestly and had also some Nez Perce helpers, who assisted him. At the Congregational Association of Oregon and Washington, held at Olympia, Deacon J. J. McFar- land, of Salem, who as millwright liad helped to build the first sawmill at Spokane Falls the year before, spoke of these Indians. Some of them encamped near that place and morning and evening had daily called the people together for worship and also for two public Sabbath services. William Three Moun- tains, or Auts-kai-ope-lea, was their leader. Mr. Eells heard this ; he heard something of Mr. Spalding's work, and he was drawn as by a magnet towards them. So on July 15, 1874, he left Skoko- mish on his horse Le Blau, crossed the Cascade ^Fountains, walking about one third of the way, the horse carrying his food and bedding. He went by 152 FATHER EELLS. way of Walla Walla and Colfax. When across the Spokane River he saw a lodge of Indians ; he said : ''Do you know me?" "Yes! yes! Mr. Leels ! " was the reply, for that was as correctly as they could pronounce his name. Soon he met others, and it was arranged that he should hold services at Chewelah the following Sabbath. While one of them, called Abraham, was riding with him, he said : " I think the book of God is like a torchlight," this being used by them in the dark ; an expression very nearly like the Scripture : "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Two services were held on the Sabbath with these Indians, two more with the whites, and all within six hours. After this Mr. Eells went to Fort Colville to see the Indian agent, J. A. Simms, then came back to the Spokane River, where he conducted more services, and finally visited the embryo town of Spo- kane, where he met Rev. H. T. Cowley, their mission- ary and teacher. This mission had, in connection with that among the Nez Perces, been taken up by the Presbyterians, and they had recently sent Mr. Cowley there. It has since been continued by them. After that Mr. Eells returned in the same way to Skokomish. In the summer of 1875 Mr. Eells made a similar trip, leaving Skokomish April 29, going on horseback THE MISSION BROKEN UP, 153 to the Columbia River, near Monticello, thence by steamer to Portland, and then again by steamer to The Dalles. From this place he went by land, preaching on the Sabbaths until he arrived at Old Fort Colville, ten miles north of the present town, and then started on his return. Both going and returning he spent considerable time with the Spo- kanes, holding twenty-four public services with them. Leaving his horse east of the Cascades he returned home from Wallula by steamer and cars by way of Portland, arriving at home August 27. One Sabbath in connection with Mr. Cowley the Lord's Supper was administered. Three hundred and sixty persons were present at the services, the com- municants numbering sixty. Mr. Eells says: *' T made note of the propriety of language used in prayer." Mr. Cowley said that at a late communion service one hundred and eight partook of the emblems of Christ's body and blood. At that time he was requested to give the com- munion to an Indian dying with consumption. To questions with reference to his views and feelings his replies were intelligent and gratifying ; his feelings were tender, tears flowed. He said : " I am a sinner, but it is to no purpose that I am a sinner, since there is One by whom we may live." 1G4 FATHER EELLS. In the summer of 1876 Mr. Eells was asked to preach to the whites of Colville and vicinity. He did so, giving his Sabbath services largely to them and his week days mainly to the Spokanes at various places. When with the latter he usually had one service at night and another in the morning, and during the day administered to the sick. At one time, when Mr. Eells was living at Tshima- kain, a limb had fallen and badly injured a woman on the head, tearing away the skin. Mr. Eells, then seven miles distant, was sent for, and dressed and sewed up the wound. She and others believed that he thus saved her life, though he hardly thought that true. During these later years whenever he met her she would take him ])y the hand, her lips would move, evidently in recognition of the divine favor, but her voice was not heard. The last time he met her she was about eighty years old and blind, but her tongue was loosed, and she said : "It is because of our Maker that we are spared. Meeting you is like meeting my deceased husband and others," whom she named. " I believe," wrote Mr. Eells, "in answer to her prayers God's benediction has been upon myself." During nineteen weeks of that summer Mr. Eells lield forty services with the Indians besides forty more with the whites. Their mode of living was much as it had been thirty^five years previous, for they lived THE MISSION BROKEN UP. 155 upon fish, roots, and berries, with some wheat and garden produce, and consequently were continually migrating, as of old. No treaty has ever been made with these Indians, because they neither wished to go on the Colville Res- ervation nor that of Moses. They hoped for one of their own, and in waiting many became considerably discouraged and demoralized. Some, however, too radical to wait, took up homesteads and formed colo- nies. One of these was under Chief Lot, with the patriarch A-ma-mel-i-kan as their preacher. In 1880 they had a thousand acres under fence. Another was begun by William Three Mountains. This person, then about sixteen years old, in 1839 had been in Mr. Walker's family. He was cheerful and faithful and learned well. After two years of service he left. He had learned too well, for the chief wished to excel in Scriptural knowledge, and when he found that William was surpassing him William was hindered. But he was not a Christian when the mission broke up. His own account of his conversion, as given to Mr. Eells, is as follows: "I understood the teaching of Mr. Walker and yourself, but I did not regard it. Subse- quently my father died. I heard his dying counsel, but I did not regard that. Two years thereafter I came to a stand. I turned about. I became another person." 156 FATHEil EELLS. The change was noted by many. The date was noticeable. It was about 1864, sixteen years after the mission families had left, ten years before the great reviving under Mr. Spalding. From 1864 to 1883 he was an*exemplary Christian, a "burning and shining light," earnest in his endeavor to elevate, civilize. Christianize his people. He was fearless and faithful. Then because he rebuked a drunken half-breed he was shot by the latter and died from the wound. At the present time there are one hundred and twenty-nine of these Spokanes who are members of the Presbyterian Church. They are organized into two churches, one of which is at Chief Lot's settle- ment, about seven miles from Walker's Prairie, and the other is near the mouth of the Spokane. Each organization has a house of worship. Native Nez Perce ministers have preached to them mainly during the past five years. It is at least certainly true, as Dr. Eells wrote in his centennial sketch of the Oregon missions of the American Board — even truer now than in 1876 : " The earlier and the latter sowing of the seed of gos- pel truth among the Spokane Indians has produced abundant harvest." Rev. L. H. Hallock, in his sermon at the funeral of Dr. Eells, said : " Old Indians gathered round him on his visit last September, and almost worshiped his THE MISSION BE KEN UP, 167 venerable form. With them beside a fallen tree he knelt in prayer, with them he ate a frugal meal upon which they had asked God's blessing, as he taught them long years ago, and with them he will sing in the eternal life unto which he has gone and they will come." CHAPTER VI. IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 1848-60. MR. EELLS was now safe in the Willamette valley, but that valley in 1848 was very different from the same valley in 1893. A large popu- lation had indeed come since 1838 ; the first regular immigration arriving in 1842, the first with wagons in 1843. After that the immigrants came by the thou- sands ; still the United States had not taken possession of the country in full. A provisional government, temporary until the United States should assume con- trol, had been organized in 1843, and the territory was still under it. True, the treaty which settled the Oregon question had been made in June, 1846, but the question of slavery in the territories had delayed the organization of the territory of Oregon. On account of the Whitman massacre Colonel J. L. Meek had been sent to Washington early in 1848, but it was not until August 14 of that year that his efforts, with those of Judge J. Q. Thornton, were successful. Then the territory was organized, and General Joseph Lane was appointed governor. He arrived in Oregon in 1849. 168 IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY, 159 The entire population, except a very few who had strayed to Puget Sound after 1845, was in the Willa- mette valley. There were five counties in all Oregon, Washington , and Idaho — Clackamas , Champoeg, Tuali- tin, Yamhill, and Polk — with a voting population of 1,306. Even in June, 1849, the census gave Oregon a population of only 9,083. Portland, which now has a population of ninety thousand, had then one store, one wharf, and a few log houses. East Portland was abandoned as worth- less about that time by Hon. D. Shelton, who had taken it as a donation claim. Even as late as 1850 Portland was known as " a place twelve miles below Oregon City." This latter place, known as the Willamette Falls, with five or six hundred people, was in 1848 the social, political, and commercial center of the whole region west of the Rocky Moun- tains, and its supremacy extended to San Francisco, then only a straggling adobe village. Astoria, with half a dozen log houses, as many sheds, and a pigsty or two ; Plymouth, at the mouth of the Willamette ; Muttnomah and Robin's Nest, opposite Oregon City ; and Salem, were the other towns of Oregon.^ The news of the discovery of gold in California, 1 These are the ones mentioned by Thornton in his "Oregon and California." 160 FATHEB SELLS. which had been made iu January, 1848, did not reach Oregon until the August after the missionaries had reached Oregon City. Money was very scarce, and wheat was the common currency. There were three Congregational ministers in the valley besides Messrs. Walker and Eells : Rev. J. S. Griffin, who had come in 1839 as an independent missionary to the Indians, but had found the work impracticable and had settled near Hillsborough ; Rev. Harvey Clark, who had arrived in 1840, with the same purpose as Mr. Griffin and with the same result, and had settled at Forest Grove ; and Rev. G. H. Atkin- son, whose arrival in 1848 has already been mentioned. There were also two Presbyterian missionaries, Rev. Lewis Thompson and Rev. H. H. Spalding; there were two Congregational churches west of the Rocky Mountains, one at Hillsborough, organized in 1842, Rev. J. S. Griffin, pastor; and one at Forest Grove, organized in 1845. The membership of both was prob- ably not over twenty. The one at Oregon City had been organized in 1844, by Mr. Clark, but by vote of its members was Presbyterian. In 1849 it became Congregational. It then had a membership of seven. The only church building which all of these churches then had was a log house at Forest Grove, which was also used for a schoolhouse — for Pacific University in embryo. ,. /afl.J^w # \:§; I f <'.'^Z\ f IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 161 This was the net total of Congregationalism west of the Rocky Mountains in June, 1848 ; in fact, all there was of it west of the Mississippi, with the exception of twenty-four churches in Iowa and one in Nebraska, unless a few had been organized which have since disbanded. When Mr. Eells left the Missouri for Oregon in April, 1838, there was not a Congregational church among the whites west of that river, the first one having been organized at Denmark, Iowa, the following May. The church among the Indians at the Santee Agency in Nebraska is the only existing one which dates its organization previous to that time, it having been organized in 1836. When Dr. Eells died there were 46 Congregational churches in Oregon with a membership of 2,962 ; 99 in Washington with a membership of 4,085 ; or 153, including 8 in Idaho, in the then Oregon, with 7,299 members ; and 3,592 west of the Mississippi River, with a member- ship of 98,610. In fact, previous to 1825, the year of Mr. Eells' conversion, there was not a Congrega- tional church west of Ohio, and of the 3,592 such churches which now exist west of New England only 63 date their organization before 1810, the year of Mr. Eells' birth, of which 53 are in New York, 7 in Ohio, 2 in Pennsylvania, and 1 in New Jersey. On their arrival in the Willamette valley Mr. Eells went to the Aberqua to live until some employment 162 FATHEB EELLS, could be fouud. This was about fifteen miles north of Salem. The house was of logs with a puncheon floor, — that is, logs split in two and hewed on the split side, — without one article of furniture, and so filthy that Mrs. Eells wept when she saw its cheerless con- dition ; but, on account of the newness of the country, it was the best that could be had. Mrs. Eells, however, soon chased her tears away, went energetic- ally to work, and cleansed it. One bale placed upon another and the bass viol box thereon formed a table. While there they had only a limited supply of utensils with which to keep house. Their largest dish was a tin wash basin, and in this Mrs. Eells made bread, washed dishes, hands, and the like. The largest kettle held about four quarts. In this she baked bread, covering it up in the ashes. They had neither bed, bedstead, nor chair, only simply their personal clothing and bedding, a few small tin dishes, half a dozen tin plates, knives, forks, and the like. The Methodists, a few years previous, had begun the Oregon Institute at Salem, which had developed out of the Indian school of their early missions, and has since grown into Willamette University. After Mr. Eells had been at the Aberqua about four weeks Revs. J. H. Wilbur, William Roberts, and A. F. Waller, trustees of that institution, invited him to take charge of it for six months. As he was waiting m THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. l63 for further developments in the Indian country and had been a successful teacher in the East he thought it best to accept the offer. He went there in the fall of 1848, being engaged for six months. Mrs. Eells assisted in teaching. *' Here," says Rev. G. Hines in his "History of Oregon and its Institutions," " they exerted an excel- lent influence, and contributed much while they re- mained to give character and stability to the school." ^ These were the hard times for the family. While they had been connected with the Board they had received no salary. Their expenses alone were paid. They had tried to be economical for its sake, and hence they found themselves with almost nothing. About August, 1848, the news of the discovery of gold in California reached Oregon. Prices became very high and living very expensive. While at Salem it was often bread and molasses for breakfast, black New Orleans molasses at that, molasses and bread for dinner, and bread and molasses for supper. The Board finally gave them the personal property which they held for it, such as horses and mules, but it was fully a year after their arrival in the Willamette valley before they could live comfortably. While they were teaching, the Congregationalists, mainly through the efforts of Rev. H. Clark and 1 Page 228. 164 FATEEB EELLS, Rev. G. H. Atkinson, were laying the foundations of Tualitin Academy and Pacific University. The Con- gregational brethren thought that Mr. Eells ought to labor in his own denomination. They urged him to take charge of this school at Forest Grove, saying that it must go down unless he should do so. He finally consented, and in 1849 removed to that place, remaining there about two years. Mrs. Eells assisted in the schoolhouse one third of the time. A school had been begun at this place by Mrs. Tabitha Brown as an orphan asylum. At the first annual meeting of the Congregational and Presby- terian Association, held at Oregon City, September, 1848, it had been voted to found an academy under their patronage, and it had been located at Forest Grove. It had absorbed the orphan asylum, which had grown to quite a size on account of the exit of a large number of men to the gold mines of Cali- fornia, whose children were left here. It was incor- porated in 1849, as Tualitin Academy. April 4 of that year the school began under Mr. Eells in a log house twenty by thirty feet, and twelve feet high, with puncheon seats and desks. A log was split in two, the split side was hewed as smoothly as possible, one half being used for the seat, and the other half fastened to the wall as a desk. The floor also con- sisted of puncheons, but with large cracks between m THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 165 them, one of them at least so large that the writer, then a small boy, was able to put his foot through. It had a batten door, and the logs were so cut away as to receive a few panes of glass for windows. Thus they helped to lay the foundations of what is now Pacific University. There were then about fifty scholars there. Mr. Eells thought of preaching, but such was the condition of the country that, as Mrs. Eells wrote, *'a common laboring man could obtain about twice as much for a day's work as an educated man could for teaching, and a minister must get his raiment by the sweat of his brow almost as much as if he had no calling. This was owing partly to the distance the people lived from each other, partly to the gold fever which took oft" a great proportion of all classes of men, and partly to the want of proper apprecia- tion of the worth of education and ministerial labor." The only way in which he could have engaged directly in ministerial labor and have been supported was to enter the service of the American Home Missionary Society. But this would have necessitated severing his connection with the Board, and he was still w^aiting to see if that were wise. Wages and prices at this time were about as fol- lows : The men who built Tualitin Academy received from five to ten dollars a day. A mere boy could get three or four dollars a day. Cotton sheeting 166 FATHER EELLS. was twenty or twenty-five cents a yard ; inferior calico twenty-five cents ; wheat in the field a dollar and a half a bushel ; flour eight to ten dollars a hun- dred ; potatoes three dollars a bushel ; onions fifty cents a dozen ; apples the same, and dried apples from sixty-two to seventy-five cents a pound. For teaching Mr. Eells received six dollars a scholar per term of three months, thus obtaining about six hun- dred dollars a year, and from it he gave during three years forty, fifty, and one hundred dollars a year for preaching. He also superintended a flourishing Sabbath-school of fifty scholars. After he had taught nearly two years such diffi- culties arose that he resigned ; but soon an earnest request came from Rev. J. S. Griflfln to teach in his neighborhood, about eight miles from Forest Grove. Mr. Griffin had just completed a good schoolhouse, the best local schoolhouse in the region, and for sev- eral years a model for others built in the surrounding country. This invitation was accepted, and for four years that was the scene of his labors. In August, 1851, he moved into a part of Mr. Griffin's house and lived there for fifteen months. Then finding a donation claim of six hundred and forty acres for sale near by, and wishing a hoi^ie of his own, he bought it for fifteen hundred dollars. This was his home for nearly five years. m THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 167 In 1855 Mr. Eells received dismissal from the American Board. It had authorized him and Mr. Walker to return to Tshimakain if the way should seem open, without further correspondence, though they said they did not wish to break it open. It had ur2;ed Mr. Eells to go as a missionary to the Sand- wich Islands. He would have done so willingly had he been a few years younger, but he felt that at his age it was not wise to try to learn a new language. In the judgment of his ministerial breth- ren he could do more good by remaining in Oregon and laboring for the whites than by entering any foreign field. Of spiritual privileges Mrs. Eells wrote, November, 1856: "I think we can truly say we hunger and thirst after righteousness, but we do not sit under the droppings of the sanctuary. There are many tran- sient preachers, but very few places where a stated ministry is enjoyed. A large proportion of the people are from the Western States, and do not know the worth of a settled ministry. They somehow seem to feel that once a month is as often as they wish to hear any one man, be he ever so good a preacher." Having taught in Mr. Griffin's schoolhouse for four years, he afterwards taught at Hillsborough, and in the North Tualitin plain for two years more. At the same time he preached, as he found opportunity, 168 FATHER EELLS. within eight miles' radius, two, three, and sometimes four times a month. He rarely, however, received pay for so doing. For several years five dollars given him by Elder Weston, a Baptist minister, was all that he received for these services. While thus engaged an earnest call came for him to return to Forest Grove as principal of Tualitin Academy. That school, rechartered in 1854, as Tuali- tin Academy and Pacific University, after various vicissitudes, felt that he could serve it better than any one else who could be obtained. He deemed it wise to accept the offer, and removed again to Forest Grove in 1857 and began teaching about Novem- ber 1. The engagement was for three years, either party having the privilege of terminating by giving a few months' notice. The school received new life, and flourished more than it had for a long time. His relations