4
THE WEST SHORE.
March.
RAM HUNG
NOTKS
TrMKS.
feY W. i, ADAMS, H. D,( A. M., L I.. .
M'rth most people there is a charm that
'haxgs alwut old time scenes, and bygone
events. There arc ten bipeds that are always
looking back, while there is one, who, like
laul, forgets the past and kecB his eye on a
goal far in the future. Some like Stenn
vogatlc oblivious to the past, strain both
optics to descry honors, palaces, bliss,
and most any thing a man wants, coming
down from the ojtcned heavens on a
"Sheet knit at the four corners" all for
ihtiMi seen in a tramc, while their weary
tarns struggle with a twin sister of night
Jtuaje on a very oor straw bed. Others,
like Patrick Henry, use one eye in out
lining coming events, and the other in
rornparing waymarks left behind, with
the dim outlines of something ahead
which, according to popular opinion,
is cither a good thing, a scourge, a ghost a
devil, an angel, a windmill; or a hog en
joying a baih in a mud hole.
-The liter c is another class, who make
i ill" trip through life asSltcm, and Japhcth,
approached Noah on a certain occasion
lirfore be joined the. temperance society
with their Kicks to the future, eyes ever
fixed on the past, gloating over and glorify
ing even the dead branches, that in memory
ire still green and loaded with luscious fruit
J o laud the past, and deer)' the present is
noi peculiar to men of this age. Poels.and
rlupwtdisis, of all ages, have deified the
Juid aire at the expense of the "degener
.He bhi,"
, "Tlune filly vliuiflili'rel ill the tfhmuiy wl.-,
Wo Hinrt'il but out! tii twur tho dreadful Ulu.
Hnch Tyiluim wui, timl na-h hi martm! tire.
Hod ! how tliu ton ilt'iit'iierntei from tho Hire !"
Humer
We once heard a Rhode Islander ex
loliing the early settlers of his state as a
race of giants, who reached their god-like
gii-atness by living on "Johnny cake," and
-iosed their dying eyes on degenerate sons
who had injudiciously forsaken corn, and
taken to wheat. Hut Homer tells of even
greater giants than our Johnny cake
Jonathans of Rhode Maud.
A Minilerou (ont bold Hector htmfwl t throw,
1'iitiitutt tuve mitt nm((ti mill (fro. Mow:
t two itroiiK men thu emrnmtii wain lit mulil
raiw,
."Wti tnun iw lire m time ilii'tirmte tiny :
Vet thia, m fliuy an it mum could hoar
I liu mowy IW-u, , (omM, anil .hook in mr,
1'hUi tnn'it lwtt.ro tin foldttj guta. hi' oatnr,
itf HntMjr itiWtuure, ami liiwiiilim traiui
With inm lian und linui'ii hiugr. Iniug,
On lofty beam of Kiliil tiuWr hunn :
i hum Uiuuii-rmg thrush tho .!auk. with funi-hil
itrin-lheihn' rotk.the nolid Wnu ifivn war,
yj hiltU r i.Iinterml, from the cmiklmK ,(wr
.my the niouiutmg Urn, tho flying bitiRvt ronr.
Now niihiug in, thu furinua chief ft,ir,
i Hooray niKht! riiiI bnk(w two timing .tn,
A Jrwulfut nlrm fivm hii bright tnnour caum,
Aat) lam hi. -y--Ml. flhKt living flatni.
IIpumym a rihI, ruiiatltMu in hit courw
.ml worn- a match tor ua- than tnorttl for,.
Tlm fltwki bfhoM, tlty tremble and thy fly,
Tb hon i hrtwl with tlralh, ud tumult tvmli
tk iky."
The Kho.lv Minder's ideas ontheellects
J corn meat, with the htimI alxxit ihu
time of several volumes on hygiene, which
recommended a purely vegetable diet,
.wteeia1ly greens (young fern the beM)
txalvd without wit or fat, in clear water
rain water preferred, as spring water is
liable to Ik; impregnated with mineral s.lts
ltd me to turn to Homer again to see what
mat-ruT of men they raised before this
Itreneraic race invented cannon.
' TVn tlttcc Tydid. too) !, from tho rll,W I
'UwJ w,,h tMl rwky fra,io..t wwlda i
two urou mm tl. wurmmw wrbt u),
ni.
Ahmtw a lin in thrw .Utfrwru ,lv.
iui t rt.uJ, au.1, (.tharin .twumb to
hiww,
llKhrrxl tkf pondrrvm rum at (W fo.
to the hip the inwrtM thiMt utiitr, I
KuU t (U bun ttw pointed auhfc Ughu, I
3 UMuih bo th tonaona broka Um ruJ ,
Aid .trirr'd th. ,km; uttl crwk d Uw o4id Um"
And also whether they dined on veget
able just lrforc a hey droit on phvMeal
tbKt w atom (o lc wxM.
