Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1914-06-09
BY j. d. HORNEn,
Professor of History, Oregon Agricul-
turQl College.

liolOssof Ol IlstoTI, OIeSoh ASIlcul'
tural College.
Article II.
When the revival at Walla Walla
had subsidized and the various congrega.
tions gathered under their own roofs
again, the Methodist church was under
the regular ministration of Dr. Isaac
Dillon, a man especially qualified for
the work. He was a clergyman of gen
tie mind, thorough scholarship and re-
ligious training lie was born in
GAINESVILLE, Ohio, October 2S, 1923, and
grew to manhood in his native city
His early home was the center of a
strong religious influence, where the
Bible was read daily. The training OF
that home so influenced Isaac that he
never wandered into the byways of
ckedness-which is to say that he
never passed through that season when
boys under the old system were ex-
pected to sow big crop of wild oats.
In the sixteenth year of his age he
entered the freshman class of Dickson
college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There
his conversion was announced on the
Goth Of February. HencefOrward his
influence among his classmates and fel-
lows was much the same as the in
fluence of the Wcsleys in Christ Col
lege, oxford. The clean life became
the motto of the student body in Dick
inson College largely through the in
fluence of young Dillon and his inti-
mate associates. Graduating in 1913
he taught school in GAINESVILLE for a
time. His Christian character, gifts,
graces and usefulness warranted his
brethren in the home of his childhood
to license him to preach, and in lS44 he
was received on trial in the Ohio con
ference. In 1852 he was transferred
by Bishop James to the Oregon and
california Mission Conference.
Young Dillon Gets Charge.
The next year the mission, which had
been organized into an annual confer
enee, met at Salem Isaac Dillon was
given charge, also he was appointed
teacher in the Oregon institute, now
known as Willamette Uniyersity-the
oldest school of higher learning on the
Pacific Coast. From that time until his
death, in 1902, he was actively engaged
with the growth of Methodism in the
West.
While Instructor in Willamette Uni
versity, he met and married Miss Marie
Plamondon, who was preeeptress in the
same school. Miss Plamondon was an
extraordinary woman, who was the
first to suggest and promote the Chill
dren's Home, in Salem, Oregon, the first
institute of the kind on the Coast.
This woman proved to be the center
of Christian influence in all the fields
of labor to which her husband was ap-
pointed.
The immense preparation that a
large majority of ministers made for
their work at that early date is re-
markable. Among them were many of
the most learned men on the Coast.
But preparation and brains were es-
pecially demanded.
In no other vocation was one so de-
pendent upon the whims of those he
served. In no other vocation were
whims so numerous. Furthermore
preaching was far more difficult in =
Western town, such as Walla Walla
than ii was in the East, whore the
tastes were uniform and the attain.
ments and religious fashion were more
conventional Attending church in the
East was much like going to a cloth
ing store where one can get ready
made suit that fits quite satisfactorily
But in the West, whittier people had
come from all quarters, every man had
requirements and standards of his own
which time and training alone could
adjust. In the congregation there were
men VINO wore silk hats and polished
high.heel boots while others wore
"hardtimes suits and Indian mecca
sins At one end Of seat there might
heve been ..Ae graduate, while at