with the professors were cordial, his church privileges abundant, and the family ever looked back to the place as in reality a home, because of the con- geniality of spirit in those with whom they were associated ; Mr. Walker and family, their old asso- ciates in the Indian work, President 8. H. Marsh, and Professor II. Lyman being among them. As a teacher Mr. Eells was considered quite strict, and very watchful even when his back was turned, so that his pupils sometimes said that he had eyes in the m THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 169 back of his head. On this point Miss S. I. Lyman gives the following in The Pacific : — "Many incidents survive of Dr. Eells' teaching days. One I will relate which was told to me by the chief actor herself, a pupil in his school at Forest Grove. Said she : ' I remember how Mr. Eells got ahead of me once. We were required to write com- positions every two weeks. As I was a fluent writer I was often called upon to get up compositions for the duller ones, all this being unknown to any one but myself and the one helped. I adapted my writing as far as possible to the supposed ability of the one I assisted, and so escaped detection. There was a very dull girl in the school, who really could not write an essay to save herself. She came to me for help, and I good-naturedly complied, writing as nearly as I could the way she would write, which was not very well. The time came and K arose to read her essay. She was about halfway through when Mr. Eells stopped her, and with that stern, measured voice said, "K , did you write that composition?" " No, sir," said poor K in a trembling voice. "Who did write it?" "C M ," replied K , point- ing to me. "C M ! Well, you read your composition," said Mr. Eells, fixing his eyes on me. With burning face and faltering tongue I arose, and amid the laughter of my schoolmates read a 170 FATHER EELLS. composition of very iuferior quality. It is needless to say that I never ventured to help any one again to the extent of writing her compositions.' " During this time the Congregational church was erected at that place, at a cost of about seven thou- sand dollars, the membership being forty. Before it was finished Mr. I^ells had given nine hundred dol- lars, including the lots on which it stands. A debt remained. It was desired to dedicate it free of debt. The proposition was made to as many as felt inclined to pay this debt, according to the taxable property of each member. A few were ready, Mr. Eells being one of them ; with what Mrs. Eells gave their total donation for the erection of this church was eleven hundred and fifty dollars. Mrs. Eells also worked hard for the same object. The builder said that the pulpit ought to be furnished with sofa, carpet, plush velvet for a cushion, and trimming around the stand. He told Mrs. Eells that it would fall to her share to obtain this. Mr. Eells said that the purses had already been so severely taxed that he thought it would be hard to obtain the fifty dollars needed ; for four men had already given about four thousand dollars for the building. Some said they must go without sofa and carpet ; some said one thing, and some another. In two days' canvass- ing Mrs. Eells obtained thirty -two dollars from the m THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY. 171 ladies. Mr. Eells added ten more, and with her eldest son Mrs. Eells went to Portland, twenty-two miles distant, with provender for their horses and lunch for themselves for three days. Through rain and mud they traveled until they reached their destina- tion. Mrs. Eells, almost fifty years old, was so tired she could hardly walk straight. The required articles were obtained for the forty-two dollars. At this time Mrs. Eells desired deeply to lay the foundation of a professorship in Pacific University, and proposed to give fifty acres of her share of the donation claim near Hillborough for this purpose. Mr. Eells thought it might not be wise to divide the claim in the way it might be necessary to do were the fifty acres thus given. He took the laud and gave a block in Forest Grove in its stead, worth at that time much more. It was so given that the income should not be used until, by compound interest, it should amount to enough to support a professorship. The property has been carefully handled, and at the time of Dr. Eells death it was worth about twelve thousand dollars. When given it was valued at five hundred dollars ; in 1893, one fourth remained unsold and that was valued at about three thousand dollars. CHAPTER VII. WHITMAN SEMINARY. 1860-82. He who plants, or aids in planting, a Christian Hcliool of Learning, may be sure that his agency shall yield beneficent fruits, ever more accumulating, till the knowledge of Christ shall be complete in the hearts of men. — Hammond. i "TTTHILE thus at work Mr. Eells felt as if the * ^ AVillamette were not his home. His eyes con- tinually turned east of the Cascade Mountains, a region to which he had given his life. The Yakima war had occurred in 1855-56 ; other troubles were quelled in 1858, and in 1859 a military proclamation opened the country to settlers. During all this time the American Board owned stations at Waiilatpu, Lapwai, and Tshi- makain, and Messrs. Walker and Eells held a power of attorney to attend to its business with reference to these places. When the country was declared open Mr. Eells turned his eyes thither and in 1859 he made a vacation journey there, partly to attend to the interests of the Board and partly because his own wish drew him. At Walla Walla he visited the old mission sta- tion and the great grave which contained the remains » Found on a Drury College map of Missouri, which was among Dr, Eells' papers after his death. 172 WHITMAN SEMINARY, 173 of Dr. Whitman, his wife, and nine others. Mr. Eells thought of all the work among the Indians and how it had terminated ; he remembered what Dr. Whitman had done to save the country to the United States ; the past, the then present, and the future came to mind. He afterwards said : " I believe that the power of the Highest came upon me." He felt that something ought to be done in honor of the martyrs. However much he believed that a monu- ment of stone ought to be erected, yet he felt that if Dr. Whitman were alive, he would prefer the monu- ment to be a high school for the benefit of the youth of both sexes of the region. He had previously thought of this. Now by that grave he solemnly promised that he would do what he could for that object. He determined to move to the place. While there he preached the first Protestant sermon utterred in Walla Walla City, and on his way home assisted Rev. W. A. Tenney in organizing the Congre- gational church at The Dalles, the first one east of the Cascade Mountains. On reaching home he sought the advice of the Con- gregational Association. Its approval was given in these words : " In the judgment of this Association the contemplated purpose of Brother C. Eells to remove to Wai-i-lat-pu to establish a Christian school at that place, to be called the Whitman Seminary, in memory 174 FATHER EELL8. of the noble deeds and great worth, and in fulfillment of the benevolent plans, of the lamented Dr. Whitman and wife ; and his further purpose to act as a home missionary in the Walla AValla valley, meet our cordial approbation, and shall receive our earnest support." Dr. Eells gave the necessary notice for the termina- tion, about the first of March, 1860, of the agreement between himself and the Trustees of Tualitiu Acad- emy, about eight months previous to the end of his three years. He taught through the winter. His hope was that while waiting and working for the seminary he might do ministerial work in the Walla Walla valley. Application was accordingly made to the American Home Missionary Society for a commission and support. But that society declined, stating that there were not funds to support so expen- sive a mission ; that its business was to foster preach- ing and to build up churches, and not to build semina- ries and colleges, and they must not do indirectly what they could not do directly. Mrs. Eells said : " Are you not released from your obligation in view of that disappointment?" He replied : " I have not done what I can." He did not abandon the work, but he changed the plan. He saw no other means for the accomplishment of his object than to labor with his hands as Paul did, not at tent- making, but at corn-raising and farming. During the WHITMAN' SE3IINABY, 175 winter of 1859-60, mainly through the efforts of Hon. J. C. Smith, at Mr. Eells' request, a charter was obtained for Whitman Seminary from the Washington Territorial Legislature. Mr. Eells had offered to the American Board a thousand dollars for its station at Waiilatpu, containing six hundred and forty acres, and the offer had been accepted. Not having much money at hand, as he had given so much to assist in building the church at Forest Grove, he borrowed a yoke of oxen from Dr. William Geiger, and with his own span of horses and wagon he left home for Walla Walla, March 10, 1860, with his older son, then eighteen years of age. They went by steamer to The Dalles, and then hitching the horses ahead of the cattle to the wagon they went to Walla Walla overland, one hundred and seventy-five miles, hauling their farming implements and provisions for the summer. They reached their destination March 26. In 1860 the Walla Walla region was very thinly populated. The country had been organized in 1854 and included all Washington between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains, from the forty-sixth to the forty- ninth parallel, except Klikitat and a part of Ska- mania counties ; but that organization availed nothing, as the region was too dangerous for whites. Then came the Yakima war of 1855-56 with the battle of 176 FATHEB EELLS. Walla Walla and Colonel Wright's campaign of 1858, by which the Indians had been so thoroughly con- quered that the country was safe. In January, 1859, county officers had been appointed and the organization took effect. In 1859 and 1860 a few people, chiefly men with stock, had settled along the streams, though but very few had come to make permanent homes, as the land, except on the streams, was supposed to be worthless for agricultural purposes. There was too no market except at the garrison, as wheat would not pay the expense of raising and shipment. Neither were there any flour mills in running order ; flour had to be brought from Portland or else ground by hand in large coffee mills. Walla Walla, which in 1892 had a pop- ulation of about ten thousand, was then a small village with five families and about a hundred men. It had received its name only during the previous November. Late in 1860 the gold mines of Orofino in Idaho were discovered, the next year those of Florence ; then a great rush into this region occurred, and affairs assumed a different aspect. The summer of 1860 was spent by Mr. Eells and son alone in a log house fourteen feet square with the ground for a floor, and dirt upon logs for a roof. They worked during the week, and on the WHITMAN SEMINABY. 177 Sabbath Mr. Eells would generally go from five to ten miles and preach at different places in the valley. On one Sabbath while preaching in Walla Walla the noise of teams and freight wagons was so great that he had to suspend the services until they had passed. That summer the Fourth of July was celebrated for the first time in that valley. Dr. Eells' account is as follows : — "The Fourth of July, 1860, was approaching. Major Massey said : ' Ought we not to be a little patriotic ? Should we not observe the Fourth of July ? ' That had never been done in the valley. I made no reply. After hearing him I thought it over and con- cluded to encourage the observance of that day. The following week I made a circuit of the neighborhood and spoke favorably in regard to its proper observance. Not long after as I returned from the field, with hoe in hand, Major Massey arrived at my house. ' You set the ball rolling,' said he, ' and now you must abide the consequences.' ' I beg your pardon,' said I ; ' I did not set the ball rolling. I gave it impetus after it was started.' "There had been a consultation and they agreed that I must be the orator. I was without books or paper, and to prepare a Fourth of July oration seemed to me not easily to be done. Further, my conveniences for writing were not favorable. I borrowed a book 178 FATHEB EELL8. and obtained paper. For a table I used a box three feet in length, eighteen or twenty inches high, and about that widtli, and for a chair sat upon a block. 1 wrote an address. Rev. H. H. Spalding was on the Touchet. He was invited to serve as chaplain. Tlie location chosen was a little south of the line dividing Oregon and Washington, near the foot of the Blue Mountains. On the Fourth of July, 1860, a congre- gation assembled." The summer's work, chiefly a crop of corn, brought over seven hundred dollars ; enough to pay for nearly three fourths of the place. In the fall they returned to Forest Grove, where they wintered. On December 17, 1860, occurred the first trustees' meeting of Whitman Seminary. The simple record in the journal of Mr. Eells is: "Messrs. Hatch and Atkinson arrived at night. A harmonious meeting of the trustees of Whitman Seminary." Mr. Hatch, however, was not a trustee. There and then the board was organized, and the seminary located at the Whitman Mission. Mr. Eells was chosen President of the board, a position he held until the close of his life, more than thirty -two years. On account of the scattered condition of the trustees it was very difficult in early days to secure a quorum at any place. Of the original nine trustees two, James Craigie and John C. Smith, were residents WHITMAN SEMINABY. 179 of the Walla Walla valley ; Rev. W. A. TeiiDey was at The Dalles ; Deacou E. S. Joslyn was at White Salmon on the Columbia River, about halfway between The Dalles and Cascades ; Rev. G. H. Atkinson was at Oregon City, soon afterwards at Portland ; Rev. H. H. Spalding at Brownsville, Oregon; Rev. E. Walker and Deacon E. S. Tanner at Forest Grove ; and Mr. Eells all along the line from Forest Grove to Walla Walla. It is not strange that Rev. P. B. Chamberlain, in his address on ' ' The Early History of Whitman Semi- nary," June 3, 1888, when the fiftieth anniversary of Dr. Eells was celebrated at Whitman College, in speaking of the residence of these trustees whose homes extended along three or four hundred miles of difficult and extensive travel, and of those early trustees' meetings said: "Surely no infant ever so sprawled in his most awkward attempts at creeping. The efforts to secure a meeting or even a quorum of a board thus scattered were often trying if not ludi- crous. If one or two from here could be induced to go to The Dalles and the one at Portland meet them there with those residing there, a quorum could be secured. If some from The Dalles and some from Forest Grove could be convened at Portland, again a quorum w^as obtained. Or as a last resort one start- ing from here and picking up another at The Dalles 180 FATHER EELLS, and still another at Portland and proceeding to Forest Grove with the two there, a quorum was the result." In March, 1861, the family again separatea as in 1860 for the season, Mrs. Eells and the younger son being left at Forest Grove. That fall Mr. Eells returned to that place, but left his older son to take care of the farm at Walla Walla. A good family, C. H. Adams, wife and five children, and another young man wintered there with him — eight in all — in a house fourteen feet square with the ground for the floor and a dirt roof. It was a severe winter. Snow lay on the ground from December to March ; the mercury fell to 29° below zero ; almost all cattle died ; the ground floor in the house froze and thawed around the fire and made mud ; water froze in the drinking cup on the table at meals between drinks ; Mr. Eells' son and another young man slept in a large freight wagon all winter, never taking off their clothes for seventy-two nights. In the spring of 1862 Mr. Eells again went to Walla Walla and on to Lewiston to look after the mission station at Lapwai in the interest of the American Board. Believing, however, that it was best for the whole family to be together, Mr. Eells went down the Columbia and out to Forest Grove for the family. Mrs. Eells yielded with regret. To others the arrangement likewise seemed regrettable. WHITMAN SEMINABT, 181 Professor W. D. Lyman, in speaking of this event after Dr. Eells' death, says: "Well do I remember, though not more than eight years old, the depart- ure of the Eells family for Walla Walla, then a mysterious, far-away region, haunted by savages and mixed up with glowing accounts of fabulous mines and gold bricks and rich diggings. The little town of Forest Grove was all astir with the great event of the departure of Father Eells for the ' upper country.' When everything was packed and ready — and I remem- ber with what activity he hurried about here and there with his boxes and bundles — he looked about on the little company of tearful neighbors — men, women, and wondering cliildren — all of whom had known what the privations of that pioneer life were, and in his slow, solemn manner called on several to lead in prayer and then to sing. It must have seemed to one old enough to understand it almost like the part- ing of Paul from his disciples when they sorrowed most of all because that they should see his face no more. And indeed it might almost have seemed the same to those from whom Father Eells was then part- ing. For the sanguinary records of Walla Walla, the deeds of blood that had before driven the mission- aries out, made it seem to some of them almost like tempting Providence to go back so soon," ^ 1 Whitman Collegian, Marcli, 1893. 182 FATHER EELLS, When they arrived at AValla Walla after a dusty wagon journey of one hundred and seventy-five miles, although a better log house had been built, still the conditions and outlook were anything but satisfactory to Mrs. Eells. She afterward said that if she could then have been permitted to return to Forest Grove, three hundred miles, she would have been tempted to make the journey on foot, yes, on her hands and knees. As long as she stayed there — ten years, from her fifty-seventh to her sixty-seventh year — the life, the lonely farm work, and the want of society were ever uncongenial to her. But her great object in remaining was to aid her husband in his work, for she had the same martyr heroism that he had. They stayed on and did the work which God had for them to do. It was such trials as these which our fathers and mothers have borne to plant Christian institutions in this land. The way did open immediately for proceeding with Whitman Seminary. The valley was filling up with settlers. The first plan had been to build the Semi- nary at the Whitman Mission and have a small, re- tired, but moral, educated, and religious town grow up around it, leaving the bulk of business and population to go to Walla Walla, six miles distant. Mr. Eells could not at first easily give up this idea of having the school near the grave and the scene of the WHITMAN SEMINAEY. 183 labors of Dr. Whitman. But as the country settled it seemed as if the original idea would not be the wisest plan. As Mr. Eells had opportunity he continued preaching without recompense and aided in general educational work. He, however, sometimes felt that his abilities as a minister were small, for he realized that his want of ministerial study while busied in missions had pre- vented him from developing as he could have done had he been engaged in more direct ministerial work. Hence he thought that he could accomplish more by giving moral and pecuniary support to some abler minister than himself. Accordingly he gave largely to induce Rev. P. B. Chamberlain to go to Walla Walla in 1863. For several years he contributed a hundred dollars a year to support liim and to build a church there. Himself, his wife, and his older son were three of the seven members of the church when it was organized, January 1, 1865. This was the first Congregational church in Washington Territory, although the territory had then been organized for nearly twelve years, and had a population of about seventeen thousand.^ When Mr. Chamberlain visited Walla Walla to see whether it would be wise to locate there he was in doubt, but when he was met by Mr. Eells, whose field he half thought he was invading, 1 In I860, 11,594 and in 1870 23.955. 184 FATHER EELLS. with such cordiality and the offer of a hundred dollars a year he decided to come. Mr. Chamberlain built the first church with his own means, but on July 11, 1868, it was burned, and he was not able to rebuild it without help, nor was it right for him to do so. Consequently subscription papers were circulated, and before everything was finished Mr. Eells had given eight hundred and sixty dollars to it. It was dedicated October 25, 1868. Those were the days of horse-stealing and vigilance committees, and Mr. Eells lived in their midst. In 1862, when moving to Walla Walla, his sons being with the horses about two miles from The Dalles, about midnight they were awakened by the barking of their dog, and a man rode up. When asked what he wanted, he said plainly that he was hunting horses. Undoubtedly he was, but he concluded that those were not the ones he wanted — just then. During the summer of 1862 Mr. Eells put the horses in a yard every night and his sons slept by them until fall, when a stable was finished, where the liorses could be locked up securely. In the daytime Mr. Eells intended to keep his horses in sight when they were turned out for grass. One day they went out of sight into the bushes on Mill Creek. He started after them immediately, went where he had last seen them, then on the road, across WHITMAN SEMINABY, 185 the creek, and through all the bushes to the open country beyond, listening for them ns he went along. They were neither to be seen nor heard. Returning through the bushes he again listened and at last heard a little rustle, when he turned to the place and found them all and a man on one of them. He had managed to keep them very still when Mr. Eells first passed, and their noise was very slight as he returned. "Is — is this your horse?'