ON OLDKN "Tt" Area are kindled, and ttw amokei tKend ;
With baaty (aaata tbajr aacraftce, and pray
To avart th danfrara of tho doubtful day.
A iteer of Ave yaara' age, large limb'd and fed.
To Jove' high altara Agamemnon led.
Their prayera performed, the chiefs the rite pursue,
The barley ipriukled and the victim ilew.
The limbs they aever from the inclosing hide.
The thighs, selected to the goda divide.
Go theae, in double caula involved with art,
The choicest morsels lie from every part
From the cleft wood the crackling flumes aspire,
While the fat victims feed the sacred fire.
The thighs thus sacrifloed and entrails dreis'd:
The assistants part, trunsfii, and roast the rest ;
Then spread the tablet, the repast prepare.
ucn takes bis seat, and each receives his share."
What poet is yet to be born who will
sing of the heroes who a quarter of a
century ago crossed the Rocky mountain1,
built log cabins in the Willamette valley,
'Christanized the Indians," wore buck
skin, built school houses, and laid the cor
ner stone of a yet to be great state on the
Columbia River.
Poets we may never have, but orators we
have already, among some of our old
veterans who left Missouri. Illinois, and
Indiana, before they had even seen a
telegraph wire, a railroad, printing press,
or even an abolitionist, orators who are
always decrying every thing new, and
sighing for good old times. They were
satisfied to do all their freighting on prairie
schooners drawn by oxen. They neither
sighed for railroads or steamlMiats. A
good wagon road was the acme of their
ambition so
far as com
mercial facil
tics went.
We all de
sired, howev
er, to see cit
ies built up,
where wag
oned pro
duce could
be bartered
for Yankee
notions. .
To be sure!
we had some
a d v a in a ges
in farm
ing, for we
had plows,
(hough the
mold Nurds
were hewn
nit of WOOtl,
ijnd carried
.noue;h dirt
to reimire an
extra yoke
of cattle to
to ivliat reallv constitutes human happiness.
The conclusion reached then and there
was, that the position in which any given
person can be the happiest, depends en
tirely on his education, and the amount
and shape of his brain. Perhaps the body
has something to dowith it come to think,
I rather believe it has; for that night my
brain felt satisfied when my landlord, in
stead of asking me if I had any blankets
with mc, as I had nearly always been asked
all over Oregon before, told me lie could
accommodate me and my fellow traveler
with a bed. The cotton rag burnt low in
the saucer that held the lard that night, be
fore our ivawmv on knotty theological
problems was over, and we retired to bed.
Now I alwavs had a horror for sleeping on
a hard floor, even with a blanket under
me, and as I sat on the fence that after
noon and gazed at the declining sun, I
thought of the coming darkness and wished
I could roll up in my blankets and crawl
into that glorious, clean, soft straw pile to
spend the night. So w hen my host an
nounced the bed, visions of angelic dreams
on a well-stuffed tick of clean straw, flitted
through my brain. Just then something
whispered " Pike." I thought of Crib
ble's hard shell discourse in which Christ
was said to have been born in Bethlehem,
Pike CV.untv, Missouri; and of the Dutch
man's correcting him by saving " Pi gar
twas dare he
.11" r-'tlI1.23lWi
- -
vash cruci
fied." Vis
ions of straw
piles ascend
ing to heaven
insmokeand
flame, illu
minating the
prairies (or
miles around
of cattle dy
ing for the
want of it in
an extra hard
winter, and
of blankets
spread on
rawhide, i n
the absence
of straw that
It a d been
burnt as the
easiest way to
get rid of it
all flashed
upon my
mind. Mv
lTI.OTKNOrt-(OregonCal. Overland Stage Route.) ted and
weakened
haul it. One nun in Yamhill, had a fanning n I doubted. Hut 1 said, hush! Uemnot
mill, with raw-hide sieves, which, by wait-1 be. If hr is a descendent of men. who the
ing out turn we could gel by laying even- Dutchman thought crucified C'hrUt, he
lenlh-bushel of wheat we ran through it. certainly would sue, or have the children
after we had finished tramping it out on J sive enough straw to nicely fill all the beds
the ground, with cattle, or Indian ponies. If he should fail l0 do it his wife would
hen the null was slow in coming ""' ' done. Woman, God bless her, al
around, or the toll was thought to be to '' 'us eye to the comfort of her (am-
high, a scaffold was fixed up on four posts, and to the comfort of strangers who
some ten or fifteen feet high, on which the miv I'-M'l'en along. I will ol ose 1,1,
iionesi yeoman iH-rciKM lumsell on a windv 'man tin 1 lose laith in God. Oh
day, .Hid hauled up a basketful of chaff as fast
as his wife tilled it from the threshing floor,
to lie poured out on the ground below,
whenever it breezed up enough to carry ' sweetly.
