Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/215

 miles west of the prrsciit city (if Walla Walla) for a mission, and wliidi Dr. Whitman settled and iiii|>i-o\cd ; ami w liiTe lie lost his life and sacrificed liis nolile wife. Parker was in many i-espeets a level headed, sensible man. I>nt he like all the rest ei-red in their judgment of fhi' Indian ehaiMcler. I'ai'ker siniimed up his ol)Servatit)ns, declaring that the "■ unaliuseil. inicontaminated Indians wnuld not sufTer hy comparison with any other natiim that could he named, and that the only material difference hetween man and man, was that prciducrd hy the knowledge and i)ractice of the Christian religion." Ihit he thought there was a great differ- ence hetween the Indians along the Coluirdjia river, and those inhabiting the Rocky .Mountains. The former would load their visitors with presents, while the latter ivouhl beg the shirt otf a man's back. Parker returned to the states by sea voyage by tlic way of the Sandwich Islands, reaching Ithaca, New York, May 2:^, 18:37, ha\iug traveh^d twenty-eight thousand miles.

We let urn now to Dr. Whitman. His separation from Parker and return to the states must not only be explained to the satisfaction of the American board, but he must vindicate his course to his friends and maintain a reputation hy re- newed zeal and energ.v in the cause in which he had enlisted. And so we find him organizing forces to establish two missions beyond the Rocky Mountains; one among the long neglected Platheads who were the prime movers of the whole missionary movement to Oregon, and one to the Nez Perces, who it seems, were in all the investigations found to be a very interesting people for a missionary field. And the more effectually to arouse interest in the Indians, Whitman resorted to the expedients of Columbus and Pizarro, and carried back from the mountains two likely Indian boys to show the conservative American Missionary Board the inviting material he would haTe to begin work upon. And with what he had seen, and from common sense suggestions, he decided that it was families he must take to Oregon, and not single men; if he was to make a success of his missions. And so he set the example by taking a good woman for a wife, to accompany him to the wilderness, the fateful fortune as it turned out to be, fell to the lot of ^liss Xarcis.sa Prentiss, of Prattsburg, New York, whom he married in February, 1836. .Mrs. Whitman is described as a person of good figure, pleasant voice, blue eyes, and unusuall.v attractive in person, and manner, well educated and refined. Having .secured one attractive and engaging woman for the ]Mission to the wilderness, it was easier to secure another, and so Dr. Whitman speedil.v enlisted the Rev. II. II. Spalding, a .voung Presbyterian minister, who had then recentl.v married Mi.ss Eliza Hart, a farmer's daughter of Oneida County, New York. Jlrs. Spalding had accomplishments, too, if not so well educated, she could be emineutl.v useful as it was: for she had been taught to spin, weave cloth, make up clothing as well as an accomplished cook and housekeeper. Both of these ladies might have stood for models for all that was noble, good and of good report in any community, and were thoroughly imbued with that spirit of self-sacrifice which must come to any person who undertakes to teach and serve the ignorant anil benighted natives of any race. Spalding, the man and preacher, hesitated to connnit himself to the dangerous ent(>rprise, pleading the delicate health of his wife; but the wife, the greater hero of the twain, asked only for twenty-four hours of prayerful con- sideration, and then w^eut into the expedition with all her heart, without even leturning from Ohio to see her parents. To this party, Whitman, was able to eidist the services of William H. Gra.y of Utica, New York, a bright, active, ener-