* said the man. Mr. Eells said it was. "That — that man sent me after them and said they were his," said the man. " AVhat man?" said Mr. Eells ; but the thief could not tell. In the meantime he slipped off and went away. Some said Mr. Eells would have done better if he had caught the man and lost the horse, rather than to have lost the man and saved the horse. But Mr. Eells was not armed and the thief motioned as if he were, and Mr. Eells was so glad to get the horses that when alone he did not think it best to make too much effort to capture the rascal. The Vigilance Committee was at work during 1865 and 1866. Horse-stealing and similar crimes had become so rife that the people could bear no more. Mr. Eells was not a member of it, but only because he was too old. His oldest son was (his youngest son was away at school), and all knew that the father's sympathies were with the committee, for it seemed 186 FATHER EELLS. tluit there was no safety in any other resource. Rev. Myron Eells, in "An Old Settler's Story" in The Tacoma Ledger, ^ gives the following items: — " The first man — a horse thief — was shot in April, 1865, on our place across the Walla Walla River, not much more than half a mile from our house. His name was Sanders. He lived about two miles from us. I heard the shots, but thought nothing of them until afterward when he was found in the bushes. It seemed hard, as he left a family, but he was undoubtedly very guilty, and his brothers-in-law, who were members of the Vigilance Committee, took care to see that their sister did not suffer. The captain, as was supposed, of the whole organization, William Courtney, lived about two miles from us ; in fact, we were surrounded by vigilantes, and they were good, brave, determined men. They waited for the law to do what it ought to until long after patience ceased to be a virtue, and then they went to work. The courts would sometimes con- vict, but the blacklegs elected the sheriff, and if it were winter and the rascals had nothing to live on, they would stay till spring and get out ; but if it were summer, they would sta}' a few weeks in jail and then say good-by. For a thne it seemed dou])tful whether the vigilantes would win or not, for there were about four hundred on each side, and the blacklegs had 1 Weekly Ledger, August 12, 1892. WHITMAN SEMINABY. 187 spies among the vigilantes ; but after a time a new organization was made by them of men who could be trusted, and they quietly went to work, took one man out of bed and hanged him, then hanged six or eight more, and soon about seventy-five of the worst blacklegs left the valley and it became safe for honest men to walk the streets of Walla Walla in daylight, which had not been the case for some time previous. "The next summer m}^ brother and I slept with a loaded shotgun on one side of our bed and a loaded revolver under our heads. I well remember the last man that was hanged. It was after my return home. He came to the house and wanted to stay all night, saying that he had been there about the time of the Whitman massacre. My brother was away at that time and father had to go soon after he came, for he had engaged to deliver an address that evening some six miles distant. Only mother and I were left. While I was attending to the chores I gave him some lectures about the massacre, which had been recently delivered by Rev. H. H. Spalding, and he read them. At night we had a long talk about the massacre, for I hoped to get some new items about it, but I learned nothing except what was in those lectures. At night I gave him my room and bed and went upstairs to sleep, but first — I never knew why, except on general 188 FATHEU EELL8. principles, for I did not. then mistrust him to be a tliiof — I went in, locked my trunk, and also took my revol- ver, leaving, however, the belt and a sheath knife in the belt. The next morning after breakfast I went off to take care of some horses. " The man went into the room and stayed some time, as my mother told me, and then left before I returned. While I was gone I began to think, and wondered if there were anything there that he could steal, and could think of nothing he would probably take except that knife. As soon as I went home I went and looked to see if it were there, but it was gone, althougli the belt was left. I missed nothing more until Sunday, when I found tliat he had taken a silk handkerchief from my Sunday coat. I was lucky to lose so little. I afterward learned that previous to this he had had a row in a camp, stolen some things and burned the camp, and that soon after he stayed with us the vigi- lantes ordered him to leave the valley, but he would not do so. Then they marched him out, but in a short time he was back again, and the next thing that was known about him was that he was found hanged. He was believed to be a spy, sent by the blacklegs to see whether it were safe for them to return or not. They found it was not." In November, 1864, the proper time arrived to go forward with the seminary. The original idea of WHITMAN SEMIKARY. 189 having it at the Whitman mission was abandoned from force of circumstances, and it was relocated " at or near the city of Walla Walla." Rev. Mr. Chamberlain, in the address already re- ferred to, gives this description of the work : — ''Five years thus passed after the school was char- tered before it was permanently located, and even then it was ' only on paper,' if not ' a castle in the air,' for as yet it had no abiding place, no settled habitation. Having broadly located it ' at or near the city of Walla Walla,' then commenced a wearisome, perplex- ing struggle to find a desirable and obtainable site ; for, being only beggars forced to secure grounds as a donation, we could not summarily take our pick according to our real preference. Several different locations came up for consideration and were care- fully canvassed by the trustees. "One was where Judge Lasater's residence now stands and another on Second Street where Is now the wood yard. All of these sites were then vacant and desirable, but in each case there were found to be peculiar difficulties involved. Some conditions weighed against the first. The second was upon A. B. Roberts' homestead claim, having still some years to run, and hence at the time could not be deeded to the trustees. The third was upon the claim of Mr. Shauble, whose wife was for some years 190 FATHEM EELL8. meDtally disqualified to affix her signature to any legal document. On all sides, therefore, circumstances were adverse ; and after almost unlimited planning, wait- ing, working, possibly worrying, all of these sites were abandoned and the present location finally decided upon and formally adopted in May, 1866. Seven years were thus consumed in sticking the first stake of Whitman Seminary." This location of four acres was donated by Dr. D. S. Baker, on certain conditions. The gift was afterwards increased to six acres, and the title made secure. Steps were immediately taken to erect a building twenty by forty-six feet, two stories high. It was built during the summer, and so far finished in tlie fall that the following posters were billed through the tow^n : — DEDICATION OF WHITMAN SEMINARY On Saturday, October 13, at 1 P.M. Thejmhlic are invited to attend. Rev. p. B. Chamberlain delivered the address. He spoke of monuments in general ; that the most ancient were quite rude, but were followed by those of high architectural skill. Of late years, he said, the useful had been combined w^ith the ornamental, as was seen WHITMAN SEMIiVABY. 191 in the many balls which were being built in the eastern states in honor of our brave soldiers who had fallen in battle. Two things, he said, were necessary for the erection of monuments : past history and permanent population. This valley had the former in the life and labors of Dr. Whitman, and the success of the present enterprise gave proof that many of the settlers intended this valley to be their permanent home. He then sketched the life and labors of Dr. Whit- man and his trip East in the dead of winter. Next he gave his ideas of the free school system, which he favored very strongly even to compulsory education ; but the seminary, he added, was a place where those who wished might obtain more knowledge, a step between the common schools and college. He divided education into three parts : that which makes us to be all we can be ; to do all we can do ; and to enjoy all we can enjoy, physically, intellectually, and morally, dwelling particularly on the cultivation of those facul- ties which are capable of enjoying the beautiful. He closed by congratulating Mr. Eells for his tireless labors and in seeing his hopes so far completed. The Walla Walla Statesman of October 19, 1866, also said: "The trustees express their gratitude to the Rev. Mr. Eells for the spirit of benevolence which he has manifested and for his zealous efforts for the ultimate establishment of a respectable educational 192 FATHEB EELLS. institution in the valley, to be reared and perpetuated in memory of Doctor Whitman, who sacrificed his life in the early settlement of this country." The school began October 15 with Rev. P. B. Chamberlain as principal and Misses M. A. Hodg- don and E. W. Sylvester as assistants. The next March Mr. Chamberlain resigned. Mr. Eells had hoped that his days of teaching were over, but no other suitable teacher could be found. It seemed as if the school must be suspended unless he took charge. April 1, 1867, he assumed control, with the same assistants. He remained in this position until June, 1869. In the meantime, June, 1867, he had been elected school superintendent for Walla Walla County, then embracing all that is now contained in Walla Walla, Columbia, Asotin, and Garfield counties, with nearly as much more on the east side of the Columbia River. The region was nearly as large as Massachusetts. Some of the school districts were twenty miles long. His ideas were that the common school and the higher Christian institution were not antagonistic, but in harmony, the former furnishing students and the latter furnishing teachers. Hence he labored for both at the same time. It was severe and strength-taxing toil for him to board at home, six miles distant, or to board himself WHITMAN SEMINAR Y. 193 at the Seminary, teach school five consecutive days, spend his Saturdays largely in attending to the county school business and his vacations in visiting schools. Yet he did the latter so faithfully that the county com- missioners willingly raised his salary from twenty-five dollars a year, his predecessor's pay, to five hundred dollars, the highest legal limit. For two years he served the county in this manner, and for more than two years he served the Seminary as its principal ; but the work was too hard for a man of nearly sixty. His family too had changed. When he began teaching in the Seminary his younger son was taking care of tlie farm and his older one was teaching a district school. But in the summer of 1868 the younger one had gone to Connecticut to study for the ministry, and the older one had taken his place. But the latter was not satisfied to make that his life work and wished to go to Puget Sound and read law. It seemed as if some one must look after the prop- erty. Certainly some one must stay with Mrs. Eells ; hence he resigned as principal of the Seminary in June, 1869, and finally withdrew from teaching. Soon after, in August, his older son left for Seattle, and never made Walla Walla his home afterwards, and Mr. and Mrs. Eells were alone, except as they had hired help. When the Seminary was dedicated in 1866 it had 194 FATHEB EELL8, quite a debt. The cost bad exceeded expectations ; not all tbe subscriptions had been paid, and on loans tlie trustees were paying from one to two per cent interest a month. Mr. Eells had given the Semi- nary one half the Whitman mission claim of six hun- dred and forty acres. To pay the debt the trustees had offered this for two thousand dollars, but there was no purchaser. As president of the Board, Mr. Eells had signed all the notes. With such interest financial ruin was staring the institution in the face. It seemed as if the building must soon be sold to pay the debt. Accordingly he went to work to pay those debts. Besides his work in teaching and as superin- tendent of schools, he farmed, raised stock, sold cord wood, peddled chickens, eggs and the like, and Mrs. Eells, though past fifty-seven, made four hundred pounds of butter, until she said, "I can do so no longer." She was then told to make only so much as was necessary for famil}^ use. The proceeds went to pay the debt. It is hence not strange that William Barrows, d.d., in an article entitled "A Day with a Veteran Forty- five Years in Oregon," said : '' As the doctor gave the details, I could not but remember the pecks of corn, and pewter plates and Hebrew Bibles and salt cups and sheep on which Harvard College started. Quincy, in his history of Harvard, wrote at the same time with WHITMAN SEMINABY, 195 surprising accuracy and prophecy of the humble, heroic beginnings of Whitman College, and of Carle- ton too, and some others, growing to be so noble : ' The poor emigrant, struggling for subsistence, almost houseless, in a manner defenseless, is giving according to his means toward establishing for learn- ing a resting place and for science a fixed habitation on the borders of the wilderness.'"^ Nor was it strange that, when Dr. P^ells related some of these incidents, at the annual meeting of the American Home Missionary Society at Saratoga in June, 1884, one old gentleman in one of the front seats rose with great eagerness and called for those contribution boxes again, saying, " I want to give that man something ; " and so a hundred dollars came for the institution ; or that The Cougregationalist said that "Mother Eells' churn, with which she made that four hundred pounds of butter, ought to be kept for an honored place in the cabinet of Whitman College." When Mr. Eells had obtained all these notes, which with accumulated interest amounted to $2,900, he offered to surrender them to the trustees for the land, which had been in the market for two years at two thousand dollars without a purchaser. This was done. Some one, however, made the remark that he would make a good thing out of it. He thought within him- JNew York Evangelist, April 3, 18S4. 196 FATHEB EELLS. self : " What a pity that somebody else had not sense enough to perceive that they could make a good tliiug out of it ! " and he also said : "I will gag that person, and thus I will do it ; whatever shall be the increase in the value of that property the school shall have the benefit of it." When he sold the place in 1872 for eight thousand dollars another thousand went to the institution. From 1869 to 1872 they lived at home on the Whit- man mission. On May 28, 1872, in some way, never yet satisfactorily accounted for, their house caught fire about three o'clock in the afternoon, although there had been no fire in it since noon, and after unavailing efforts to save it, it was consumed with the greater part of its contents. Mrs. Eells then said : " We can leave now; we have nothing to leave." They did so. Their older son, who had been appointed Indian agent at Skokomish, on Puget Sound, having seen a notice of the fire, hastened to Walla Walla and took his mother home. Mr. Eells sold his place for eight thousand dollars, giving a thousand to Whitman Seminary and another thousand to the American Education Society, as a thank offering for its aid to him while obtaining his education. He stayed a little longer to settle his affairs, took a trip to Boise City, Idaho, to visit his younger son, who was preaching there, then returned WHITMAN SEMINARY. 197 and went across the Cascade Mountains with his horse to Paget Sound, and before winter was with his wife at Skokomisb, and their life at Walla Walla was at an end. After Mr. Eells' departure the Seminary had a very precarious existence for a number of years. Some- times there was no school in the building. Mr. Eells sometimes felt as if all that he had done might be lost. Still he prayed for it, and gave it the best advice he could. The other trustees never took an important step without consulting him. From 1872 to 1880 no records of the trustees were kept : for they, feeling unable to pay good teachers, adopted the policy of allowing any teacher of standing to use the building for maintaining a school at his own risk and responsibility. After Mr. Eells' resignation in 1869, the following is a brief sketch of the Seminary and its teachers until 1882: — During the year 1869-70 the institution was closed. Professor W. W. Freeman taught in 1870-71, about seven eighths of the academic year ; Pev. P. B. Chamberlain, 1871-72, about three fourths of the school year ; Rev. D. E. Jennings, assisted by his wife, a brief time ; Professor Crawford, one season, twenty-five weeks ; Miss Simpson, one season, twenty- five weeks ; Professor William Marriner, two seasons ; 198 FATHEB EELLS. Professor W. K. Grim, two seasons ; Professor H. Lyman, succeeded by his son, Professor W. D. Lyman, one season, they being assisted by Rev. H. S. Lyman and Miss Sarah I. Lyman ; Professor J. W. Brock, one season ; Professor Rodgers, a short season ; Pro- fessor William Marriner, a very short season, followed by a suspension for two years ; Rev. E. R. Beach, assisted by his wife and Miss Gustin, about two thirds of a season, 1881-82. During these years matters often looked very dark for the Seminary. There was no endowment fund to assure salaries for teachers, and it was impossible for those who taught to carry it on steadily and success- fully for the receipts from tuition. CHAPTER VIII. WHITMAN COLLEGE. 1882-93. AT this point it may be advisable to anticipate, -^^JL and to give an account of Dr. P^ells' further labors for the college. In 1880 Dr. G. H. Atkinson, one of the trustees, while conferring with the officers of the American College and Educational Society in Boston, secured a promise that this institution should be placed on its list as the college in Washington Territory to obtain its patronage as soon as it could fulfill the required conditions of the society as to collegiate classes and the like. President A. J. Anderson, then at the head of the Washington Territory University, at Seattle, one of the successful educators of the coast, was obtained as its president, his services beginning in September, 1882 ; forty of the leading citizens of Walla Walla guaranteed three thousand dollars for three years for the salaries of teachers, should funds be needed after all tuition fees were paid ; and the institution took a 200 FATHEB EELLS. step forward. In May, 1883, it was formally adopted by the College Society ; and in November of the same year the charter was changed by the legislature to allow it to become a college and to exempt its property from taxation. From 1882 until 1891 Dr. Anderson remained president. His relations with Dr. Eells were very cordial, nor could Dr. Eells reconcile himself to the resignation of President Anderson at that time, for they worked together hand in hand and heart to heart, each putting his whole soul into the work. In 1885 he wrote to Dr. Anderson: "According to my ability I have a grateful appreciation of the service performed by 3'ourself as president of Whitman Seminary and College. The arduousness of the duties incident to the trying position I but partially comprehend. I would that befitting tribute be paid to the voluntary and unpaid service performed by yourself in con- nection with the erection of the College Hall and Ladies' Hall ; also, of Mr. Anderson in the latter. At no former date in your work in Walla Walla have I placed a higher estimate upon your ability, devotion, and efficiency than at the present time. I cordially commend you to the favor of Him whose resources are infinite." Soon, however, it became evident that more money must be obtained, and that from the East. No college WmTMAI^ COLLEGE. 