Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/364

 and Mrs. Coon, however, sent him back to Goldendale with his mind widened, stimulated and disciplined and with his ambitions to write burning brighter than ever. He always gratefully remembered the Coons, who were later members of his congregation at Hood River.

Upon his return to Goldendale, according to his sister:

"He began studying the history and traditions of the Northwestern Indians. He had always been deeply interested in ancient history, and found himself fascinated by the weird tales and legends the old Indians recited of their dim and almost forgotten past. As these were unfolded to him, he felt himself called upon to gather the fragments that remained in the fast passing tribes, and save what could yet be learned of the history of the Western Indians. He overlooked no opportunity of interviewing aged Indians and finding those who were the last remnant of tribes that had almost passed out of existence. Whenever a rumor reached him that an old Indian might be found in some far distant tepee, no matter how isolated the village might be from civilization, he spared no effort to locate him and gather all that lingered in the old man's memory. No endeavor was too hard if at the end of the trail he found a representative of some old tribe, who remembered fragments of talks before the campfires, fantastic legends told by his forefathers, tales of old kings and councilors, mighty warriors and their conquests, that still burned as memories of the time when he was a youthful warrior. As the years went on, the desire grew more and more to preserve all these bits of history relating to the past of a disappearing race and weave them into a form of literature for coming generations."

This was the work that was interrupted by his conversion.

Goldendale became the county-seat of Klickitat