# History of Oregon Literature/Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4
Writings of the Missionaries
The missionaries were enthnologists in a way, but since their ethnological efforts were part of their machinery for propaganda the results were not nearly so significant as they might have been if the spirit of investigation had dominated the spirit of evangelism. They were interested in learning the languages of the Indians in order that they might transmit the white man’s bible, not that they might find out what the Indians thought and felt, and remembered of their long history. So, like the explorers and trappers, they let the primitive Indian literature move still further towards oblivion without doing much to understand it or to set it down in writing.
Jason Lee, Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepard, P. L. Edwards and C. M. Walker arrived at Fort Vancouver in September, 1834—the vanguard of introspective men. They had come by land. The next day, the May Dacre arrived from around Cape Horn, bringing their poetry in the form of hymn books.
When Cyrus Shepard had taught the half-breed children of the Fort to sing the songs in these books, it “excited such interest” that Dr. McLoughlin, under the guise of encouraging piety but probably motivated also by his own glad response to the lilting melodies, arranged for the children to sing in the dining hall every Sunday evening.
​The Macedonian Cry to the missionaries was first uttered in prose, in the form of a letter to the Christian Advocate and Journal in the issue of March 1, 1833. It was signed G. P. D., the initials for G. P. Dishoway of New York. Dishoway, in using prose, fully realized that it was fine material for the poets, three of whom he publicly nominated in the following reference:
   How deeply affecting is the circumstances of the four natives travelling on foot 3,000 miles through thick forests and extensive praries, sincere searchers after truth! The story has scarcely a parallel in history. What a touching theme does it form for the imagination and pen of a Montgomery, a Mrs. Hemens, or our own fair Sigourney!
Montgomery's fame has not survived like that of the two women, and those familiar with the works of Mrs. Hemens and Mrs. Sigourney can appreciate with what unerring exactitude Mr. Dishoway selected those most suitable to describe in flaming verse the four Flatheads and their pious quest. Mrs. Hemens was the author of a collection called Lays of Many Lands, to which this would have been an appropriate addition. Mrs. Sigourney was something of a specialist in missionary pieces, which included Departure of Missionaries for Ceylon, Parting Hymn of Missionaries to Burmah and Dirge of a Missionary in Africa. Mr. Dishoway knew his poets and picked them well—only they did not respond.
The fact that William Cullen Bryant was not included in the nominations, still further marks Mr. Dishoway as a man with intimate knowledge of the versifiers of his time. Bryant had become a fashionable ​poet, the laureate of New York's top caste. He could perform admirably on ceremonial occasions that required good taste and smooth technique, but even the amount of feeling necessary for his nature poems accumulated to an articulate pitch only at considerable intervals. Mr. Dishoway knew that the author of Thanatopsis no longer had the sweep of imagination or the vigor of emotion to do justice to the four Nez Perce s and their long trek to get the white man's Book of Heaven.
The theme was not taken up by poets until it had become completely retrospective. It was first used for a poem by Willis T. Hawley, later a United States Congressman from Oregon, on the occasion of the Fourteenth Annual Reunion of the Graduates of Willamette University in June, 1880. A half century later, in 1932, it was very ably done as an epic called Riders from the West by George Charles Kastner, a Seattle poet.
So, as it turned out, poetry was not forthcoming, but it was not needed. Mr. Dishoway's brief but beautiful prose in description of that sublime search was enough. By it congregations were stirred to a warm and widespread response, and they sent messengers with the volume that contained the celestial talk. But the Chief Messenger saw and listened to Dr. McLoughlin, and another crusade was detoured. And the book in which the Great Spirit spoke wisdom to men continued to be absent, to the length of many sleeps, from among the Flatheads—who, in climax of all this criss-crossed illusion, killed the man who finally brought it.
​Although not the kind expected, there were important results, among which was an extensive and interesting literature. In addition to a prose that has fed printing presses for a hundred years, the missionaries very definitely contributed poetry. This was of three kinds.