201 can succeed without an endowment. Dr. "William Barrows, of Massachusetts, a good writer, a firm friend of the college and of Dr. Whitman's work, which he had highly extolled in his "Oregon," was chosen financial agent, and others aided, but they obtained little money. In June, 1883, with the cordial approval of the College Society, the trustees informally selected Dr. Atkinson to go East as its agent ; but as he was then superintendent of Home Missions for Oregon and Washington, he said to Dr. Eells : "I cannot be spared so long ; but if you will go with me, I think that we two can do as much or more in six months as one can in twelve months." Dr. Eells could not decline. Dr. Atkinson added, however, that he must obtain the consent of the society at New York and this would require time. Accordingly, the two were elected by the trustees, although one trustee did not vote for Dr. Eells, believing him to be too old, for he was in his seventy-fourth year, and his sons felt that it would be too much for him to do the work, and especially to meet the rebuffs which he would neces- sarily encounter. At Cheney, in September following, Dr. Atkinson and Dr. Eells met again, and Dr. Eells said: "I do not feel able to go; you, Dr. Atkinson, go on this fall, and I will, if able, expect to meet you in the spring." He had previously planned to obtain 202 FATHER EELLS. Rev. N. F. Cobleigh to go in his place, but that arrangement had proved impracticable. "That niglit," Dr. Eells says, "I went to my lodging and ascended the ladder to my sleeping apart- ments. I lay down upon my straw bed and slept. I awoke. Heaven and earth seemed to me to be not far apart. Lying upon my back, such were my views and feelings that I almost involuntarily reached up my hands to take hold on God. I took hold on Almighty strength. As spirit communicates with spirit, I believe the divme will was made known unto me. I was required to go East in behalf of Whitman College." The next morning he made known his change of views and feelings to Dr. Atkinson, who heartily approved. It was then planned that Dr. Eells should go to Detroit, Mich., and attend the Annual Meeting of the American Board, because he had been its missionary, and then proceed to Concord, N. H., to the National Council of the Congregational churches. There he was to meet Dr. Atkinson, both of them being dele- gates to that body. Accordingly, on September 25, he left his home at Cheney and went East for the first time in forty-five years. He attended the meeting of the Board, which began October 2, and reached Concord October 11. These gatherings and otlier similar ones during his WHITMAN COLLEGE, 203 eastern visit he highly enjoyed, as he had been deprived of them nearly all his life. His journal often speaks of them as of a high order, rich in intellectual and spiritual privileges. He was elected assistant moderator of the council. His own idea of this honor is thus expressed : — " At the organization of the council I was almost stupefied with amazement. To no purpose I made request that my name be withdrawn ; it increased unanimity in the performance of an inexplicable pur- pose." The Pacific of San Francisco spoke thus of the event: "The brother who seems to have been most appreciated at the late meeting of the National Council was the Rev. Gushing Eells, of Washington Territory. We are accustomed to pay, here in Cali- fornia, some special deference and reverence to the few ministers among us who are able to be called pioneers of thirty-four years' standing. But in what we are thinking of as the New North are pioneers who have seen forty-five years of active service. A man who has worked for that length of time without even a visit to his old eastern home might naturally be excused for taking advantage of the Northern Pacific Railway to look in upon the National Council. It was fitting that he should be one of the moderators and be called with cheers the ' John the Baptist of the Home Missionary Society ! ' " 204 FATHEB EELLS. One untoward occurrence, however, greatly sur- prised and disappointed him. This was a letter from Dr. Atkinson, stating that he could not come in October and perhaps not in November. In fact cir- cumstances were such that he did not go at all. Dr. Atkinson had left New England ten years after Dr. Eells, had made several trips back, and so was far more familiar with the people and everything neces- sary for success, and w^as nine years younger. Dr. Eells had expected that Dr. Atkinson would be the leader. This disappointment was almost greater than he could bear. He wrote : " To me it is inexplicable. My inquiring thought is : ' Will a benevolent Mind be willing that crushing burdens be placed upon myself?* I have thought that uncomplainingly I could give my life if thereby the essential prosperity of Whitman College could be assured. Maybe this is my infirmity. ' In God we trust.' " A little later he wrote to Dr. Atkinson: "> My disappointment in the failure to see you at Concord was seemingly as great as I felt able to bear ! This repetition [that Dr. Atkinson could not go at all] is more stunning. It is, however, so manifestly by divine ordering that murmuring must be excluded. Reverently I use the words of another : ^ It is just like God.'" His older son wrote : " Father, give up the under- taking. Do not try to perform it alone." Still he did WHITMAN COLLEGE. 205 not give up. He believed that he had been commis- sioned by his Maker to perform the work, and he was obedient to the Iieavenly vision. He often spoke of this year of soliciting funds as by far the hardest year of his life. To be a public beggar was very unpleasant; to meet rebuffs from Christians was more so ; but unkind treatment from pastors was most severe of all. Perhaps nothing will so well give an idea of his feelings and trials as a few extracts from his journal and from letters to his sons : — " October 9. On awaking my eyes rested upon a card, upon which was printed Isaiah 41 : 10 : ' Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' The words afford me support and comfort." ''November 13. I may be invigorated — I may be nearing the end of ray earthly work. I am resigned to either. My thought is, O Lord, * The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.' " " November 18. Though very unwell, I hope in God — trust the divine promises. I have an humbling sense of my unworthiness and frailty. My under- standing is that liy the Word and Spirit I am encour- aged to hope — to believe that I am approved in my work and shall succeed." 206 FATHEB EELL8, "December 10. "Whether a delusion or a rational faith, I believe that according to the divine purpose Whitman College will be a glorious success. This is inspired in part by a review of the past. Its incep- tion, its embarrassments, its slow progress, its narrow escapes from failure are just like God. Not long ago my eyes rested upon 2 Chronicles 14 : 11 : ' And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said. Lord, it is noth- ing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power : help us, O Lord our God ; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God ; let not man prevail against thee.' It opened up to me with new and precious interest. Slowly I repeat the words. I try to grasp their import ; to measure their meaning. To me in my present condition their meaning is a perfect fit." " January 12, 1884. Regarding my work, hope and fear alternate. With all the power of my being I address myself unto prayer." "January 19. Another week is passed. Seem- ingly I have accomplished but little. To human view the prospect that I shall obtain pecuniary aid for Whitman College is not encouraging. To the eye of faith there is hope." " March 1. Work and solicitude in behalf of Whitman College are painfully trying. The thought WHITMAN COLLEGE. 207 is suggested that this may be suffering for Christ's sake. If so, then it may be endured in the spirit of those who rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. I had hoped to have received a pecuniary donation, but did not. Appear- ances are discouraging. My faith in God continues." " March 2. I plead trustfully in behalf of Whit- man College. To human view prospects are not bright. A living faith in the divine Word may sur- mount all difficulties." " March 30. I have painful solicitude in regard to Whitman College. I pray for its trustees, instructors, pupils, their parents and guardians, its pecuniary supporters and friends, also the community surround- ing it, that in every essential feature it may be a success — that in intellectual and moral power it may be colossal. O God of wisdom, knowledge, and might, be pleased to impart to the trustees jointly and severally sound judgment, a cooperative spirit, unfailing energy, and enduring efficiency. May the teachers have comprehensive apprehension of the momentous responsibility of their several positions. With high and holy purpose, hearty consecration, pre- vailing prayer, and indomitable energy, may they joy- ously perform their daily work. Give them discretion in the arrangement of plan and executive ability in its execution. Incline the pupils to be courteous, 208 FATHER EELLS. docile, progressive in self-control, growing in benevo- lence of disposition and loveliness of character. Grant the inspiration of laudable ambition to excel in the attainment of intellectual culture, knowledge, mental and moral power, and, to crown all, an un- changing purpose to be loyal to truth and duty." " August 10. During waking moments in the early morning the words were in my mind : ' He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.' I accepted their presentation as the work of the Holy Spirit. My response was : ' Fulfill thy word.' There was pervasive expectation, if not faith, to believe that my toil and suffering for Whitman Seminary and College would be vindicated." "August 25. On a review of my experience and work since September 18, 1883, I am persuaded that I have been obedient. I have erred in judgment, suffered keenly on account of unkind treatment, largely by pastors, been buffeted by Satan, and in a measure frustrated. In presence of the universe I appeal to the all-knowing One. Thou, Jehovah of hosts, knowest that in integrity and uprightness, with singleness of purpose, I have endeavored to do thy will, according to ray understanding of that will. My zeal to subserve the best interests of Whitman College has been sincere, ardent. I have not conferred with flesh and blood. Such has been the intensity of my WHITMAN COLLEGE. 209 devotion that thereby my judgment has been warped. In view of such convictions I exercise a calm trust. I look to a righteous God and ask for a full vindica- tion of my faithfulness. I make request, that, sup- plemented by his infinite compassion, its efficiency may be satisfactory." " September 15. On October 6, 1883, I passed East. I am to-day returning West on the same road. The intervening period has been one of earnest work^ severe trial, and repeated disappointment. There have been new experiences of divine discipline. Scripture has been opened in a manner before un- known. New views of truth have been afforded. I judge that the work I have done is important." *' October 23. Without ceasing I plead in behalf of Whitman College. I ask that Jehovah will befriend it. To human view pecuniary aid is greatly needed. I think of other gifts of richer value. A cordially united board of trustees, intelligent, earnest workers in its behalf are indispensable ; also, a corps of teach- ers endowed with lofty conceptions of the grandeur of their position and of the possibilities resultant there- from. Radical improvement of immortal powers de- mands profound study. To aid in their proportionate culture should be highly satisfying. To train success- fully the youthful mind, to inspire it with a hearty purpose to serve its Maker and its generation is 210 FATHER EELLS. more than satisfying. The idea of adorning, beautify- ing imperishable powers may well enkindle holy enthu- siasm. In the enlightenment of the debased, moral ideas have been specially uplifting. The Christian quality of schools thus distinguished has been produc- tive of the best results. The more thoroughly the doctrines of revealed religion become incorporated into the intellect of students, the better every way. The more complete the Christian culture by teachers of pupils of Whitman College the nearer will the school exemplify the ideal of the original conception thereof." Notwithstanding all trials he was reasonably suc- cessful — far more so than many of his best friends had expected. The officers of the College Society aided him as much as they could. Some persons were as kind as they could be, so that on October 18 he wrote from Boston: " Next to the burden of respon- sibility inseparable from my special work is the burden of kindness shown me ; " and on October 27, when in Hartford at the Theological Seminary, from which he had graduated, he wrote; " I am amazed at the abounding mercy of God. The consideration with which I am treated exceeds my conscious deserts. O Lord, I am all un worthiness, but humbly ask that like success may attend my efforts in behalf of Whitman College." Mrs. S. C. Warren, the daughter of his old pastor, WHITMAN COLLEGE. 211 Dorus Clarke, d.d., with her husband, S. D. Warren, gave a thousand dollars as a memorial for her father. Hon. Frederick Billings, formerly president of the North Pacific Railroad, gave another thousand ; an unknown friend in Cleveland, Ohio, sent another thousand ; fifteen hundred were received from the estate of Frederick Marquand, of New York ; Deacon Ezra Farnsworth and W. O. Grover, both of Boston, each gave a thousand ; old friends of his. Deacon William Hyde and his sister-in-law. Miss Sarah Sage, of Ware, together gave eight hundred ; David Whitcomb, of Worcester, gave five hundred, and others in smaller sums down to a " feeble friend," who gave fifty cents. The sums amounted to over twelve thousand dollars. His reception by Hon. Frederick Billings was among the pleasant events. He had called one day and made his statements. Mr. Billings took them into consid- eration and asked him to call again. He did so. Dr. Eells says, " By Mr. and Mrs. Billings I was con- descendingly heard ; " after which Mr. Billings said : " I shall do more than I intended." Subsequently he drew his check for a thousand dollars. Accompanying it was the statement : "Allow me to say that I enjoyed very much your call yesterday, and was exceedingly interested in the glimpses that you gave of your long and eventful life." Dr. Eells did not, however, obtain as much as he 212 FATHEB EELLS. had hoped. In consequence thereof, July 2 he wrote : " In view of the failure to obtain what in my judg- ment is greatly needed, I propose to make a new will, whereby all my property, except what is given to relatives, shall be applied to Whitman College. I regard the pecuniary needs of the five Congregational societies,! to each of which I have willed a thousand dollars, to be less urgent than those of Whitman College ; therefore I shall, if permitted, make a new will corresponding thereto." This will had been made previous to his going East, and after his return he changed it as intended. Among the incidental pleasures were the meeting with a number of his acquaintances of 1825-38 and the making of many new ones, so that after his return to Washington he read the eastern newspapers with new interest ; the privilege of conducting the funeral serv- ices of his old pastor. Dr. Dorus Clarke ; attendance at the annual meeting of the American Missionary Association at Brooklyn ; the May anniversaries of the Congregational societies at Boston ; and of the Massachusetts Indian Association in the same city ; the meeting with Senator H. L. Dawes to confer on Indian affairs ; attending commencement at Williams ^The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the American Home Missionary Society, the American Missionary Asso. ciation, the College and Education Society, and the Congregational Church Building Society. WHITMAN COLLEGE. 213 College and the anniversary of Hartford Theological Seminary, his Alma Maters ; of the Inter-Seminary Missionary Alliance at Hartford, and of the American Home Missionary Society at Saratoga. His meetings too with his kinsfolk were most enjoyable. Some of them he had previously seen, but most of them never. He found them at Easthamp- ton, Springfield, South Franklin, Holden, and Worces- ter, Mass. ; Windham, Conn. ; Oxford, Ohio, and Champaign, 111. There was quite a reunion at the residence of Mr. J. F. Finch at Easthampton, Mrs. Finch being his niece. Just before leaving Massa- chusetts he baptized their youngest daughter. His only living brother came from Illinois to meet him. Together they wandered over their native hills and playground at Blandford, and visited their mother's grave ; and at Blandford he preached the sermon which he had preached there in October, 1837. He wrote from that place : ' ' Hallowed associations and kind treatment caused rich enjoyment. The atmos- phere was invigorating. Such privileges are like unto oases on life's journey. Inexpressible emotion was excited in view of evidence that special prayer in behalf of an individual offered fifty-one years ago had been answered during three generations." He might have remained East longer, for the secre- taries of the College Society gave him the privilege of 214 FATHER EELLS. the field for another year, but he could no longer endure the strain. He wrote after his return to Washington : "In weariness and painfulness I toiled till strength failed. More than once I sank beneath the load. From exhaustion I narrowly escaped serious consequences." He turned homeward in September, 1884, visiting relatives and resting on the way. November 17 he stepped off the cars at his home at Cheney, from which he had been absent nearly fourteen months. During all this time Dr. Eells paid his own expenses, not wishing to take anything for this purpose from what was given in the East. These amounted to over eight hundred dollars. About the same time a new college building was erected at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars, the old one being changed into a ladies' hall at an expense of about seven thousand. For money for the latter work Mrs. N. F. Cobleigh went East, obtaining about sixty-five hundred dollars. The college building was largely paid for by the people of Walla Walla. Dr. Eells gave the institution another thousand dollars at this time. After this Dr. Eells attended the commencements regularly, and it was often remarked how much he enjoj'ed the exercises as he sat on the platform. At the commencement in 1888 the fiftieth anniver- sary of his coming to the coast was celebrated. His WHITMAN COLLEGE. 215 old friend, Mrs. Mary R. Walker, of Forest Grove, made the journey there, the first time she had been east of the Cascade Mountains for forty years, since they had fled from the Indian country. Dr. G. H. Atkinson was present. Rev. Myron Eells delivered the commencement address, an historical paper on "The Hand of God in the History of the Pacific Coast," and the oldest grandchild. Miss Ida M. Eells, in behalf of the ten grandchildren, came forward with a gift of ten dollars, some of which had been earned by cutting cord wood, to which Dr. Eells promised to add two hundred and fifty as soon as other children not over seventeen years old should increase the original sum to two hundred and fifty dollars. Dr. Atkinson gave five hundred dollars. President Anderson five hundred, and Dr. Eells a thousand more. This was to begin a Missionary Memorial Scholarship Fund, the income of which is to pay the tuition, in whole or in part, of needy, worthy students. In 1890 a very spirited discussion arose in regard to the denominational relations of the college. When the institution was adopted by the College Society it entered into the agreement with that society which it makes with all colleges aided by it. One article of this contract is that while the college must not be under the control of the State, neither must it be under the con- trol of any presbytery, synod, association, conference, 216 FATHER EELLS. * convention, or other ecclesiastical body, though an additional item was inserted that a majority of the trustees must always be evangelical Congregationalists. But when an appeal was made to the Congregational- ists of the State for support some of them were afraid that the college might drift from its moorings. Ac- cordingly the next year a further agreement was made with the society, according to which the president of the college and a majority of its trustees must ever be Congregationalists ; else all the money that the college had previously obtained and should obtain through the society should revert to it. The trustees adopted, as one clause of their constitution, an article requesting the Congregational Association of Washington to nominate one third of the trustees, that is, to nominate three persons at each time for one third of the vacancies, one of whom the trustees pledged themselves to elect. This satisfied the churches so that they felt willing to support the college. It satisfied Dr. Eells too. A few more college entries from his journal may be interesting : — '' May 11, 1885. Day and night 1 cry for self and favor for Whitman College. With strong desire I im- portune ' Will the Lord cast off forever?' This is my infirmity. ' I will remember thy works ... of old.'" " April 15, 1889. I plead for mercy in behalf of Whitman College." WHITMAN COLLEGE. 217 "May 24, 1890. The needs of Whitman College cause serious thought. My conviction has been that in my early and continuous efforts in its behalf I was obedient to what I believed to be the Divine Will." "June 11. At intervals during the night was exer- cised in prayer for Whitman College. I am persuaded that my prayers are prevailing." "April 15, 1891. To myself it seems that the words ' I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee ' must apply with reference to my efforts in behalf of Whit- man College. I am afraid that I claim too much. O Lord, do not I desire to be submissive?" " April 22. In agony I pray for Whitman College." " May 24. During much of the night I was exercised in prayer in behalf of Whitman College. The promises of the divine Word seem appropriate for myself. If I understand correctly, I may plead them in opposition to all who oppose, in opposition to all discouraging circumstances, in opposition to all opinions of men." "October 2. Dreamed about Whitman College; awoke ; was exercised in wrestling prayer for the col- lege. It seemed the agony was so great that body and spirit would part." Four times he thus speaks about it in his dreams. "November 20, 1892. Earnestly I pray for Whit- man College. My feelings are changeable," 218 FATHER EELLS, That is the last entr}' about the institutiou, though he often said: ''I could die for Whitman College." In 1891 Rev. J. F. Eaton was elected ])resident and established the Gushing Eells lecture course. Dr. Eells was able to be present at one commencement, June, 1892, under the new president, and that was his last visit to Walla Walla. Before another commence- ment he had gone to join Dr. Whitman, Mrs. Eells, Fathers Spalding and Walker, and the Saviour for whom he had labored so long. It was on account of his earlier labors for this col- lege that in 1883, at the suggestion of Dr. A^tkinson, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Pacific University. CHAPTER IX. HOME MISSIONARY WORK. 1872-81. I AM not a home missionary," said Dr. Eells at the annual meeting of the American Home Mis- sionary Society in June, 1884. "I never have been one exactly. You shall decide whether it has been my fault." He then went on to speak of his home missionary work. If being a home missionary means being under the American Home Missionary Society, or any similar one, then Dr. Eells never was one. The nearest he ever came to being a home missionary was when he made application to become one at the time he wished to go to Walla Walla in 1860 to lay the foundation of Whitman Seminary, and was refused. But if being a home missionary means working for weak churches in our own land, so weak that they are not able to support their pastor and must have help from outside sources, then Dr. Eells was one. He was a self-supporting home missionary, a Home Missionary' Society supporting himself, a Church Buildiug Society, 219 220 FATHER FELLS. a College Society, and also, for a time, a missionary of the American Missionary Association, as well as that Association itself while at Skokomish. Dr. Eells came to Puget Sound in 1872, and first looked on the salt water belonging to the Pacific Ocean after he had been on the coast for thirty-four years. But Puget Sound at that time was largely an unset- tled country. Those who lived in its region then are now its pioneers. There was not a railroad, the near- est being a short branch of the line between Portland and Tacoma, which extended from Kalama north about twenty-five miles to Pumphrey's, but ran no passenger train over that distance. The remainder of the road was a stage route to Olympia. Mrs. Eells came that way ; her husband came across the Cascade Mountains with his horse. Seattle, which boasts now of sixty thousand people, taken as donation claims in 1852 and laid out as a town the next year, had, in nineteen years, by a very slow growth, secured about twelve hundred inhabit- ants.