;es sue has the bed filled with nice,
clean straw. It will be elastic, sweet, glo
rious. Mv iKwr, tired bones
's.
away the chaff from the vheat. This man
was a model, honest, indeiendent Oregon
fanner, and is to-day of course a live gran
ger. That fellow's image, just as he looked
10 us when we saw him more than a quar
ter ol a century ago, mounted on his plat
Old Shepiurd slept on a trood straw lvl
and cursed it because it was n(H eiJcr;
down: but he slept well and dreamed
pleasant dreams, for he saw in vision a pal
ace Willi shining corridors, tessellated floors
ana ample Italia for banqueting and
form away up on the l-auks of the l.ucka-1 dry. with a great, strong vault full of gold
m.me, tugging away at his Ai.m that -all his own. The old man, for once in
brought up the basket, has never got out , Ins lile was happy, perfectly so. for iiseeni
was next morning, as I related my night of
horrors and showed him the long, red welts
on my back and sides. I have had the
back ache off and on ever since, just
enough to remind me of my first visit to
Luckamiute, on an Indian horse that spiked
every time he was turned out on grass two
days at a time.
We had but little horse flesh in those
days but such as we got of the Indians.
They were small, wiry, wild and devilish.
The missionaries who did a "great work"
among the red men, seemed to have no
influence over the Cayuse steeds on which
the pious Indians rode to meeting. The
Indian was passionately fond of blankets
but it was dangerous to shake one before
his pony even though a grey blanket sent
out by the Missionary Society. It would
be a cowardly Indian or even squaw that
would quail at the sight of one. It is said
they rather hankered after blankets, for a
whole congregation of them who had been
" happily converted " at the Dalles, refused
to pray at a big "revival" unless the Mis
sionary would " cullus pollalch ! a few blank
ets. Some whites who were "skeptically
inclined," stuck up their noses at such con
versions. But this drawing invidious com.
parisons between the pale face and red
skinned aborigines is not just to the In
dian. Juslilia fiat rue coehtm ought to be
our motto. The pale face who turns mis
sionary to get a chance to break up a mis
sion, sell the property and pocket the pro
ceeds, or he who joins a church to get a
standing in community, or to escape future
torment, circumvents his object by means
that blind the world, while the unsophisti
cated savage, honest, and intent on busi
ness, injudiciously "speaks out in meet
ing" and lets us all know what he is after,
just as God knows the aims and purposes
of his white skinned brother.
Pious people East, who threw in liberally
when the hat was passed around to raise
funds to convert Oregon savages, did it
from good motives, having a great desire
to "save souls" and never doubting for a
moment that under the teaching and exam
ple of such as Raymond, el id onme gams,
the untutored savage would soon "see God
in every cloud." We old Orcgonians only
know what a great work was done by the
untiring and disinterested labors of those
"holy men of God"' who operated in the
Willamette Valley and laid the foundation
for the " Dalles Claim," which it is ex
pected will ere long add some much
needed funds to the " Lord's treasury."
1 hose blind widows who knit socks and
left them unfinished, with llic knitting need
les still in them, with the ostensible pur
pose of having Indian girls learn to knit,
by finishing the work, will be comforted,
if still alive, by the reflection that if these
articles never reached the Indians, but
were put in the store and sold, they did
reach some iioor Missouri girl, who also
" had a soul to save," and who would prob
ably never have learned toltnit if some
poor w idow East had 'nt thrown those socks
into the contribution box? "Skeptics,"
who are always unreasonable, and incon
sistent, overlook the fact that missionary
effort directed towards a Missourian is
probably as acceptable to the Lord, and
beneficial to the Pike, as though the pious
artillery had been opened on a full blooded
Sin-aik. The old Oregonians can all bear
witness to the happy results of early mis
sionary labor among our Indians. For
samples of their handiwork new immi
grants are referred to the noble red men
.omen frequently seen on our streets
n Portland.
Thirty Years Auo.-With this issue of
of our mind. His barefoot wife, clad in so real that he thought he lived in a palace ! '''e WeST S"mr- inslMd of our usual
common unbleached sheeiing, tiMiig her and was rich.
.1. . ..... ...
- u, a,. ,n.n m nunic ,,e Mske, h le uj his j,eim inJ
- "-,i-imiivu miKiren, rolling
with nearly as many dogs in the chaff pile,
the "piggin" of water and a gourd from
which they slaked their thirst, made 111, a
...iure mat made me sit on the fence for brush; for that wis what ,,
r as! who wa, an 0,0:
supplement of four pages of miscellaneous
matter, we present our readers with a fac
simile of the first paper printed in Oregon.
" e hope this will be much more satisfactory-
to them. By referring to its columns,
and contrasting 1846 with the present
time, they will be better able to see the
prnw-tli nf o.-.. ,
Orwoniin ,! i 1 uunmJ lnt past th rty
regonian than I, said ,t I year, than they could in any other way.
1 f .. . ... .
' l-enecily happy t,l I akej aj
found my d-d old carcass on a straw bed."
lie sighed for down and got only straw
wluie I sighed for straw and srot l,v