Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/402

 trary, precisely his hardest labors were devoted to making his writings easy. But he had a scorn of those fluent phrasemongers, to whom words are a delight and thought and substance superfluous. Oregon's great editor worked hard—hard in his library learning; hard in his office writing; even harder revising and rewriting—and the result was clarity, soundness, accuracy and independence.

The three selections here given were written in 1888, 1894, and 1909 and represent in general the kinds of essays which, though written as journalism, have the closest approach to literature.

Death has removed another noted citizen of Oregon. Jesse Applegate bore a leading part in the settlement and making of Oregon; his individuality was a positive force; his generosity was proverbial, and his energy, though given often to eccentric courses, was as marked as his generosity and other virtues. As an original character he stood conspicuous, during forty years, in the life of Oregon, and he has an assured place in the history of those who came here as pioneers and laid the foundations of the state.

A Salem man writes to The Oregonian asking for a statement as to what year the Mongolian or Denny pheasant was introduced into Oregon, and as to the time during which it received continuous protection by the state. The history of this interesting and valuable game bird on this coast has never been written. It was imported by Judge O. N. Denny, and it has spread throughout Oregon and Washington until it is numbered by the thousands and probably hundreds of thousands. Some day, perhaps, its history will be traced. Meanwhile, the chief incidents in its career are of interest.