^ Tacoma with her fifty thousand was not then even selected as the terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, this not having been done until the next year. In 1880 it had only seven hundred and twenty inhabitants. Kalama, having previously had a boona I Jn 1870 it had 1,107, and iu 1875 1,512 population. HOME MISSIONARY WORK. 221 because there the first grading of the railroad had been done, had suffered from a reaction, and had been dubbed Kalamity. The entire region in the state west of the Cascade Mountains, which in 1892 had a population of 270,- 245, had then about 20,000 ; ' and the twelve counties bordering on Puget Sound which in 1892 had 221,725 inhabitants had then about 13,000.^ Thurston County had in 1870 the most population of any bordering on the Sound, having 2,246 people, 126 more than King County including Seattle, and 835 more than Pierce County including Tacoma. Mason County, where Dr. Eells went, with its school children now numbering 896 in twenty-seven districts, then had only forty-seven such children, sixteen of whom were on Hood Canal, and four school districts. Being in the backwoods. Mason County has had a slow growth compared with that of many of the neighboring counties. Nor was the region growing rapidly ; for while its counties from 1870 to 1880 about doubled their pop- ulation, those east of the Cascade Mountains increased theirs more than fivefold, from 6,928 to 36,015. The whole country was still in expectancy. Old settlers wondered whether the Chinook word alke^ 1 17,050 in 1870 and 34,.499 in 1880. 2 10, e. Where saints and angels draw their bliss, ' Immediately from thee? ''October 19. Moderately, I say, if fitted to be transferred, I think the bliss of heaven is attractive." " November 28. I have a realized conviction of failing powers. As the mortal decays, the immortal is renewed. If not deceived 1 am joyful in the Triune God." " December 26. This morning the words, ' Rejoic- ing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name,' occur to me. To suffer for Christ's sake is a privilege." " January 5, 1893. I am admonished of my frailty. The consideration is not unwelcome." " November 23, 1892. I am well and ill inter- changeably. I have premonition of dissolution. I ask to be spared to complete certain business arrange- ments. I am somewhat in doubt whether or not my request will be granted." LAST DAYS. 285 This desire was to complete the purchase of a bell for the church at Chewelah. There were some unac- countable delays which troubled him, but his request was granted, and by February the bell was ordered and paid for. He had been requested many times to write out some of the most interesting reminiscences of his life. He had found but little time to do it until 1892, when he had dictated about all he cared to tell. He now, too, stood almost the last of his pioneer associates. Dr. and Mrs. Whitman had been killed in 1847, the former at the age of forty-five, and the latter thirty-nine. Mrs. Spalding had died in 1851 at the age of forty-four ; Mrs. A. B. Smith in 1855, aged forty-one ; Father Spalding in 1874 at the age of seventy ; Father Walker in 1877, aged seventy-two ; Mrs. Eells in 1878, seventy-three ; the second Mrs. Spalding in 1880, seventy-one ; Mrs. W. H. Gray in 1881, seventy-one; Rev. A. B. Smith in 1886, aged seventy-six ; and Hon. W. H. Gray in 1889, seventy- nine. Only Mrs. Walker was left, who was more than a year younger than Dr. Eells. Nearly all with whom he had been associated in his early work for the whites had also gone : Rev. Harvey Clarke in 1858, and his wife in 1866, each aged fifty- one; Mrs. Horace Lyman in 1874, aged fifty-three; S. H. Marsh, d.d., in 1879, fifty-three; Mrs. J. S. 286 FATHEB EELLS. Griffin in 1884, seventy-nine ; Rev. H. Lyman in 1887, seventy-one; Rev. G. H. Atkinson, d.d., in 1889, sixty-nine; Rev. P. B. Chamberlain in 1889, sixty- four ; Rev. O. Dickinson in 1892, aged seventy-four. He had on December 15, 1892, conducted the funeral services of Mr. John Flett, a pioneer of 1841, with whom he had been very intimate. He had ex- pected some of these, especially Dr. Atkinson, Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Flett, to outlive him. Only Rev. J. S. Griffin, Mrs, Dickinson, and Mrs. Atkinson, of those who came previous to 1853, remained. Dr. Eells stood almost alone of all these who had come within fifteen years of the time he did — entirely alone of all in his adopted State of Washington, the others being in Oregon. He thought of those who had gone beyond, of his brothers and sisters, of his wife's brothers and sisters, all of whom had preceded him, and of many others with whom he had been bound in Christian work, and many times read the following poem : — SHALL WE FIND THEM AT THE PORTALS? B^ J. E. RANKIN, D.D., WASHINGTON, D. C. Will they meet us, cheer and greet us. Those we've loved, who've gone before? Shall we find them at the portals, Find our beautified immortals, When we reach that radiant shore? LAST DAYS. 287 Hearts are broken, for some token That they live, and love us yet! And we ask, " Can those who've left us, Of love's look and tone bereft us, Though in heaven, can they forget?" And we often, as days soften, And comes out the evening star. Looking westward, sit and wonder, Whether, when so far asunder, They still think how dear they are I Past yon portals, our immortals, Those who walk with Him in white. Do they, mid their bliss, recall us? Know they what events befall us? Will our coming wake delight? They will meet us, cheer and greet us, Those we 've loved, who've gone before; We shall find them at the portals. Find our beautified immortals. When we reach that radiant shore. He also looked at death, and copied these verses : — DEATH. Ah, lovely appearance of death, What sight upon earth is so fair? Not all the gay pageants that breathe Can with a dead body compare. Of evils incapable thou. Whose relic with envy I see. No longer in misery now. No longer a sinner like me. 288 FATHER EELL8, HEAVEN. High in yonder realms of light Dwell the raptured saints above, Par above our feeble sight, Happy in ImmauuePs love. Pilgrims in this vale of tears, Once they knew, like us below, Gloomy doubts, distressing fears, Torturing pain, and heavy woe. He had prayed hundreds of times for himself and others : " May we come down to the grave like a shock of corn fully ripe ! " His prayer had been answered. To his friends he still seemed well and about as full of life as he had usually been ; but to God he was fully ripe for heaven, his work well done, and there was nothing left but to be plucked, to be transferred to the realms of light. On Saturday, February 11, 1893, he wrote in his journal: "My feelings impress me with the nearing close of my mortal life. Later : I have felt comfort- able." That was the last full sentence in his journal, in which he had with few exceptions written daily during his nearly fifty-five years of work. The next day, the Sabbath, he rode to church from his son's residence, which was then in Tacoma. Ar- riving at the First Congregational Church he partici- pated in some of the services. On the way home he felt chilled through and through, and on reaching LAST DAYS. 289 home it was thought he had not been clothed warmly enough. After dinner he went out to feed old Le Blond, and in doing so fell and was unable to rise. His niece found him later, and he was removed to his room, where he remained until Tuesday. It was pneumonia. Tuesday and Wednesday he seemed better, and on Wednesday he got up and wrote a little. Some friends visited him, among others his pastor. Rev. L. H. Hal- lock. To him his last words were : " I am very sick. I do not know what the issue will be, but I can say : ' Thy will, O God, be done.' I rest in Him." That night he became worse, and a physician was summoned, but nothing could be done to save liim. He watched the time, until after midnight of the 16th, his birth- day, when he asked his granddaughter to write in his journal: "Eighty-three years ago to-day I com- menced this mortal life." Afterwards he gave some directions in regard to his faithful horse, and that was his last word. About half -past two he breathed his last. He had expressed a wish that he might be per- mitted to round out his eighty-third year. This was granted, and his eighty-third birthday on earth was his first in heaven. The funeral services were held on the following Sabbath ; first, at the house, where intimate friends were present. These were conducted by his younger 290 FATHER SELLS, son, Rev. M. Eells, assisted by Rev. Mr. Smith, of Tacoma, and Rev. Mr. Pamment, of the Puyallup Indian Reservation. After this, the body was taken to the Congregational church, where excellent ad- dresses were made by the pastor, Rev. L. H. Hallock, Rev. B. S. MacLafferty, president of the Ministerial Alliance, Rev. I. Sims, and Rev. Dr. Cherrington of the Methodist Episcopal Church, with prayer by Chap- lain R. S. Stubbs. The next day the body was taken to Seattle, where it was met by several of the old pioneers and taken to the Congregational church, and addresses were made by Rev. Messrs. W. Nutting, S. Green, and Dr. A. J. Anderson, late president of Whitman College- It was then taken to the cemetery and laid by the side of his wife. Memorial services were afterward held at Walla Walla, where the principal address was made by the Rev. J. Edwards, assisted also by President J. F. Eaton and Mrs. N. F. Cobleigh, of Whitman College, and Dr. A. J. Anderson, its late president ; also, at Colfax, where the principal address was made by Rev. H. P. James, the pastor, who took the place which it was expected would be occupied by Hon. J. A. Per- kins, who was unexpectedly called away, Dr. F. M. Bunnell also paying a tender and appropriate tribute to the memory of his old friend ; also, at Medical Lake, LAST DAYS. 291 where remarks were made by Mr. and Mrs. B. S. Dudley, Mr. and Mrs. E. W. Gilkey, and Rev. F. V. Hoyt ; at Skokomish, the first church of which he was pastor, conducted by his son ; and at Ravenswood, near Chicago, 111., where the address was by Rev. Marcus Whitman Montgomery, assisted by Dr. J. E. Roy, with stereopticon views. These widespread services show the estimation in which Dr. Eells was held. The following extracts are taken from some of these addresses and from notices of him in the press. Many of the addresses referred to historical events, which have already been em- bodied in this narrative. Rev. B. S. MacLafferty, president of the Ministerial Alliance of Tacoma, spoke of the punctuality of Dr. Eells, as especially illustrated in his attendance on the meetings of the Alliance. Dr. F. B. Cherriugton said that a hero was one who had had an opportunity and had been equal to it. Dr. Eells had had an opportunity and improved it. Rev. L. H. Hallock said : "At the dawn of his eighty-third birthday was translated from earth to heaven Dr. Gushing Eells, one of God's noblemen ; pioneer missionary, friend of humanity, founder of Whitman College, and, judged by the test of long, unwearied service, entitled as much as any man to the Master's greeting, ' Well done, good and faithful 292 FATHEB EELLS. servant : euter thou into the joy of thy Lord ! ' Good Father Eells died with the respect of all who knew him. He died in peace to meet the reward of an honored and faithful servant. If he had sought money, he had ample means for making it and abun- dant financial abilit}' to amass it ; but he sought a higher end than wealth and won it. His work has never been heralded ; hardly has it been known save by a few ; but it will be revealed and crowned. Fel- low citizens of many faiths, who do him homage to-day, the burden of his life was to save men, to save Washington for God. Promote his work by the gift of your soul to God, your state to righteousness." Rev. T. Sims thus spoke: "Dr. Eells w^as truly an apostolic man. Taking him all in all he was, I think, the most Christlike man I have known. As I speak these impromptu words, my mind reverts to three features in our departed friend's character in which he reflected Christ in an eminent degree. " The first of these features was his modesty. He did not strive nor cry, neither was his voice heard in the streets. Ostentation or pretension of any kind was w^holly foreign to him. After a long career of phenomenal usefulness and achievement, he always spoke with rare modesty of what he had done. In ministerial gatherings he steadily deferred to his younger brethren, contenting himself with very few LAST DATS. 293 words and often prefacing them with some self- depreciating remark. The seat he chose was sure to be a lowly one, unless watchful friends insisted on his ' coming up higher.' Indeed his whole demeanor was impressive by reason of its simple modesty. His only counterpart in this, so far as my personal knowledge extends, is the noted principal of Knox College, Toronto. Dr. Eells and Dr. Caven I rank together as the two most beautifully modest great men it has been my privilege to know. "A second feature in which he largely reflected Christ was his love for service. He was preeminently a servant of his generation. How this was mani- fested in his long career as a missionary, as a finan- cial manager, and as a pliilanthropist has been dwelt upon already, and I need not repeat the story. Very impressive to me has it been to observe this spirit dominating the man in the smallest details. He offered himself as a missionary to the Indians in the enthusiasm of his youth because he had definitely chosen to be a servant to others, and that first choice grew into an ingrained habit of life. It was the same in small things as in great ; the same in the weakness of age as in the ardor of youth and the vigor of his brilliant prime ; the same in the family circle as in the eye of the gazing world. ' ' There was a most Christlike submission to the will 294 FATHEB EELLS. of God. ' Well, God's will be doue,' was a very con- stant formula on bis lips because it expressed the constant attitude of bis soul. He was a servant of his ' generation according to the imll of God.' He went and came, he spoke or was silent, he desired to live longer or depart at once, as it might please the Lord. He was very sm-e that God had a will concerning him and he was profoundly desirous that the divine pur- pose should be accomplished in him and by him. " And surely that purpose was accomplished. It hardly seems as if his eighty-three years of life could have been spent to better purpose. He probably filled up the measure of his opportunity as fully as could be done. In an important sphere he did what was possible and occupied until his Master said : ' It is enough ! Come up higher ! ' Life's labor done, as sinks the clay, Free from its load the spirit flies; WMle heaven and earth combine to say: ' How blest the righteous when he dies I ' " Rev. TV. Nutting testified : " Truly he was a patron saint. The winds might blow and toss him about, but his purposes were so clearly defined in his mind that notliing could turn him. I never saw a man with such tenacity. An object before him, he would reacli it, if it took ten years. When others would have given LAST DAYS. 295 up in despair, he only digged the harder. He knew no such word as fail and would keep pegging away till victory crowned his efforts." Dr. A. J. Anderson said : " Dr. Eells asked aid for Whitman College, laying the case before me. On ask- ing him what he could do. Dr. Eells replied : ' I will pray for you and I will work for you." True to his word he went on a money-raising tour, going as far as New England. Dr. Eells would always pray and had great confidence in the efficacy of prayer. He not only prayed in public worship, but his frame of mind was such that he prayed at all times. He must have had close communion with the Supreme." Rev. S. Green had known him since his arrival on this coast twenty years previous and had always found him a great worker for the Church and promoter of Christianity. Rev. J. Edwards : " He lived in the atmosphere of heaven, and all worldy excitement, the wild rush after wealth, had no influence over him. His great ambi- tion was to prepare for himself riches in heaven, where moth and rust doth not corrupt nor thieves break through and steal. How contemptible is the life of the selfish worldling as compared with his ! I have always looked upon him as the most apostolic charac- ter I have ever known." Rev. H. P. James: "He camped under the stars 296 FATBEB EELLS. with no other arms than the sword of the Spirit and the Bible, meeting supposed hostile Indians, whom he never feared, from whom he never met treacher}'. He did not seek honor from men, and men honored him. He humbled himself, and men have exalted him. As his pastor said : ' Pacific University gave him his degree of D.D., a gratified and loving constituency of disciples gave him his higher title of " Father," and God has given him his crown.' " The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: "In the death of Rev. Gushing Eells the Congregational churches of Washington lose one of their grandest and most noble characters. His life was devoted to raising the moral standard of humanity. He was a man who practiced what he preached, and, in the words of a pioneer, ' His efforts in the days when Washington was a wil- derness have contributed largely to the blessings which the present people enjoy.' " The Tacoma News: "Dr. Eells stands among the clergy of the northwest as a man who was altogether unique. Of course he can leave no successor. Till very recently the degree of his diligence as a clergy- man had known little abatement. It does not seem possible that any man could have labored any more abundantly than he. Money, as a means of minister- ing to his own comfort, he has despised. In ministra- tions to others he has loved to use it." LAST DAYS, 297 The Tacoma Ledger : " He was very abstemious in his habits. Since the age of twenty-four years he has used neither tea nor coffee, and was unswerving in his crusade against the use of liquor." The Occidental Congregationalist : "A company of our legislators, sitting in committee at Olympia, de- bated whether they should tax church property. One of them asked why it ought to be favored. He was reminded that there lay not many miles from him the mortal remains of a Christian patriarch, Father Eells, of venerable memory, through whose efforts and those of his colleague, Marcus Whitman, this very state in which the legislators sat had been saved to him and to America. On the day that rounded eighty- three years of life. Gushing Eells left "Washington for another home. On the day after his death, a legisla- tive committee of the state of Washington, who owed their property and their Christian nurture to him, determined to favor the churches hecaune of his work. And if ever a question was squarely answered, it was answered when a gentleman from Tacoma instanced the life of Cushing Eells as the reason why Washing- ton owes something to the Christian missionary, the Christian Church, and the Christian's God. ** The state legislature adjourned out of respect to the memory of James G. Blaine, but, despite the bril- liancy of Blaine's talents, the state of Washington at 298 FATBEE EELLS. least owes more to the home missionary than to the statesman. And when before the sovereign of the universe Father Eells presents his report of the terri- tory which he won for the kingdom of heaven, I am sure that the plumed knight will not show a better record. " Father Eells gave himself for his country even more entirely than a soldier gives himself. He was the apostle to Washington." Deacon G. H. Himes, in The Pacific : " Dr. Eells was one of the happiest of men and always full of good cheer, even amid most profound difficulties, and to those who were privileged to attend the General Asso- ciations in either Oregon or Washington when he was present — and he rarely missed these helpful gather- ings — his presence was like a benediction. The su- preme moments of these meetings were those devoted to home missionary reports ; and at such a time the simple and unostentatious narrative by Dr. Eells of his experience would hold the congregations almost spellbound." Rev. L. H. Hallock, in The Boston Congregationalist : "Thus passed away another historic character, one of God's