First were the songs in the hymn books and the juvenile poems in the nondescript school books, the former, by a combination of their rollicking swing and their reminiscent appeal, making fluid once more the sentiment that had crystalized so long in the breasts of the frontiersmen. That Dr. McLoughlin perhaps fell under the sway of the hymns as sung by the little Fort Vancouver half-breeds, has been suggested; much rougher men loved to listen ; and the Indians, for whose delectation Drake's unholy crew sang devout melodies, were still charmed by buoyant hymns in the time of the Methodists. In this way the missionaries were interpreters, promulgators and teachers of poetry; in this way they were effective workers on the appreciative side.
In the second place, they engaged to some extent in actual production, the natural result of an appreciation practiced long and sincerely enough. There were a few verse writers among the missionaries, including Mrs. Jason Lee.
Their third contribution had to a high degree an original quality. If Lowell could win renown by his use of dialect in The Biglow Papers, if Pope and Chapman could make a stir in the world with their Homers, then the missionaries, by their resourcefulness not only in putting English hymns into Chinook and the Nez ​Percé but in establishing a poetic bond between civilized and uncivilized races, should be entitled to inclusion, creatively, in the ranks of the poets.
The registry of these adapted hymns upon the Indians was not merely formal and ritualistic and emotionless; they provided a common denominator of poetic feeling between the savage and the missionary. The Indian had to learn how to shoot the white man's rifle and drink the white man's whiskey, and his women had to learn and did learn how to kiss upon becoming the white men's squaws, but he did not have to learn how to gamble or to appreciate poetry.
1
Conditions at the Mission House By Jason Lee
Jason Lee was born in Canada of New England parentage in 1803 and came to Oregon in 1834, as leader of the Methodist Mission—the man selected to carry the response of Methodist America to the Macedonian cry of the Nez Percés. Much has been written about him in books and articles. He died in Canada in 1845. His body was brought back to Oregon in 1906 and was buried in the Lee Mission cemetery in Salem.
Mission House, Willamette River, Feb. 6, 1835
My Dear Brother:
After a long and somewhat fatiguing journey we landed safe Sept. 15 at Vancouver, where we met with the kindest reception from the Gentlemen of the H. B . Company. For an account of our journey I must refer you to the Advocate. where you will find it in detail. In a communication to Dr. Bangs, or rather to the Board, I have given some reasons for setling here, instead of going to the Flat Heads. We are doing little directly, as yet, to benefit the Indians, but we trust we are laying the foundation for extensive usefulness in future.
​We have three Indian children (orphans), under our care. One a boy of 17 or 18 years whom we got to take care of our animals, but his mother dying soon after, we were obliged to take his sister of 12 years to keep her from suffering. The third a boy of 13 years who came here and asked by signs so significantly to be permited to remain with us that we could not refuse. We devote one hour each evening in teaching them to read and spell, and I think I never knew children make more rapid progress. I trust it will not be long before we shall have a flourishing school here, which I think is the most effectual means of benefiting these truly miserable beings. For there being no danger of hostile Indians molesting them there is no necessity of their going in large bands. Hence they wander about in small parties where ever they can find roots and deer and are never long at one stay. I trust however that it will not be very difficult to bring them by degrees to cultivate the ground.
We have been labouring hard to build a house, and per- pare ground for a crop. We shall probably cultivate 20 acres this season. I have requested the Board to send a man with a family to take charge of the farm, and by the time one can arrive we shall have it so arranged that it will not be so difficult as it now is. Though we think this establishment essentially necessary to the successful prosecution of our object, yet we still have our eyes on other places where the Indians are more numerous and enterprising than they are here.
I have requested the Board not to send any more single men, but to send men with families. I have also advised that Daniel's chosen be sent as soon as possible. A greater favour could not be bestowed upon this country, than to send to it pious, industrious, intelligent females.
I am not singular in this. The Gov. and other Gentlemen of the H. B. Com. (though they have native wives) say that white females would be of the greatest importance to the mission, and would have far more influence among Indians than males. If your opinion accords with ours I beg you to use your ​influence with the Board to cause them to send out some as soon as possible. Tell the Missionary Soc. of H. (artford) M. (iddletown) New Haven not to be discouraged in their labour of love, for they will reap in due time if they faint not. Could they see what we have seen, did they know what we know of the wretchedness and misery of their Red Brethren they would count it all joy, that they were able and willing to do something to alleviate such suffering, and prepare these poor Indians for the enjoyment of life here, but more especially, for the enjoyment of the life which is to come.
