The Log School-House on the Columbia

  CHAPTER XVIII.

  THE LIFTED CLOUD--THE INDIANS COME TO THE SCHOOLMASTER.

  The next day witnessed a strange scene at the log school-house on theColumbia. It was a red October morning. Mrs. Woods accompanied Gretchen tothe school, as she wished to have a talk with Mr. Mann.

  As the two came in sight of the house, Mrs. Woods caught Gretchen by thearm and said:

  "What's _them_?"

  "Where?"

  "Sittin' in the school-yard."

  "They are Indians."

  "Injuns? What are they there for?"

  "I don't know, mother."

  "Come for advice, like me, may be."

  "Perhaps they are come to school. The old chief told them that I wouldteach them."

  "You?"

  "They have no father now."

  "No father?"

  "No chief."

  Mrs. Woods had been so overwhelmed with her own grief that she had givenlittle thought to the death of Benjamin and the chief of the Cascades. Theunhappy condition of the little tribe now came to her as in a picture;and, as she saw before her some fifty Indians seated on the ground, hergood heart came back to her, and she said, touched by a sense of her ownwidowhood, "Gretchen, I pity 'em."

  Mrs. Woods was right. These Indians had come to seek the advice of Mr.Mann in regard to their tribal affairs. Gretchen also was right. They hadcome to ask Mr. Mann to teach their nation.

  It was an unexpected assembly that Marlowe Mann faced as he came down theclearing, but it revealed to him, at a glance, his future work in life.

  The first of the distressed people to meet him was Mrs. Woods.

  "O Mr. Mann, I am all alone in the world, and what am I goin' to do?There's nothin' but hard days' work left to me now, and--hymns. EvenFather Lee has gone, and I have no one to advise me. You will be a friendto me, won't you?"

  "Yes," said Mr. Mann. "I need you, and the way is clear."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I have a letter from Boston."

  "What is it, Marlowe Mann?"

  "The Indian Educational Society have promised me a thousand dollars for mywork another year. I must have a house. I would want you to take charge ofit. _But_--your tongue?"

  "O Master Mann, I'll give up my tongue! I'll just work, and be still. Ifan Injun will give up his revenge, an' it's his natur', ought not I togive up my tongue? When I can't help scoldin' I'll just sing hymns."

  Mr. Mann gazed into the faces of the Indians. The warm sunlight fell uponthem. There was a long silence, broken only by the scream of the eagles inthe sky and the passing of flocks of wild geese. Then one of the Indiansrose and said:

  "Umatilla has gone to his fathers.

  "Benjamin has gone to his fathers. We shall never see Young Eagle's plumeagain!

  "Boston tilicum, be our chief. We have come to school."

  Mr. Mann turned to Gretchen. Her young face was lovely that morning withsympathy. He said in a low voice:

  "You see _our_ work in life. Do you understand? Will you accept it?"

  She understood his heart.

  "I will do whatever you say."

  * * * * *

  In 1859 a great Indian Reservation was established in what is known inOregon as the Inland Empire of the Northwest. It contained about twohundred and seventy thousand acres, agricultural land and timber-land. Thebeautiful Umatilla River flows through it. The agency now is nearPendleton, Oregon. Thither the Umatillas were removed.

  Marlowe Mann went there, and Gretchen as his young wife, and in their homeMrs. Woods for many years could have been heard singing hymns.

  Their home stood for the Indian race, and the schoolmaster and his wifedevoted themselves to the cause of Indian education. Through the silentinfluence of Mr. Mann's correspondence with the East, Indian civilizationwas promoted, and the way prepared for the peaceful settlement of thegreat Northwest.

  Gretchen taught the Indians as long as she lived. Often at evening, whenthe day's work had been hard, she would take her violin, and a dream ofmusic would float upon the air. She played but one tune at last as shegrew serenely old. That tune recalled her early German home, the Rhine,her good father and mother, and the scenes of the great Indian Potlatch onthe Columbia. It was the _Traumerei_.

  Her poetic imagination, which had been suppressed by her foster-mother inher girlhood, came back to her in her new home, and it was her delight toexpress in verse the inspirations of her life amid these new scenes, andto publish these poems in the papers of the East that most sympathizedwith the cause of Indian education.

  The memory of Benjamin and the old chief of the Cascades never left her.It was a never-to-be-forgotten lesson of the nobility of all men whosesouls have the birthright of heaven. Often, when the wild geese wereflying overhead in the evening, she would recall Benjamin, and say, "Hewho guides led me here from the Rhine, and schooled me for my work in thelog school-house on the Columbia."

  Such is not an overdrawn picture of the early pioneers of the Columbia andthe great Northwest.

  Jason Lee was censured for leaving his mission for the sake of Oregon--forturning his face from the stars to the sun. Whitman, when he appearedragged at Washington, was blamed for having left his post. The earlypioneers of the great Northwest civilization lie in neglected graves. Weare now beginning to see the hand of Providence, and to realize how greatwas the work that these people did for their own country and for theworld.

  And Marlowe Mann--whose name stands for the Christian schoolmaster--no oneknows where he sleeps now; perhaps no one, surely but a few. He saw hiscollege-mates rise to honor and fame. They offered him positions, but heknew his place in the world.

  When his hair was turning gray, there came to him an offer of anopportunity for wealth, from his remaining relatives. At the same time theagency offered him the use of a farm. He accepted the latter for hiswork's sake, and returned to his old friends a loving letter and an oldpoem, and with the latter we will leave this picture of old times on theOregon:

  "Happy the man whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound; Content to breathe his native air On his own ground.

  "Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread, Whose flocks supply him with attire; Whose trees in summer yield him shade, In winter, fire.

  "Sound sleep by night, study and ease, Together mixed sweet recreation; And innocence, which most doth please, With meditation.

  "Blessed who can unconcernedly find Hours, days, and years glide soft away, In health of body, peace of mind; Quiet by day.

  "Thus let me live unseen, unknown; Thus unlamented let me die; Steal from the world, and not a stone Tell where I lie."

  HISTORICAL NOTES.