noblemen, a man of modest demeanor, inde- pendent, and a stranger to fear, energetic, beloved. Fifty-five years of unabated fidelity have left their lasting mark upon the religious and educational interests of Washington, and always for good. LAST DAYS. 299 "Whitman College and many a feeble church and many a Christian Indian have lost their best friend. Who will commemorate Father Eells and his heroic service by an endowment of Whitman College, conse- crated to the memory and work of two noble Chris- tian heroes, — ' an Eells professorship in Whitman College'? Who?" Dr. Lyman Abbott, in The Christian Union : "A man of great and beautiful character, of unsurpassed con- secration, and one to whom the republic of the United States owes a far greater debt than to many who have occupied a far more conspicuous place in history." Professor L. F. Anderson, of Whitman College : "But in the grief what an abiding joy for a life so enriched from on high ! Not only did he have the cordial approval and highest regard of all who ever met him, but every one with whom he conversed felt deep in his heart the profound goodness and sublime faith that animated him. I believe no one ever left his side without feeling his inner nature stirred to loftier aspi- rations. And may his life and death be an inspiration to all of us who follow." President J. T. Eaton, of Whitman College: "No college in the land has two such names and characters at its foundation as Whitman College — Marcus Whit- man, M.D., and Cushing Eells, d.d." M. E. Strieby, d.d., of New York, secretary of 300 FATHER EELLS. the American Missionary Association: "You must find abundant consolation in view of his long life and his valuable and incessant labors in behalf of the cause of our great Master. May we be faithful and follow him as did your father." E. E. Strong, d.d., of Boston, editor of The Mis- sionary Herald : "His earnestness and spirit of self- denial were remarkable. Though his works do follow him, the generations yet to come will never know how much he accomplished for the welfare of his fellow- men," Mrs. H. S. Caswell, of New York, editor of The Home Missionary: "What a beautiful going home it was! — really a translation. What a glorious legacy he has left to you, his children ! " J. E. Roy, D.D., of Chicago, district secretary of the American Missionary Association : " What a glori- ous era he has had to live in, and what a glorious history he has helped to make in that country ! In no eastern pastorate could he have made his influence so signally felt as in his home missionary sphere." Professor W. D. Lyman, of Whitman College : "Amid the selfishness and narrow-mindedness and cold-heartedness which surround us, it gives one more faith in God and man and progress to see such a con- sistent life of steadfast Christian effort." Miss Sarah I. Lyman, in The Pacific : " Memory LAST DAYS, 301 takes me back to the years of my childhood. One of the first persons appearing there, with a sort of halo around her head, as of one of the old Madonnas, is that lovely woman, Mrs. Eells. She was my first Sunday-school teacher, and many happy hours have I passed in the quiet little library of their home in Forest Grove, sitting on the floor over a pile of Youth's Companions, reading for hours at a time, and nibbling such delightful doughnuts (I never tasted any except my mother's quite so good). Dear old lady, how I loved her ! and well I might, for if ever there was a saint on earth she was one. "Dr. Eells was a fine example of physical strength and of the correctness of the principle of total absti- nence not alone from liquor and tobacco, but also tea, coffee, cake, and other dainties. He performed an amount of labor that most men could not endure. As has been well said, his business was to preach the gospel, and live it as well. Infidels not only respected him, but many were converted through not alone his words, but his life. I once heard a lady in speaking of him quote this text : ' Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile ! ' "Well and nobly did he and his wife, and other men and women who came to this coast in an early day, not to make money, but to do good, do their work. The soil of Oregon and Washington and Call- 302 FATHEB EELLS. foruiti has been coDsecrated by their tread. They are nearly all gone now to the shining realms above, where tears are all washed away, and ' neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.' " A. H. Bradford, d.d., of Montclah', N. J., who assisted in organizing the church at Skokoraish in 1874, in an address before the American Home Missionary Society in 1881, said : " ' What kind of men do they have out there ? ' Men like Father Eells, who has traversed those forests until all the Indians know him, and all the settlers know him, and all the bears and cougars know him, for though he always travels unarmed, he always travels unharmed — a man who will travel on horseback all day to read the Bible and pray with a single family." E. B. Parsons, secretary of the faculty of Williams College, to Edmund Seymour, of Tacoma : "In behalf of Williams College let me express to you and the many friends of Rev. Dr. Cushing Eells our profound sense of loss in the death of this heroic son of the college and our great admiration for those qualities of far-sighted enthusiasm and painstaking zeal, by which his life and services have brought helpfulness to the nation and to humanity, and honor to the college." Hartford Seminary Record : "To-day the only living graduate of the class of 1837 is G. W. Bassett, Dr. LAST DAYS. 303 Eells' classmate in college and semiuaiy, but two years his junior. No member of an earlier class now lives, and only one graduate of the seminary is of greater age than was Dr. Eells at the time of his death. "•He exemplified in spirit and in deed the purposes and performances of the early settlers of New England. It is true of him to a degree impossible in the changed civilization of the close of the nineteenth century. The stedfast courage which feared no unknown danger and shunned none, the loving desire to bring the heathen red man to Christ, the attempt made, with the resultant building of the foundations of a white civilization, the strong national feeling and sound political sagacity, the love of learning and the belief in education, the toil for the college side by side with the labor in the church, the profound trust in God and in his purposes for this land, the entire reliance at all turns of personal fortune on the Divhie Providence, the readiness for labor of any sort, the utter simplicity of character, and the almost limitless capacity for joyful self-denial for the achievement of work believed to be God-appointed — these are traits which we have come to accept as typicnl of the settlers of New Eng- land, and which were embodied in him. They were traits which found the field for their manifestation amid what seemed to be seventeenth-century condi- tions. The darkness of the untrodden woods, the 304 FATHER EELLS. starlit bivouac, the weary watchfulness for hostile savages, the rough log house, the Indian massacre, the flight, and the privations from cold and hunger, the courageous return — these incidents of the pioneer life of Dr. I^ells belong to another generation than ours. They seem to link him who experienced them more closely with the Mayflower than with the life of our day. If we feel inclined to ask what sort of a man the Puritan would be in the nineteenth century, the answer stands ready in Gushing Eells. "Small men, it is said, petrify; great men ripen with age. Dr. Eells ripeued. His was a hard life, a sacrificial life. He lost his life for Christ's sake ; but in so doing he found it." Again : " Many a church in the great northwest has to-day in its spire a bell that Gushing Eells presented to it, and many a weary, burdened home missionary has in some special time of need received financial aid from this man, who counted it ' more blessed to give than to receive,' and who often accompanied his gifts with only a sentence, frequently the words, 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Ghrist.' " Resolutions adopted by the faculty of Tualitin Academy and Pacific University at Forest Grove, March 11, 1893, to wit : — '-^ Whereas^ In the providence of God, Rev. Gushing Eells, D.D., has closed a long and useful life ; and LAST DAYS, 305 " TF/iereas, He has bad by his former connection with this school as a teacher and b\' his valuable gifts to the institution an important relation to Tualitin Academy and Pacific University ; ^^ Resolved^ by the faculty thereof, That we feel it a duty and privilege to express our high esteem for his consistent and earnest Christian character, and our grateful appreciation of his generous and self- denying efforts in behalf of Christian education, both here and elsewhere, by gifts and personal labors. " That we believe that, so long as such fathers of enlightened patriotism and of practical piety shall be found to represent our churches and to join in their mission to elevate humanity, Christianity will neither be nor be called a failure. " That we confidently believe that his life of trust and obedience is transformed to one of higher power and joy and peace, and that the circle who have through his instrumentality been made savingly ac- quainted with the gospel are to him a crown of rejoicing in the presence of his God." Resolutions by the Congregational church of Walla Walla and Whitman College, to wit : — *' Wliereas^ It was the will of Almighty God, our heavenly Father, to take unto himself our godly father on his eighty-third birthday, Rev. Gushing Eells, D.D. ; 306 FATHEB EELLS, '-'■Resolved^ That we express our high regard and respect for the humble aud consistent Christian, the pioneer and venerable missionary, whose life was a blessing to the world. Though recognizing that he came to ' his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn Cometh in in his season,' and that he ' fought a good fight, and finished his course, and kept the faith,' and that he is gone to receive ' the crown of righteousness prepared for him,' yet we mourn our loss in his decease. "He was truly a man of God, ever enjoying com- munion with him, and his conversation was in heaven, and his purpose was to serve God and benefit his fellow men. He walked the earth doing good. All classes of men, Jews, Roman Catholics, and infidels, as well as Protestants, regarded him as ' the noblest work of God, an honest man.' '' Though modest and unassuming, by the thorough consecration of himself to the service of his Master he accomplished a more enduring work than many who have occupied more conspicuous places. By his exemplary Christian life he has been a constant testi- mony and unanswerable argument in favor of the efficacy and power of the religion of Jesus Christ. For such a life, so self-denying and devoted to the highest purposes, we all have reason to thank God, and you can justly feel proud and deem it a goodly LAST DAYS. 307 heritage to be the sons and daughters of such a noble man. " You have our deepest sympathy in your bereave- ment. We know you do not weep as those who have no hope, but find real consolation in the divine prom- ises, knowing that, to him who lived for Christ, to die was gain." Resolutions by the Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, namely : — " Whereas, In the wise providence of God, we have been called to part with our revered and beloved father in Christ, the Rev. Dr. Cushing Eells, who died February 16, 1893, aged eighty-three years; ^^ Resolved^ That in the early years of perilous work among the Indians he proved himself their heroic friend and fully equal to the great opportunity which God opened unto him as to few men ; that in his great work for education in the northwest, notably in founding and maintaining almost at his own expense and exertion that noble monument unto him whose name it bears. Whitman College, Father Eells ren- dered a permanent service to the state of AVashington, which will enhance as years roll on ; and that by his later work in founding, organizing, and aiding in the support of churches in our state he has supplemented a full life work of threescore and ten years by a last chapter of exceeding value to the cause of Christ, 308 FATHEB EELLS. and over many of such churches liis Sabbath bells will continue to ring out his honored memory along with their calls to the worship of God. '■^Resolved, That we express to tlie races he served, the colleges he builded, the churches he aided, the family he honored, and tlie city he adopted, our cordial sympathy in their loss, and together with them we express our unfading tribute of personal affection and esteem for our translated friend — Father Eells." Resolutions by the Tacoma Congregational Associa- tion, also adopted by the General Association of Washington : — " Wliereas, In the providence of God, our most venerated and beloved father. Rev. Gushing Eells, D.D., honored of God as few men have been and spared to the good old age of eighty-three years, has been promoted to the higher field of service in the Master's kingdom ; " Therefore the Tacoma Association of Congrega- tional Churches and Ministers, in session at the Atkinson Memorial Church, hereby record their deep and sincere appreciation of the rare unselfishness, the modest, Christlike spirit, and the long and varied usefulness of this man of God. As pioneer mission- ary, as educator of youth, as friend and preacher to the Indians, as pastor and benefactor of many churches, and last but not least as founder of Whit- LAST DAYS, 309 man College, Dr. Eells has made a name and left a work which will grow with the passage of years and will ever be identified with the Christian history of this state of Washington. ** We have lost a father, but God has only translated a son who honored him and whom he, according to his promise, now delights to honor. " To his family, his city, and the churches of Wash- ington we hereby tender our Christian sympathy.'* CHAPTER XTT. CHARACTERISTICS . GUSHING EELLS was a true pioneer. Some- times a slur is cast on eastern men when they come west that they cannot do as well as western men. Dr. Eells came from the far east to the far west and succeeded fairly well. At his death he was the oldest pioneer in Washington. The only time he ever attended the annual reunion of the pioneers of Oregon, June 15, 1880, he was in the front rank. His company included the first Congregational min- isters to come to Oregon.^ None came before the trio composed of himself and Messrs. Walker and Smith. He was also a member of the first Presbyterian church west of the Rocky Mountains, having joined 1 In 1SS5 the Congregationalists of Oregon and Washington celebrated their jubilee at Forest Grove, that being fifty years from the time Rev. S. Parker came to the coast. Mr. Parker was ordained a Congre- gationalist, and a letter from his son to the author Btatcd that he believed that he continued so. A much later letter stated that further investigation showed that on account of certain Christian work in which Mr. Parker was engaged in New York it became necessary for him to join the presbytery before he came to Oregon; so the celebra- tion was three years too soon. 310 CHAEAGTEBISTICS, 311 it September 2, 1838, twenty days after it was organ- ized. That was the mission church, Presbyterian in name, but Congregational in practice as long as it was the mission church of the American Board. Afterward, when Mr. Spalding, its pastor, returned to his work among the Nez Perces, it was transferred to that place, became thoroughly Presbyterian, and cele- brated its jubilee August 13, 1888. Dr. Eells was requested to represent the American Board at that time, but could not well do so, and his son took his place. It has also been noted in this biography that he assisted in organizing the first Congregational church east of the Cascade Mountains, at The Dalles. With his wife and older son he was among the seven original members of the first Congregational church in the state of AVashington, at Walla Walla. He organ- ized the first Congregational church north of Snake River and east of the Columbia at Colfax, delivered the first Fourth of July address at the Walla Walla valley, and also in the Colville valley, and preached the first Protestant sermon in Walla Walla. In 1848-49 he taught in the Oregon Institute, now Willamette University, the oldest college on the Pacific coast, which dates its origin back to March 15, 1842, though not legally chartered as a college until January, 1853. Again he taught in Tualitin Academy 312 FATHER EELLS. in 1849, five months before the charter was granted even for the academy, which was September 26, 1849, and this was five years before the college charter was granted. He also taught in Whitman Seminary, the first collegiate institution east of the Cascade Mountains, six months after its first building was dedicated. When these events, together with his almost daily work of pioneer travel and Christian labor, on horse* back, in the forest and on the prairie, by day and night, are taken into consideration, it is not strange that at the National Congregational Council in 1883 he received the name of "John the Baptist of the Home Missionary Society." He had a remarkable memory. In the Whitman controversy Hon. El wood Evans took a position decid- edly opposed to that of Dr. Eells. The point under discussion was a meeting of the Oregon mission held in September, 1842. Mr. Evans said to Dr. Eells afterward : " I did not impeach your truthfulness. I only impeached your memory." Mr. Evans, how- ever, found himself mistaken, for the journal of Rev. E. Walker was found and showed that Dr. Eells' recollection was correct, although the event had occurred more than forty years previous. After Dr. Eells had resigned his last pastorate in 1888, having more leisure than usual he was CHAEA CTEBISTIG8. 313 asked to write out some of his reminiscences. As he had passed through two fires and many removals, many of his early papers and journals had been lost. He had to depend considerably on his memory. Yet it was quite easy to remember very many of the par- ticulars in regard to transactions long years previous. Professor W. D. Lyman says; "He had some remarkable gifts. One was an extraordinary memory. I never knew one wdiose memory was both so accurate and so retentive. I met him in Colfax five or six years ago, and remarking to liim that I had not heard him speak for a dozen years or so, and naming the occasion, he said : ' And do you remember the text?' I acknowledged my inability to do so, when he at once repeated it, together with various minute circum- stances." ^ Precision. Rev. W. A. Tenney, of Oakland, Cal., pastor of Dr. Eells at Forest Grove in 1861, says, after speaking of published notices about him since his death : " What I have always regarded as his most marked trait of individuality no one seems to have mentioned, namely, precision. I used to notice it in all he did. In singing, his time, tune, pauses, and enunciation were as exact as possible. His conversa- tion, addresses, sermons, and prayers were always noticeably accurate, even to the pronunciation of * Whitman Collegian, March, 1893t 314 FATHEB EELL8. every word, s}^ liable, and letter with a full and correct sound. His use of words and structure of sentences were according to rule, with perhaps more of the Latin element in language than is common to-day. His arrangement of ideas and material of discourse was always extremely methodical. His correspond- ence bore the trait — clear and exact form of letters, punctuation, and neatness. If I recollect, his home, his yard, his stable, fences, and even his attire, whether on Sunday or for work or for a long journey from The Dalles to Walla Walla — all were in perfect order. This element of precision existed in a more marked degree and to a more general extent in Father Eells than in any man I ever knew." Economy. When Dr. Eells was asked by Rev. J. Edwards how it was that he had been able to con- tribute so much he replied : " Industry ; economy crowned by the di^ine blessing." Brought up as he was on the rugged hills of New England, in his early life he learned habits of economy, which he practiced through life, and which gave to him the property he was able to give away. He always lived economically. During the last few years that he lived in the Indian country previous to 1848, the expenses of himself and family, four persons, to the Missionary Board were less than a hundred dollars a year. When he taught in Whitman Seminary, he boarded CHABACTEBISTICS. 315 himself in the building, six miles from home, riding home usually about twice a week for food and meals, except when invited to meals by friends. When he was engaged in his home missionary work in eastern Washington he usually lived in much the same way, having his own house and cooking his own food, except when friends invited him to share their hospi- tality. Sometimes these invitations were by arrange- ments once a day. When he traveled he practiced the same economy, much preferring when he could to go with his own horse, and carry his food and camp out, than to travel by stage, steamer, or cars and put up at hotels. In 1882 he wrote : " The cost of my food is trifling. In the estimation of some my manner of living may be regarded as objectionable. But if locusts and wild honey were sufficient for a distinguishably great prophet, perhaps I may be excused if I can comfort- ably save money to relieve suffering sister Julia."' Yet his economy was solely for himself. To others he was always liberal. December 10, 1892, he wrote: "I am permitted to gather refuse material for firewood. It is possible that in the estimation of most such work is degrading. The word of God and the calls of benevolence encour- age me in so doing." 1 See page 237. 