Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-08-19

them, and the missionaries asksd ther
II they wanted teachers. Several of th
chiefs made speeches. earnestly request
ing Instruction, and making eli sh
promises desired. After copsfdefxbI
deliberstion il was thought best for Nj
Parker to 60 on with the Indians vhil
DR.. whitman should return with th
caravan. obtain more helpers and o
save year.
| At first DR.. Whitman proposed thi
plan, but Afterwards had some misQiy
inRs about il, lest some accident shoul,
happen to Mr.. Parker and he should b,
blamed for it, bat Mr.. Parker relieves
him of all such fears and it was dec,det
| to separate
A prominent young Nez Perces wa!
selected ns particular assistant, and I
"voysReur," who understood enough Of
the Neg Psroes and English to act a
interpreter. Captain Brideer and abou
nifty men accompanied him for nint
days, bat then went north to trap and
hunt, and from thence to Walla Walls
Mr.. Parker had no white travelling com
panion. This was enc Of the mos
courageous ventures Of early history
Had be been young man, as DIR. Whit.
man, or with companion of some
kind, or had his tour been in later years
i would not have been so strange. But
Gr. Psrker was Sc years old, he was
alone With the Indians, and it was at
an early day-1s35-when fur compa-
MES did not often run such risks.
On one Sabbath which Mr.. Parker
spent with them, at his suggestion they
built church 100x20 feet out of their
tent poles and other material, carpeted
it with skins, and an audience of four
or i've hundred listened attentively to q
sermon.
Onsthe 9th of September Mr.. Parker
was taken sick, occasioned by a cold
and resulting in inflammation Of the
lungs. He grew worse Tor twenty days,
although the Indians continued TO
travel most Of the time, on account of
scarcity of food, while because of hos
tilities they went through some of the
roughest country there was-throuoh
the Salmon River Mountains. The pain
IN Mr.. Parker's head and breas oontin-
usd, fever set in, he bled himself several
times and grew weaker until he feared
he should die alone in the wilderness.
Yet still he tried to say, THE will of
the Lord be DONE" After q time, how
ever, he recovered; but sach a sickness
for 30 long q time, with no Christian
friend near, no pillow but his poftman-
teau, and not much opportunity to stop
and rest, was suffering not to be lightly
spoken of, but which this one OF the
early pioneers endured.
On the 6th of October he reached
Fort WaIla Waila, where Mr.. Pambrun,
then in charge, gave him a kind vel
come, and he said he never felt a great
or joy on entering the habitatien of civ
ilized man. 1t was truly pleasant again
to sit at a table, spread with furniture,
and with such lnxuries as bread and
butter, sugar and milk, of which he had
been deprived for about three months,
He remained at this place but two
days, and then went down the Colum-
bia to Vancouver, where DR.. John Nc
Laughlin received him with kindness,
and invited him to remain during the
winter. Fifty six days journeyinQ with
Indians only, over the battle Grounds of
Indians, and also where whites and In
dams had often fought, months with
out bread and scarcely any vegetables,
to an old man, fifty-six years of age,
brought up to the kind of food he
liked, and the refinements of life, this
surely was the pioneering of pioneer
life.
Mr.. Parker accepted Dr.. McLaugh-
after his arrival, wishing to learn all he
could of the country, and having a good
On the brig May Dacre, he
left for Astoria. When the place was
Q noted place and
twenty y-ave years old-his curiosity was
excited. He looked, but could not dis
cover what TO all on board was 30 plain
ly seen (; he blamed his powers OF vision,
and reluctantly asked the captain
Where is Astoria 2" "Why," was the
reply, fright down thsre-thAt is Asto-
ria" He saw two log cabins, and said
within himself: Is that the far-famed
New York of the West At that time
IL was without Notifications, and was
occupied by two white man. There were
two acres cleared, part Of which was
cultivated with potatoes and vegetables.
he also made one journey MP the Will
annette to French Prairie, and above IL
to the Methodist mission station of Rev.
]. Lee, and after that he remained at
Vancouver until April IA, 1885, preach
ing on the Sabbath, and during the rest
OF the time gathering all the Informs.
tion he could about the country. In
the spring be determined to return East
overland. He went to the Neg Perce
country, intending to 90 with some of
those Indians to the rendezvous. by way
OF the Grand Ronde and southern
Idaho, but the Neg Perce Indians, on
account Of hostile Blackfeet, who
roamed over that part Of the country.
had determined to go by way Of the
same route which Mr.. Parker had
come. As but little now information
could be gathered on such q journey he
changed his plans, and wrote to DR..
Whitman and friends in the East, send
ing his letters by the Indians. Next he
returned 10 Walla Walla, and started
for tour north as far as Colville. He
found the 6pokanes as eager for the
gospel as the Nez Perces were. From
Oolvills hs went to Fort Okanagan and
then down the Columbia to Waila Walla,
and Themes to Vancouver. The more
he became acquainted with the country
the more he was convinced that it ought
TO be occupied with missionaries as soon
~ possible.
Two plans were nov before him. One
vas 70 return home by ship, ~ one Of
too AuoSuu Day company v008oi8
was going 70 the Sandwich Islauds, on
which they offered him . free passage.
BY this means he thought he Woald
save several months, as he could not re-
tnrn overland until the next year. The
oeher was t6femain, labor for the good
Of the whites and the Indians. and as
DIST the nsv missionaries, which he
could do much better personally than
be could By letter aud return the next
year the same way that he caDe. After
consulting With thoss he thought we're
his most judicious frieuda, he deter
mined on the former course, and on the
2lst Of June sailsd in the Columbia
from Astoria. He vas detained at the
Sandwich Islands several months wait
ing for q vessel. but In December found
enc, which, after calling at the Society
lslanda and Tahiti, reached New Lon
don, Connecticut, May Is, 1887, and
sevsn days later he vas ct hou,e, from
which be had besn absent two years and
two msnths, having travelled about
weight thousand miles.
As soon ~ practicable afterwards, he
Published . book, which gave an 60
count Of his journey and a description