Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/262

 caught as he did the impressions of a sensuous world, unless he was? How then did he take all the abuse that filled the air like arrows at Crecy? Let those who are highly civilized and accustomed only to politeness, call it perfect good taste. Those who know the cruelties of human association will call it something higher. He did not hide himself away in embarrassment, but with head unbowed walked forth as usual among his fellows, conspicuously in his typical garb. “For”—the words are his—“he is a man who never has clique or clan, but lives within himself and asks nothing and answers nothing.”

As biographical accounts of him are numerous and easily available, material about him included here will be of a less familiar nature. A short chronological record of the main events of his life, especially of his life in Oregon, will serve sufficiently as a basis for the events treated more fully. Some of the dates cannot be determined with exactness.

1841. Born in Indiana as Cincinnatus Hiner Miller. This was the date he gave, but various biographers have said that he lied, one of them placing the year of his birth as early as 1835.

1854. Arrived in Eugene City, Oregon, in a covered wagon.

1855–1857 In Northern California in the mines and living with the Indians. The youthful husband of a Modoc princess and the father of Calli Shasta, as romantically described by himself and quoted in the chapter of this book called “Squaw Wives and Squaw Men.”

1857–1858 Enrolled in Columbia College, Eugene City—located in the present College Crest district, on the hills above South Willamette Street. He lived on the southeast corner of what is now Fifth and Oak Streets. He was class valedictorian and wrote a poem. In his summer vacation he taught school near Vancouver, Washington.