316 FATHEB SELLS. He was a man of prayer. Those who heard his public prayers knew that he had learned to pray in his closet. At one time, when he was living in the fanaily of his son, Indian Agent Eells, there were ver^^ severe trials, and all worked hard to avoid threatened danger. It was avoided. In speaking of it after- ward, his daughter-in-law said that she had had more faith in grandpa's prayers than in all the work of the other persons. His lack of ability in some other respects was made up by more than ordinary power in prayer. It was the secret of his success. Mrs. G. R. Andrus says that at one time Dr. Eells came to their house at Cheney very much troubled. He had been the only minister in northeastern Wash- ington ; he had seen the work growing and had asked for help. Rev. F. T. Clark had been sent, and Dr. Eells had anticipated great assistance from him ; but he did not do as was expected. The churches suf- fered, and he finally left the ministry. It was a bitter disappointment to Dr. Eells. "When he went to Dea- con Andrus' house, much depressed and afraid as to what the results would be, he said his only hope was that God would overrule all for the best ; that he had spent the whole night in prayer, earnest, wrestling prayer, that the churches might be delivered from their dilliculties. While he talked, tears were stream- ing from his eyes. Mrs. Andrus adds that it was a CHABACTEBISTICS. 317 common thing for him to spend hours of the night in wrestling prayer for the work. His journal of June 19, 1888, says : " Without effort I am considerably occupied in prayer." " Taking hold of God in prayer" was also a common expression with him in later years, originating from his own experience. He was a mari of benevolence. When he was con- verted, his purse was converted. He preached be- nevolence and set the example. When he left the Indian mission in 1848, he determined to give one tenth of his income to the Lord, and he did so, how- ever hard the times were, and however difficult he found it to live. As far back as 1851 and 1852, when he had an income of little more than six hundred dol- lars a year, he gave one hundred dollars a year to support the gospel in his neighborhood. When he began to work for Whitman Seminary, he gave so much more than one tenth that no such limit was heard of after that. In 1872, when his house at Walla Walla was burned, he asked himself what God meant by it — whether it was not a rebuke to him for trying to lay up too many riches. He thought he might have erred in this respect, and so then he determined to lay up no more, but to give away all of his income except what he should need for the support of himself and wife ; and they lived economically. 318 FATHER EELLS. Mrs. Eells shared the sphlt of her husband in regard to liberality. Her gift to Pacific University has already been mentioned. When she died, she gave all her private money — about two hundred and seventy dollars — to the American Board, tlie Ameri- can Home Missionary Society, and the American Mis- sionary Association. When Rev. E. W. Allen, of Dayton, Wash., was burned out. Dr. Eells sent him a letter of cheering sympathy and enclosed fifty dollars. When young he had heard of two kinds of sympathy. One was that manifested on a somewhat similar occasion, when one man said to another who had lost considerable, " I feel for you," and that was all. Another man said, '' I feel for you ; I feel for you so much," and gave the sufferer five dollars. Dr. Eells preferred the latter — to show his faith by his works. He felt in the same way for Christian education, the missionary cause, poor churches, and similar work. The following is a list of the benevolences of Dr. and Mrs. Eells so far as ascertainable : — To Whitman College $10,000.00 „ The American Education Society 1,000.00 „ The American Board 2,500.00 „ Congregational Church at Forest Grove .... 1,150.00 „ „ „ „ Walla Walla .... 860.00 „ „ „ „ Colfax 1,600.00 )) 1* „ „ Dayton 1,058.10 CHABACTBBISTICS. B19 To Congregational Church at Cheney Mrs. Eellj „ Sprague „ Spokane „ Medical Lake . . . . „ Tacoraa (Atkinson Me- morial) „ East Tacoma . . . . „ Olympia ,, Seattle „ Lone Pine ,, Chewelah „ Union City „ Pullman, an organ . . Legacies „ ,, Donation to Pacific University Miscellaneous Total $1,109.75 756.85 500.00 285.20 214.95 211.00 52.00 50.00 50.00 174.14 50.00 47.50 270.00 * 500.00 1,235.16 $24,654.65 To this should also be added his legacy to Whitman College, which amounts to about five thousand dollars. Included among these gifts was a bell to each of the following churches, he paying the whole cost in most cases, though perhaps not in every one : Colfax, Day- ton, Chewelah, Spokane First, Cheney, Medical Lake, Sprague, North Tacoma, and East Tacoma, nine in all. "Thus," says Rev. T. W. Walters, " bemg dead he yet speaketh all over the country." Rev. J. Edwards said, in his memorial discourse : *This, at the time of Dr. Eells' death, had increased so that ii amounted to twelve thousantl five hundred dollars. 320 FATHEB EELLS. "Was he not the most generous man on the Pacific coast? Is there any other one who has contributed as liberally, according to his means, to extend Christ's kingdom as he?" The Home Missionary, in commenting on his life work, closes with these words : " Verily, here is an in- stance where ' Love does not measure its gifts, but rejoices to give all.' " ^ His was a consistent Christian life. He was not per- fect. No one knew this better than himself. He made his mistakes and had his besetting sins and prejudices, but still he was respected for his honest, sincere life. At one time, as he went to the polls on election day in Walla Walla, where there was much wirepulling to secure votes, the inspector of the elec- tion, a neighbor of his, but who belonged to the oppo- site party from Dr. Eells, said when he saw him coming that he would rather attempt to influence the vote of any other man whom he knew than that of Dr. Eells ; and he said it with sincerity. Sometimes he felt as if his life had almost been a failure. In 1873 he could say that neither in the min- istry, missionary work, nor in his efforts for Whitman Seminary, could he see much result from his labors. The last twenty years of his life gave him good results in all these, but previous to that time he often felt ' The Home Missionary, March, 1893, page 559. CHABACTEJRISTICS. 321 discouraged. An intimate friend, an associate teacher, said of him that he ought not to feel so, for if he had accomplished nothiug more in life than to earn his consistent Christian reputation, his life was a success. Rev. J. Edwards met an old pioneer in the Colville valle}^ who was very skeptical in regard to Christianity, but acknowledged that Father Eells was a real Chris- tian, and he seemed to think him to be about the only good man in the world. The wife of this man said : " Father Eells has been the savior of my family." This man was especially bitter against Indian agents and seemed to think that there was not an honest one anywhere. He was told that Dr. Eells had a son who was one, and this astonished him. Although he was not at all acquainted with Indian Agent Eells, yet so great was his confidence in the father that he said : '*I believe Father Eells' son can be an honest Indian agent." He loved the cause of Christian education. Many of his vacations, while in college and the theological seminary, were spent in teaching. In the mission he taught the Indian school his share of the time. After he left the mission he taught twelve and a half years, actual time, also serving as president of the board of trustees of Whitman College from the first, in 1859, until his death — nearly thirty-four years. He also served as superintendent of schools a yenr or two in 322 FATHER EELLB. Walla Walla County, and in AVhitman County two years. He loved the ministry. Although he spent many years in teaching, it was not because he felt coldly toward preaching, but because for a time Provideuce seemed to point in that direction ; for when he left the Indian work he could see no other better way by which he could support his family. When, during the last eighteen years of his life, he found more time than he previously had done to study the Bible, as a minister he spoke of it as exhilarating and seemiug to lift him into a new life. When over seventy -five years of age, a friend advised him to leave eastern Washington and go to Piiget Sound and rest with his sons. He replied : "Would you deprive me of the glorious privilege of preaching the gospel of Christ?" When strong in- ducements were held out at one time to induce his son to enter other work than that of the ministry, he ex- pressed a strong desire that this should not be done. The following items from his journal bear on this point : — "January 19, 1877. It is a luxury to study the Scriptures." " December 23. I am thankful for the privilege of preaching." " January 20, 1878. To acquire and impart Bible knowledge is by myself esteemed a high privilege." CRABACTEBISTICS, 323 " December 18. I am happy in the work of ser- monizing." " March 7, 1880. I believe that to preach the glori- ous gospel in demonstration of the Spirit and of power is the height of my ambition." '* January 15, 1882. I have been much exercised in prayer. I have a strong desire for length of days and bestowal of strength and grace so that I may perform large service for Christ and his church. I earnestly ask to be favored with the privilege of preaching the glorious gospel with power and success." " December 17, 1884. I am grateful even for a small congregation." " March 31, 1889. At Prairieside there were seven beside myself. Whether the smallness of the number is my fault I cannot say. 1 desire to be grateful for the privilege of preaching to a few." He loved missionary luork^ esjjecially that among the Indians. He once said at Skokomish, when there was talk of establishing a monthly concert of prayer for missions, that he did not believe a church would long be a living one which did not take a living interest in missions. After a missionary meeting at the same place, an attendant said that she always enjoyed those meetings fully as much as any others because of the earnestness with which Dr. Eells threw himself into them. Mrs. Eells said many times, between 1853 and 324 FATHEB EELLS, 1860, that notwithstanding the man}' removals they had made, and which to her were great undertakings, yet she was willing to make one more removal if it could be back among the Indians. As long as they both lived, their prayers were for the aborigines, especially those with whom they had labored in early life. He often visited the Spokane Indians while in eastern Washington, and both he and the Indians enjoyed the visits. He was also greatly interested in the work of his sons among the Indians on Puget Sound. He carefully revised the book of his son on "Indian Missions on the Pacific Coast," promising to give one hundred dollars if necessary (though it did not prove to be) to aid in its publication, and said to him when it was published : " If you had given me ten thousand dollars I could not have been better pleased than I was when I read that book, especially the fourth chapter." Among his gifts were twenty-five hundred dollars to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. One of his first gifts to tliis Board was fifty dollars when he was dismissed from their service, and it was given as an offering for having been per- mitted to labor in that service. For about the last twenty-five years of his life he followed the plan as nearly as he could of annually constituting, by the payment of a hundred dollars, some one an honorary CHABACTERISTICS. 325 member of the Board. Twenty-three persons, includ- ing all his children and grandchildren, four of the family of Hon. J. A. Perkins, of Colfax, and Mrs. Mary R. Walker, were thus made honorary members. As the total contributions to the Board (including his own) from Washington since 1857, the first year when any donation was made from that state, to January 1, 1893, have been $5,571.53, and those from Oregon since 1850, when the first donation from that state was made, have been $7,494.11, it will be seen that his donations have been nearly as much as those of all other persons in Washington. But as his dona- tions previous to 1862 are included in the Oregon donations, his have been nearly one fourth of the total sum. He was a consecrated man. He was not perfect. His journal during the last few years of his life often speaks of his mourning for sin. Yet the giving of his money, of his time, — especially when in the home missionary work when he almost entirely supported himself, and when he worked for Whitman College, especially the year which he spent for it in the east when he gave his time and paid his own expenses, — show that he was perhaps as nearly thoroughly consecrated to Christ as any one. Rev. J. Edwards says; "His walk with God made him a thoroughly consecrated Christian. He con- 326 FATHEB EELL8. Bidered it his reasonable duty to present his whole being a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God. He was reared in the atmosphere created by the Nettleton revivals in New England in the early part of this century. The preaching heard in his youth empha- sized man's condition by nature on account of sin, his absolute dependence upon Christ for salvation, the necessity of regeneration and entire surrender to God and his service. The Christian life was made a spir- itual life — every Christian a missionary. Those great doctrines took hold upon him and molded his charac- ter. They made him a true missionary, so that noth- ing could swerve him from the purpose of serving God and humanity. He considered all he had the Lord's. It w^as his close walk with God that made his life such a grand one. He walked the earth doing good, and his meat and drink was to do the will of his Father in heaven. In him we have a wonderful illus- tration of the possibilities of life under adverse cir- cumstances if governed by noble purposes. It shows that the most worthy, honorable, and magnificent life possible on earth is the godly one. ' Enoch walked with God.' That brief biography, so rich, so signifi- cant, and comprehensive, thoroughly fits Father Eells. It seems to express the very genius of Father Eells' life." Dr. Eells once said : " I have believed the Scripture CHABACTEB1STIC8. 327 to such an extent that everything — soul, spirit, body, purse, house, land, horse, buggy — was laid on the altar of God." In 1874, on the last day before reaching Colfax on his way from Spokane, he rode about twenty-six miles and walked thirteen. When he was descending the canon into Colfax, still walking, these thoughts were in his mind : " Is it not a little strange that I am walking so comfortably, and what is this for?" The reply was : "To please my Maker and to subserve the best interests of my fellows." Those thoughts suggested a Scripture text: "The joy of the Lord is your strength." " I believe that is the solution of the great labor I have been able to perform without weari- ness. The joy of the Lord has been my strength." His was a life of trial and faiths Although much success finally crowned his efforts, yet he had to wait long. It looked very dark when he was driven from his Spokane Indians and had seen so little fruit. It looked at times, especially between 1870 and 1880, as if all his efforts and prayers for Whitman College, together with the money given, might be lost. When he was in the East, in 1883-84, in behalf of the college there were great discouragements, and the same was true in his home missionary work. Still his faith in God held on. In 1872, after he had been burned out at Walla 328 FATHEB EELLS. Walla and visited Boise City, one thing impressed itself on the mind of the writer as he heard anew the story of his father's life at prayer-meeting and else- where. *' What a strong faith he has had to hold on in spite of so many discouragements ! " On these points Dr. Eells' journal has the following items : — " October 5, 1879. The result of my effort to erect houses of worship may well cause serious reflection. I have appropriated more than three thousand dollars to aid in building three houses of worship, not one of which is used largely by Congregational clergymen. I judge there is reason to conclude that on account of error of purpose or act my offering has not been entirely acceptable. O Lord, be pleased to guide me, so that my purposes shall be right, motives pure, and conduct without reproach." "June 14, 1881. I have been afflicted in view of the results of my life work. To-night am somewhat comforted." " February 14, 1886. During the past week I have prayed more than usual for the presence and power to attend the service to-day at Marshall. On the way thither I was expectant that my request would be granted. Together with the communicated appoint- ment I signified that I would be promptly there and would be pleased to have a fire seasonably kindled. CHABACTEBISTICS. 329 '' At two o'clock the bouse was cold. Old lady Blaine came, returned, brought pitch pine and matches. While I was making whittlings a boy came to start a fire. Then it was time to commence service. Tardily a small number assembled. Re- turning I suffered from cold. I walked to increase comfort and reached home wearied." " February G, 1887. This morning (the Sabbath) I feared that I should not be able to perform my assigned work. The words, Micah 7:9, came to my mind : ' I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me : he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteous- ness.' Thereby I was comforted and strengthened. I judge that 2 Cor. 12:9 was verified : ' My grace is suflScient for thee : for my strength is made perfect in weakness.' " '' March 8. This morning I was led to look up the words, ' For a small moment have I forsaken thee ; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer' (Is. 54:7, 8). I like to believe that God the Spirit moved upon my mind. I am oppressed. I am afflicted. I cry day and night." "March 25. I judge that the buffetin^s of Satan 330 FATHEB EELLS, have been applied. I turned to the Thh'ty-seventh Psalm. I took hold of the words : ' Trust in the Lord. Delight thyself also in the Lord ; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord ; trust also in him ; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him.' By those words applied by the Holy Spirit I am comforted." *' May 1. If I judge correctly there is evidence of marked dislike to myself and my ministration of the Word. I believe there is decided opposition to the truth. To myself the conviction is satisfactory. I preach the truth, therefore I displease some. AVith the divine favor I can bear the ill-treatment of unrea- sonable and wicked men. I rather enjoy their dislike. O Lord, vindicate thy servant in his endeavors to proclaim the truth. I hope and trust in thee." His life was an ansiver to skeptics. What made the boy who ran out of his father's house at the back door, for fear that his pastor would talk to him on the subject of religion, work in after years so earnestly for Christ? There can be but one answer; it was the grace of God. AVhat was it made the aged man of sixty-seven, without even a w^fe to sympathize with and cheer him, leave the children, who wished him to remain, and go CHAMACTEBISTIGS. 331 hundreds of miles and stay eleven years? What induced him at the age of threescore and thirteen to go east to engage in the most laborious and trying work of his life? It was not money, for he had plenty on which to live ; and besides during all these years he in the main supported himself and paid his own expenses. It was renewed consecration to his Maker. It was a living God, Saviour, Holy Spirit, and Bible living in him. Said a skeptic lately when the writer brought up Paul's changed life as an instance of the reality of religion: "That is old; so long ago that we can hardly realize whether it is true or not." The lives of Dr. Eells and others like him prove that the gospel has the same living power to-day as in Paul's time. Yet Dr. Eells icas an ordinary man. Very ordi- nary, some thought; some rather looked down on him. He was not commanding in presence; he was never invited to become the pastor of the larger pulpits even in Oregon and Washington, and seldom invited to speak in them. He did not feel competent to become president even of his own college. He was never so far above other men but what they were brethren, never so far but what thousands of others could look at him as an example of what they might be and do. He proved the truth of the words, " In due season we 332 FATHER EELLS. shall reap, if we faint not." Three points illustrate this — his work as a minister, as a missionary, and for Whitman College. In 1873 the prospects in regard to all these looked very dark to him. He had given him- self to the work of the ministry, but by 1874, thirty- six 3'ears after his ordination, he had never been pastor of a church ; but during the last nineteen years of his life he was pastor of seven churches, having been pastor of three of them at the same time, nearly all of which he had been largely instrumental in organizing. He gave ten years of his life to missionary work among the Spokane Indians. He was driven from the mission and left it with the feeling that not one of those Indians was suitable for church membership. It w^as not until 1873, twenty-five years after he left the mission, that he saw much fruit of the work ; and a few years later he said: "If one quarter or even one eighth of all the Spokane Indians who have been received into the Church are true Christians, I am more than repaid for all my labor." From 1859 to 1869 he worked to establish Whitman Seminary and gave three thousand dollars to it. During the next thirteen years nearly everything looked dark, and he often felt as if his money and labor might all be lost ; but he lived to see it grow into a college, with regular college commencements CHABACTEBISTICS. 