Page:Cathlamet On the Columbia.djvu/112



There are wives of the Indian blood now living on the Lower Columbia whose husbands are well-to-do, influential men, who are loved and respected of their husbands, who have the respect of the communities in which they are known, and who live handsomely and well, yet who will not to this day sit at their own bountiful and well-appointed tables with their husband and his guests. This native shyness and reserve it is almost impossible for the native women to give up, and it enhanced Dr. McLoughlin's dignity in the eyes of the natives that his wife treated him as a chief.