My love to all the Brethren of the University with fervant prayers for their welfare.
I send this by the H. B. Com's, express which is the most regular and safe means of conveyance. You will please to direct (your letters) to Fort Vancouver to Care of James Keith Esq. Hon. H. B . Com. Lachine L. (ower) C (anada) Letters should be there (at Lachine) the first of April. I desire very much to hear from you. My love to Sister Fisk and Daughter. And except (accept) for yourself my best wishes for your prosperity and success in your arduous and important work of moulding the minds of youth, and believe me ever
Affectionately Yours J. Lee.
2
The Methodist Mission on the Willamette in 1835
By Reverend Samuel Parker
   Reverend Samuel Parker arrived in Oregon in 1835. He was sent out by the American Board to see whether missions ought to be established among the Indians. According to Gray, he "was inclined to self-applause, requiring his full share of ministerial approbation or respect." And he was "rather fastidious," so much so that he "could not put up with the off-hand, careless, and, as he thought, slovenly manner in which Dr. Whitman was inclined to travel." If he liked deference as well as his contemporaries said he did, his spirit must have been greatly smoothed by the way the Indians treated him. The Nez Perces, who had uttered the Macedonian Cry but whom Jason Lee had passed up, welcomed him to such a degree that "no white man ​before or since was ever received by the natives of the Columbia with such cordiality and ceremonious distinction." Returning to the East he published, in 1838, his Journal of an Exploring Tour Beyond the Rocky Mountains. "Owing to its issue four years before Dr. Whitman's trip to the East, and to the sale of fifteen hundred copies within a few years of its issue, Mr. Parker's volume did more to awaken the East, and secure emigrants for Oregon than did Dr. Whitman's famous trip to Boston and Washington in 1842–43."
Near the upper settlement the Methodist Church of the United States has established a mission among the Calapooah Indians, of whom there are but few remaining. Rev. Messrs. Jason Lee and Daniel Lee are the ordained Missionaries, and Mr. Shepard teacher.
The Circuit Rider, Salem
3
The First Oregon Poem
By Mrs. Jason Lee
Edwin Markham says his mother was the first Oregon poet. This distinction, however, belongs to Anna Maria Pittman, who came to Oregon as a missionary in 1837 and soon afterwards married Jason Lee. At least nine of her poems have been preserved—one of 16 lines accepting Jason Lee's proposal of marriage, three acrostics, one called "Anna Maria Pittman's Composition," three respectively inscribed to her parents, her brothers and sisters and Henrietta, her future sister-in-law, and her well known good-by poem included here.
This was written in farewell to Lee in March, 1838, and was placed in his hands just before he started East. In September a courier from Dr. McLoughlin reached him in Missouri and informed him of the death of Mrs. Lee in childbirth in June. "One of the letters from Oregon bore a black seal, a fearful omen to his eye. He broke it with trembling hand only to read in the first line that his Anna Maria and his infant son were numbered with the dead. She was the first white woman to die in Oregon and is buried in the Lee Mission cemetery in Salem." Nevertheless when Jason Lee returned to the Williamette Mission in 1840 he brought a new wife with him.
A Daring Little Joke
By Mrs. Jason Lee
Her letters are strongly characterized by the conventional language of piety, but when she referred to worldly matters she did so with freshness and sometimes with shy humor. As her romance progressed and ended in marriage there is noticeable a tendency, restrained but perceptibly urgent, to break through the chrysalis of virginal reserve. Custom has always allowed maidenly embargoes to be lifted a little in discussions among wives, and as Mrs. Lee she could write to her mother the following little joke with its piquant innuendoes, underscoring the words in italics:
   I have a good feather bed made of two single beds an old bachelors and an old maids.
4
"Bro. Lee Had a Difficult Set to Deal With"
By Reverend George Gary
Reverend George Gary was sent out by the Methodist Board to succeed Jason Lee as superintendent. He was heavily vested with authority—the fate of the Oregon Mission was in his hands. Accompanied by Mrs. Gary, he arrived at Oregon City on June 1, 1844, and called a meeting of the missionaries on June 7. This began early in the morning and lasted in prolonged session all day and all night. The decision was to close out the affairs of the Mission, in doing which, according to Charles H. Carey, he "acted with promptness and vigor." Running through his Diary there is a dyspeptic roll-call of several of the "brethren," of which the following is by no means the strongest:
5
CONVERSION OF A SINNER IN 1841
By Joseph Meek
Tell everybody you see that Joseph Meek, that old Pesky Mountain Sinner, has turned to the Lord.