333 for teu years, with a faculty of eleven instructors and with property to the amount 'of thirty-five thousand dollars. Dr. Eells left but few published writings. They are mainly comprised in his missionary reports to the American Board, and published in The Missionary Herald, one or two letters to The New York Observer, an article in The Missionary Herald of December, 1866, on the results of Dr. Whitman's work in saving the northwest coast to the United States, a centennial sketch of the missionary work of the American Board in Oregon in 1876, first published in The Pacific Christian Advocate and afterward in " The History of the Congregational Association of Oregon and Washington," an article or two in The Home Mission- tn-y on his life work, an address about Whitman College both in Spokane and Walla Walla papers, a series of eight articles — originally eight addresses — in The Walla Walla Watchman, and a sermon on the Sabbath as a day of rest, the only thing that he published in pamphlet form. His work was more to make history than to write it, to do something for others to write about than to write about what others or himself had done. The changes during his life were many and great. Reference has already been made to many of them. Professor W. D. Lyman speaks of others as follows : — 334 FATHEB EELLS. "He was born ouly three ^^ears after the first steam- boat plowed the HucIsod. He was fifteen years old when the first railroad was laid down on American soil. He was nearly old enough to vote when the thunders of Webster's eloquence against Hayue marked an epoch in American history. He was about entering middle life when tlie first click of the electric telegraph announced the Democratic nomination of Polk for the presidency. He was beginning to be an old man when the desolating tempest of civil war burst upon the land. Of the twenty-three different presidents, he has lived during the administrations of all but three, and, had he been in the places for it, he could have voted for all but seven. When he was an infant the population of the United States was a little over seven million. There were no cities and but a few frontier settlements west of the AUeghanies. Even when he had become a voter the ' West ' was western New York and Ohio. Chicago had then no existence, and as for the two thirds of the present union west of the Mississippi, it was the ' end of the earth,' the home of wild beasts and wilder Indians, known to but a few trappers and explorers of the white race." ^ During his life the population of the United States increased almost tenfold, from 7,239,881 to about I Whitman CoUegiau, March, 1893. CHABACTERISTICS. 335 65,000,000; the states from seventeen to forty-four; and of the 5,140 Congregational churches now exist- ing in the United States only 819 date their existence previous to 1810 (tlie year of his birth), 740 of which are in New England. The two following quotations may not be inappro- priate in closing. The first is an editorial from The Oregonlan of the autumn of 1877. In speaking of a call from Dr. P^ells it says : — " To the efforts of a few persons, among whom were Messrs. Eells and Walker, with Dr. Whitman as the prominent figure of that early time, are we indebted incalculably for the preservation of Oregon to the United States. Here and by these men, with others we stop not now to name, before most of the present generation was born was laid the foundation of great communities. A state well founded should be immortal. It is a duty to remember the men wdio sow seed for the centuries. History, with singular perversity, instead of preserving the names of those who build often prefers to give up its pages to the exploits of those who merely destroy." The other is from an address by Hon. R. P. Boise, of Salem, Oregon, before the Oregon Pioneer Associa- tion in 187G. After speaking of his visit to Mr. Eells, ^ his fellow townsman, at Forest Grove in 1850, I Page 30. 336 FATHER EELL8, he adds^: "And history will record that these holy men were the nucleus around which had been formed and built the state of Oregon. They builded well, for they laid their foundation upon that rock which bears up and sustains the superstructure of the civilization of the last eighteen hundred years. And fortunate indeed is it that such men were here in that early time, men who knew the wants of a Christian com- munity, men who were learned in the sciences and literature as well as in theology and knew and appre- ciated the value of labor and industry, and who were willing to and did build with their own hands, men who knew how to plant in the virgin soil the seeds of virtue and knowledge and cultivate them, as they ger- minated and grew into churches, schools, and colleges. They founded tlie Willamette University at Salem, the Pacific University at Forest Grove, and other institu- tions of learning throughout the land, which are of more value to the future prosperity and glory of the state than all the gold of California or the wealth of the Indies." 1 Transactions, Oregon Tioneer Association, 1876, pp. 26, 27. NDEX. Abbott, Dr. Lyman, remarks on Dr. Eells, 2ii:'. Aberqua, 101; Mr, Eells' home in, 162. Africa, appointment of Gushing Eells as missionary to, "29. American lioanl of Foreign Mis- sions, idea of Dr. Whitman's success ill Oregon, 10!); mission established, 84; mission broken up, rJ5 ; Gushing Eells dismissed from, 167. American Eur Company, 45; trouble of, with Hudson's Bay Gompany, 58. American Education Society, do- nation to Gushing Eells, 2, ; gift from Dr. Eells to, 27, 196. American Homo Missionary Soci- ety, refusal to make Dr. Eells a home missionary, 219. American llendezvous, arrival at, 54; prices at, .')6. Ancestry of Gushing Eells, 15, 16. Anderson, A. J., as president of Whitman College, 199; i-emarks on Dr. Eells, 295. Anderson, I'rof. L. F., remarks on Dr. Eells, 299. Anniversary, fiftieth, of Dr. Eells' ari'ival in Washington, 272. Appearance of Dr. Eells, 331. Astoria, 159. Atkinson, Dr. G. H., on Oregon mission, 108; chosen to solicit funds, 201; inability to go Ea^^t, 204. Baker, Dr. D. S., donation to Whitman Seminary, 190; letter from Dr. Eells to, 234. Barrows, Rev. WiUiam, extract from " A Day with a Veteran Forty-five Years in Oregon," 194. Beecher, Lyman, on Sunday travel, 39. Benevolence of Gushing Eells, 317, 324. Big Star, 148. Billings, Hon. Frederick, 211. Boise, Hon. 11. P., remarks on Dr. Eells, 335. Brace, Julia, 37. Bradford, Dr. A. H., remarks on Dr. Eells, 302. Brownell, on Indian Races of America, 17. Caswell, Mrs. H. S., remarks on Dr. Eells, 300. Catholics, Spokane Indians as- signed to, 150. Gavin, Dr., 293. Gayuse Indian plots, 129. Chamberlain, Rev. P. B., pastor- ate in Walla Walla, 183; on site of Whitman Seminary, 189; address at dedication of Whit- man Seminary, 190; as principal of Whitman Seminary, 192. Characteristics of Eells family, 17, 19, 21, 22; of Gushing Eells, 310; of Major Samuel Eells, 17. Charge to Rev. F. T. Clarke, 255. Cheese-making, 122. Cheney, removal of Dr. Eells to, 249; Dr. Eells' work in, 254. Cherington,Dr. F. B., remarks on Dr. hells, 291. Chewelah, Dr. Eells' w^ork for, 2.50. Christian consistency of Gushing Eells, 320. Chute, Dr., 43. Civil War, feeling of Walla Walla valley in, 20, 21 ; Eells family in, 21. Clarke, Rev. Dorus, on Gushing Eells, 23 ; opening select sciiool, 25. Clarke, Rev. F. T., charge to, 255; right hand of fellowship to, 2.57. Coe, David, 26. Colfax, church formed in, 230; Dr. Eells' letters to, 232 ; erection of church in, 242; departure of Dr. Eells from, 247. Columbia Maternal Association, 118. Colville, Dr. EeUs' work for, 251. 338 FATHEB EELLS. Congrejratioiial church, first or- ganized euat of Cascade Mouu- tJiins, 178; first in Washington Territory, 18.J; in Washington west of Cascade Mountains, 222; erection in Cull ax of, 242; erec- tion in Sprague of, 261 ; resolu- tions on Dr. Eelis by Walla Walla, 305. Congregationiilism west of the Rocky Mountains, 161 ; in Wash- ington west of Cascade Moun- tains, 2-22; Dr. Eells on, 263. Consecration of Dr. Eells, 325. Controvers}', Whitman, 112. Conversion of Ciisliiug Eells, 23. Council, Indian, 134. Counties of Washinirton in 1S74, 229. Crossing the continent by Gush- ing Eells, 35. Currency in 1838, 76. Dayton, Dr. Eells' work for, 250. Death of Dr. Whitman and fam- ily, 12"); of Mrs. Cushing Eells, 239, 241; of Dr. Cushing Eells, 289; i)oem on, 287. Donation to Dr. Eells from American Education Society, 27; by Dr. Eells to Whitman Seminary and to American Edu- cation Society, 196. Eaton, Rev. J. F., elected presi- dent of Whitman College, 218; remarks on Dr. Whitman, 299; on Cushing Eells, 299. Economy of Cushing Eells, 314, Education of Cushing Eells, 25. Education Society, aid given to Ciisliing Eells by, 26; Cushing Eells' donation to, 27. Edwards, Rev. J., on Dr. Eells' work, 271 ; remarks on Dr. Eells, 295. Eells, Charles, visit to Cushing Eells, 281 ; death, 281. Eells, Cushing, accident to, 282; account of echool work, 245; aid from Education Society, 26; aid given in erection of church at Forest Grove, 170; aid given to Walla Walla church, 183; ap- pointment to Alrica, 29; arrival at Americ;in Rinulezvous, 54; arrival at Dr. Whitman's, 84; arrival at Oregon City, 144; as assL-itant moderator of National Council, 202; as disciplinarian, 169; as home missionary, 219; as school superintendent, 192; at Dr. Whitman's, 63; at East Windsor, 28; at Fort Boise, 62; at Fort Hall, 61; at Skokomish, 223; at Williams College, 27; breaking up of the station, 142; buying a home, 166; called John the Baptist of the Home Mis- sionary Society, 203; camp reg- ulations, 46; change in mission field, 33; characteristics of, 310; charge to Rev. F.T.Clarke, 256; chosen president of \V hitman Seminary, 178; church building in Colfax, 242; church formed at Colfax, 230; college classmates, 27; conversion, 23; crossing La Platte, .51; crossing the conti- nent, 33; crossing the Sweet- water, 52; currency used, 7>i; death of, 2S9; death of wife, 239, 241; decisipn to become a mis- sionary, 29; decision to found memorial of Dr. Whitman, 172; decision to solicit Eastern funds for Whitman College, 201 ; de- gree of Doctor of Divinity conferred, 218; departure from Walla Walla, 197; desire to form church north of Snake River, 229; disappointment at Dr. Atkinson's failure to go East, 204; dismissal from the Ameri- can Board, 167; donation to Education Society, 27; Dorus Clarke, D.D., on, 23; early years, 22; eiUication, 25; elected school superintendent of Whit- man County, 241; experience with horse thieves, 1S4; extracts from addresses on, 291; extracts from journal, 264, 269, 282; extracts from letters to church in. Colfax, 232; favoring Union, 21; favorite horse of, 224; fifti- eth ansiiversary of ariival in Washington, 272; fiftieth anni- versary of coming to coast, 215; first sight of Pacific Ocean, 220; food at Tshimakain, 72 ; fortieth anniversary of marriage, 237; Fourth of July address at Col- ville valley, 226; Fourth of July celebration, 177; funeral serv- ices of, 289; garden at Tshima- kain, 90; genealogv, 15; histori- cal sketch of "Walla Walla valley, 227; home at Tshimakain, 70; home in Aberqua, 162; hor>e- back riding, 40; illness, 49, 51, 281; Indian dances, 55; Indian INDEX. 339 school, 03, 94; Indian troubles, 1-2'.), 132, Ul; in Walla Walla valley, 148; in Willamette val- ley, Kil ; items concerning work, 310; journal concerning Colfax churcli,243; journal concerning Whitman College, 216 ; last days, 272; last illness, 288; last of pioneer associates, 285; last trip to Skokomish, 275; last visit to Walla Walla, 218; last words of, 289; learning Indian language, 91; letter from Tacoma Minis- terial Alliance to, 27i3; letter to Dr. D. S. Baker from, 234 ; letter to sister-in-law from, 235; life in Salem, 163; locating station among Spokane Indians, 87 ; loss by fire, 102 ; of horses and mules, 128, 196; mails, 73; making will, 212; marriage, 31, 32; meeting Rev. E. Waliier, 37; meeting with Hudson's Baj' Company, 58; method of traveling, 45, 47; missionary trip in 1874, 151 ; mis- sionary trip in 1875, 152 ; mission- ary work at Medical Lake, 248, 250; mission's action regarding Dr. Whitman's proposed East- ern trip, 113; on denomination- alism, 203; on Dr. Whitman's work to secure Oregon to United States, 109; on Indians and his work among them, 95, 104; across the backbone of America, 61 ; on their trip, 41; ordination, 30; outside work while at Colfax, 248; overtaking American Fur Company, 44 ; packing, 93 ; pass- ports, 67 ; personality, 321 ; prices at American Kendezvous, 5(); providential escape from mas- sacre, 125; rain, 52; raising money to free AVhitman Sem- inary from debt, 194; rations, 49, GO; receiving instructions as missionaries, 37; remarks by R. P. Boise on, 335; remarks by The Oregonian on, 335 ; removal of family to Walla Walla, 182; remova 1 to Cheney, 249 ; removal to Walla Walla, 175 ; resignation from Medical Lake, 266; resig- nation from Whitman Semi- nary, 193; resignation of Colfax church, 247; resolutions on, 304, 305, 307, 308; return to Forest Grove, 168 ; right hand of fellow- ship to Rev. F. T. Clarke, 257; second year East for Whitman College, 219; staging, 38; taking charge of Oregon Institute, 162; teaching at Forest Grove, 164; teaching in Mr. Griffin's school, 166; teaching in Whitman Sem- inary, 192; travel during 1841, 107; trip to Tshimakain, 90; work for Cheney, 254; work for Chewelah and Colville, 250; work for Dayton, 250; work for Medical Lake, 263; work for Pleasant Prairie, 262; work for Spokane, 258 ; work for Sprague, 260; writing, 333; year spent in soliciting funds, 205, 212. Eells, Mrs. Gushing, on slavery, 39, 40; letter to sister, 74; impressions of the country, 77; clothing, 121; death of father, 122; teaching in Oregon Insti- tute, 163; at Forest Grove, 164; aid in building church at Forest Grove, 170; founding scholar- ship in Pacific University, 171; departure for Walla Walla, 180; Congregationalist on, 195; sev- entieth birthday anniversary, 224; last visit to Forest Grove, 227; last sickness and death, 239, 241. See also Eells, Gushing; Prentiss, Narcissa. Eells, Eihvard, Jr., IS. Eells, Rev. James, professor in Lane Theological Seminary, 21. Eells, John, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21. Eells, Rev. Nathaniel, 16; descend- ants, 19; as chaplain in Revolu- tionary War, 20; Thanksgiving sermon, 20. Eells, Captain Robert L., In Rev- olutionary War, 19. Eells, Major Samuel, 15; charaq,- teristics, 17; marriage, 18; death, 22. Eells, Rev. Samuel, patriotism of, 19. Eells, Rev. W. W., on genealogy, 22. Fairbank, Myra, 31. Faith of Dr. Eells, 327, 332. Family cliaracteristics, love of justice, J7; patriotism, 19, 21; higher education, 21; long life, 22. First white woman who crossed continent, 35. Forest Grove, Dr. Eells teaching at, 164, 168; erection of Congre- gational church, 170. Fort Colville, determination to leave for, 132. 340 FATHEB EELLS, Fort Hall, Cushinp: Eells at, 61. Fourth of July, Walla Walla cel- ebration, 177. Funeral services of Dr. Eells, 280. Gray, W. H., 35, 85; crossing the continent, 41. liallock, Rev. L. H., remarks on Dr. Eells, ir.6, 253, 291,298. Hartford Seminary Record on Dr. Eells. 802. liimes, Deacon G. H., remarks on Dr. Eells, 298. Hodgton, Miss M. A., as assistant in \\ hitman Seminary, 192. IIoi eljack riding in crossing con- tinent, 40. Hudson's Bay Company ruling the country, 6(5; locating mis- sionaries, 66 ; managing Indians, 66; desires to obtain Oregon, 109. Hymn, Indian, 106. Indian dances, 55. Indians, Brownell on, 17; stealing horses, 44 ; during severe winter of 1846, 47; in Rocky Mountains, 61; Mrs. Eells on, 79, 117; esti- mates of, in Oregon, 82 ; as help, 93; Flatheads, 92, 93; Mr. Eells on, 95, 104; teaching music, 106; massacre of Dr. Whitman, 125; disturbances from, 129, 1 2, 1^12; attempts to have missionaries return, 144; results of mission- ary labor iimong, 145; asking a blessing, 147. Institute. See Oregon Institute. James, Rev. H. P., remarks on Dr. Eells, 295. John the Baptist of the Home Mis- sionary Society, Dr. Cushing Eells as, 203. Journal of Cushing Eells, 41, 44, 45, 75, 76, 97, 178, 205,212, 216,228, 243, 245, 2.53, 2(M, 269, 272, 274, 282, 288; of Mrs. Eells, 36,38,40,42, 43, 44, 47, 50, 52, 51, 55, 56, 59, 61, 63, 119, 167. Kalama, 220. Language, Flathead and Nez Per- ces distinguished, 95. Last days of Dr. Eells, 272. Last words of Dr. Eells, 289. Le Blond, 224, 289. Loss of home by fire, 102, 196; of horses anil mules, 128. Love of Cushing Eells, of Chris- tian education, 321 ; of the min- istry, 322; of missionary work, 323. Lyman, Miss Sarah I., on Dr. Eells as a disciplinarian, 169; remarks on Dr. P^ells, 300. Lyman, Prof. W. B., remarks on Cushing Eells, 300. McCrea, George F. C., remarks on Dr. Eells, 253. McHonald, Archibald, 87; con- cerning the future of Oregon, 110. MacLaflerty, remarks on Dr. Eells, 291. Maiis in Oregon in 1838, 73. Marriage of Cushing Eells, 31, 32; fortieth anniversary of, 237. Massacre of Dr. Whitman, 125. Maternal Association . See Colum- bia Maternal Association. Medical Lake, missionary work of Dr. Eells at, 248, 250, 263. Memory of Cushing Eells, 312. Mills Society, 29. Minerals in Oregon, 109. Ministry, inclination of Eells family toward, 18, 21. Missionaries, early, to Oregon, 84. Mission established, 84; broken up, 125. Music, teaching Indians, 105. National Council, Dr. Eells at, 202. Nutting, Rev. Wallace, remarks on Dr. Eells, 294. Occidental Congregationalist, re- marks on Dr. Eells, 297 Oregon, exploration of, 34,35; in 1S38, 65; inhabitants, 65,67; gov- ernment, 65, 66; reputation, 69; houses, 70; lumber, 71; flour mills, 71; food, 72; mails, 73,75; currency, 76; missions estab- lished in, 84; Dr. Whitman's trip East to save, 108, 109; min- erals in, 109; breaking up of missions in, 144; territory or- ganized, 158; in 1849, 159; Insti- tute, 162. Pacific University founded, 164; founding scholarship in, 171; conferring degree ui)on Rev. Cushing Eells, 218; resolutions on Dr. Eells, 304. INDEX. 841 Parker, Eev. Samuel, 34. Parsons, E. D., remarks ou Dr. Eells,302. Passports, necessity of securing, «7,68. Pioneer associates of Dr. Eells, 285. Platte, the, crossing, 51. Pleasant Prairie, Dr. Eells' work for, 262. Poem by Mrs.3Iary Walker, 142; Shall We Find Them at the Por- tal. im; Death, 287. I'ortlaud, 159. J'rayer, power of Dr. Eells in, 310. Preiiisiou of Dr. Eells, 313. Preaitiss, Sliss Narcissa, 34. See also Eells, Mrs. Cushing. Prices of food at American Ren. dezvous, 56; in 184i) in Willa- mette valley, 165. Puget Sound in 1872, 220 ; Congre- gational church on, 222. Punctuality of Dr. Eells, 291. Railroads in 1838, 69; in Puget Sound, 220; in Washington in 1874, 230. Rankin, J. E., poem by, 286. Risolutions on Dr. Eells, 304, 30.5, 307, 308. Revolutionary War, Eells family in, 19,20. Right hand of fellowship to Rev. F.T. Clarke, 257. Rogers, H., 85. Roy, Dr. J. E., remarks oji Dr. Eells, 300. Schools, Indian, 93, 99, 104, 107. School superintendent, Cushing Eells as, 244. Seattle in 1872. 220, 222. Seattle Post-Intelligencer, re- marks on Dr. Eells, 296. Settlements in Oregon in 1838,67. Severest winter in the memory of Indians, 119. Simpson, Governor, attempts to purchase Oregon, 112. Sims, Rev. T., remarks on Dr. Eeiis, 292. Skokomish, Dr. Eells at, 223; church organized, 223; Dr. Eells' last trip to, 275. Slavery, Mrs. Eells on, 40. Smith, Mr., 84. Society of Inquiry on Missions. 5^ee Mills Society. Spalding, Rev. H. H., 35, 86, 224; work among Spokane Indians, 150. Spokane in 1874, 229; Dr. Eells' work in, 258. Spokane Indians, language of, 91; friendliness of, 131, 132; iiev. H. H. Spalding's work among, 1.50; Cushing Eells' work among, 151; treaty with, 155; as church members, 1.56. Sprague, Dr. Eells' work for, 260. Strieby, Dr. M. E., remarks on Dr. Eells, 299. Strong, Dr. E. E., remarks on Dr. Eells, 300. Sunday travel, 39, 57. Sweetwater, crossing, 52. Sylvester, Miss E. W., as assistant in Whitman Seminary, 192. Tacoma in 1872, 220, 222. Tacoma Congregational Associa- tion, resolutions on Dr. Eells, 308. Tacoma Ledger, remarks on Dr. Eells, 297. ' Tacoma Ministerial Alliance, let- ter to Dr. Eell.^ from, 276; reso- lutions on Dr. Eells, 307. Tacoma News, remarks on Dr. Eells, 296. Tanner, Dr. E. S., 20, 21. Telegraph in 1839, 69. Theological Institute at East Windsor, Cushing Eells at, 28. The Oregonian, remarks on Dr. Eells, 335. Tru-stees, original, of Whitman Seminary, 178. Tshimakain, home life of Dr. Eells at, 70, 72, 90; Dr. Eells' last trip to, 90. TuaUtin Academy, founding of, 164; Cushing Eells teaching in, 168; resolutions on Dr. Eells, 304. United States, changes since 1838, Vigilance Committee, 185. Wagons and wagon roads West,- 69. Walker, Cyrus Hamlin, birth of, 89. Walker, Rev. Elkanah, 35, 86, 89; trip to Tshimakain, 90; incident of. 128. Walker, Mrs., poem by, 142. 342 FATHEB EELLS. Walla Walla, first sermon preached in, 173; iu 1860, 175; Fourth of July celebration, 177; organization of Whitman Semi- nary, 178; sympathy with the South, 20. Wars, Indian, 147. Washington, organization of first Congregational church, l&S; days of horse stealing and Vig- ilance Committee, 184; in 1872 and 1892, 221, 229; Eastern, extracts from Dr. Eells' journal on, 258. Whitman College, 199; amount solicited by Dr. Eells for, 211; new buildings, 214; Commence- ment in 18S8, 215; discussion concerning religious denomina- tion of, 215; Rev. J. F. Eaton elected president, 218; resolu- tions on Dr. Eells, 305. Whitman, Dr. Marcus, 34; home of, 63; provisions, 71, 72; family in 1838, fci9; trip East to save Oregon, lo8; Dr. Eells on work of, 109; controversj-, 112; mas- sacre, 125; remarks of Pres- ident Eaton on, 229. Whitman Seminary, Dr. Eells' decision to found, 172, 173; first trustees' meeting, 178; Mr. Eells chosen president, 178; perma- nently located. 189; dedicatiou, 190; raising debt, 194; donatioa by Dr. Eells, 196; sketch of seminary after Dr. Eells' de- parture, 197 ; change to Whitman College, 199. See also Whitman College. Willamette valley, work in, 34, 158; Congregational ministers in, 160; prices in 1849, 165. Williams College, David Coe at, 26; Gushing Eells at, 27. Winter of 1861, 180. Writings of Dr. Eells, 333. ^-