Robert Moulton Gatke

“ When we have spoken of the influence of the home, of the training in agriculture, and the formal instruction within the school room, we have touched only a part of the training offered in the mission and home. The religious and moral help given to the children far surpassed the other phases of their instruction. ”

“ For I have seen with my own eyes, children, who, two years ago, were roaming their own native wilds in a state of savage barbarism, now being brought within the knowledge of moral and religious instruction, becoming useful members of society, by being taught the most useful of all arts, agri- culture, and all of this without the slightest compulsion." 10 The total lack of discernment as to mission methods and aims is often shown in the Victor-Bancroft work on Oregon. ”

“ Indeed, from the first, the Mission partook of the nature of an orphanage. The condition of the orphans among the Indian tribes was very pitiful. Turning to one of the interesting letters of Shepard, we find an account of the first Indian children received at the Mission. In a letter to his brother dated December 20, 1834, and written just after a preliminary visit to the mission, he says: "We have already three poor Flatheads, orphan children, and as soon as circumstances will permit, shall have a great many more. One of these is a lad of fourteen or fifteen years of age. ”

“ In the report of the government explorer, William A. Slacum, on the conditions he found in the Oregon country, pre- sented on December 18, 1837, he gives a brief, but highly favor- able, account of the mission as he found it. In regard to this feature of the work of the mission school, he says : "The larger boys work on the farm in fine weather. They can plow, reap, and do the ordinary farm work well. Several of them evince good mechanical genius. ”

“ The children sought their teacher, Cyrus Shepard, when they were perplexed and troubled. This we can readily understand when we consider his great love, and also recall his prayer life, of which Mrs. Shepard reminds us when she says : "The little grove on the Willamette River had witnessed Mr. Shepard's frequent supplications with and for his pupils. No parent could manifest more interest for his child than he did for these poor Indian youth." 14
It is fitting that we should know something about the teach- ers of the mission school. ”

“ In view of the Westward movement of the white man it was evident that the Indian would have to meet new conditions of living. Hence, a change from the hunting state if society to that of agricul- ture was very essential for the Indian if he was to have a chance to rise above the uncertainties of his mode of existence and to enjoy the greater security incidental to entering upon a higher plan of physical living and well being. ”

“ He even added the reading of the life of Mrs. Judson, the missionary, and one or more books on philosophy. Nature had endowed him with the tastes of a scholar, even if his circumstances had prevented their full exercise. ”

“ They had scarcely erected their first shelter when Christian love and charity demanded that they receive under their care Indian children who had no one to care for them, or who were brought to the Mission by their parents that they might be instructed in matters relating to the white man's religion and life. Daniel Lee tells us that the first Indian lads were left in their care during the Spring when they were busy planting their first crop upon the Mission farm, [1] but he must have had in mind the work on the field during the winter, for a letter from Cyrus Shepard, dated Dec. ”

“ Another condition under which the mission was laboring in- troduced a feature of education which was perhaps more im- portant than the organized instruction of the school room. This was the necessity of producing most of the provisions used for the support of the large mission family. The work of the mission farm was very exacting upon the men who had ex- pected to devote most of their attention to religious teaching and ministry. ”

“ It was necessary for all of the older boys to help with the farm work even as the girls gave their aid in the work of the household, and in both cases they were more benefited than by an equal amount of time spent in the class room. ”

“ But from pupils the wards of the mission were likely to become servants, while so much labor was required to make their teach- ers comfortable, and as the savage is by nature adverse to labor, the demands made upon the children at the mission were sure to operate against the success of the school. ”

“ Shepard was thirty-six years of age, is described as a tall, handsome, pleasant appearing young man, who gave the im- pression of having plenty of strength of character, but not of physical health. The readings of his journal reveals a man who was a great lover of nature and keen to observe all of its changing phases. ”

“ Their appreciation of the need caused this phase of the work to be given a very definite part of their attention. This fea- ture was observed by Jefferson Farnham during his visit in 1839. He says : "Every one [at the mission] appeared happy in his benevolent work: Mr. Daniel [David] Leslie, in preach- ing and superintending general matters [This was during the time Jason Lee was on a trip east seeking mission reinforce- ments] ; Mr. Cyrus Shepard, in teaching letters to about thirty half-breed and Indian children ; Mr. J. C. Whitecomb, in teach- ing them to cultivate the earth ”