6
Missionary Hymn By REVEREND CUSHING EELLS
7
Porm 1n Copy Boox By Mrs. CusHinc EELLs 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.
8
Porm For Her Cuitpren Upon Leavine TsHIMAKAIN IN 1848, Arrer 9 YEARS By Mrs. ELKANAH WALKER Tshimakain! 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; ​r;
Lowing herds and prancing steeds Around us used to gather. 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! forsaken: No one with the Bible Comes to teach the tawny Skailu (People) Of Kai-ko-len-so-tin (God). 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...Flathead Hymn WORDS AND MUSIC BY REVEREND CUSHING EELLS Lam -a -lem, on-a -we Je-ho —vah, Kain-pe-la tas ka-leel, Thanks Thee Jehovah We not dead, Kait-si-ah ivheel-a -wheel. Kain-pe-la ets-in-ko-nam We all a live. We sing Kaits - chow. We pray. 10 Prayer of Chinook Indians By Daniel Lee and J. H. Frost O Soh-ole Ish-tam-ah, e-toke-te mi-kah; tow-e-ah e-toke-te-itl-hul-am mi-hoh minch-e-lute co-pah en-sai-kah. Ka-daw quon-sim mincht-cah-neet en-sai-kah. Um-in-sheet-ah con-a -wa e-toke-ta co-pah
Translation
O God, thou art good, this good food thou hast given us. In like manner always kindly look upon us, and give us all good things, for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ, amen!
11
The Mission Press
From the old Mission Press were issued nine little Indian books between 1839 and 1845, the first printing in the Pacific Northwest. The little Ramage press, a gift from Honolulu, was set down by packtrain at Lapwai, May 13, 1839. By May 24, Nez-Perce's First Book, "designed for children and new beginners," was published, eight pages, in an edition of 400. The second book, also in Nez Perce' , was printed in August. The third, printed in 1840, was a book of 52 pages, 800 copies: Numipuain Shapahitamanash Timash. Then, as the printer had left, two of the missionaries got out the fourth book: Etshiit Thlu Silskai Thlu Siais Thlu Sitsiaisitlinish, a sixteen-page primer in the Spokane dialect. The fifth was a book of simple laws, the sixth a hymn book, and the seventh was a book of scripture selec tions. There was a real printer again for the eighth book: Matthew- nim Taaiskt, a quaint translation of the gospel of Matthew. It was dated 1845, and it was followed in the same year by the ninth and last of the Lapwai publications, a small Nez Perce' and English vocabulary.
The old press is now the property of the Oregon Historical So ciety. Copies in complete series of the little books are, so far as known, no longer anywhere in existence. The largest collection to be preserved is in the library of Pacific University at Forest Grove. As miners might dream of some day rediscovering the fabled Blue Bucket Mine, so collectors of Northwest Americana might in moments of extrava gant fancy picture themselves stumbling by accident onto one of these little volumes.
12
"And Had He Not High Honor?"
By Victor Trevitt
Among the manuscripts left by Frederic Homer Balch is a penciled sketch on Memaloose Island, which contains this reference: "... ​know the story of Victor Trevitt, how he was here in the early days among the Indians, how his sympathies were always with them . . . , and how when he died he expressed a wish to be buried on Mimuluse Island, the great burying place of the race he loved." Victor Trevitt crossed the plains in 1851, worked for a while on the Oregon Statesman at Oregon City, and moved to The Dalles about 1854. He died in San Francisco in 1883 at the age of 56. "His remains were brought to The Dalles...., for commitment on Memaloose Island.... Trevitt's eccentric request, which he often expressed to his intimate friends and which they carried out after his death, was this:"
I have but one desire after I die, to be laid away on Memaloose Island with the Indians. They are more honest than the whites, and live up to the light they have. In the resurrection I will take my chances with the Indians.