Page:History of Oregon Literature.djvu/457

 biography, they have guessed, sometimes, she observes, under and sometimes over. On the catalogue cards in public libraries it is sometimes given, but that is a guess also. "It was," she says, "in the 60's. . . . The only 'dates' I know anything about are those wrapped in fondant and the ones I faithfully keep—when I can be persuaded to make them! It is a part of my religion that if we did not celebrate birthdays, there would be no old age."

Her early days at La Grande and in the Grand Ronde Valley were described at some length by Dr. J. B. Horner in his Oregon Literature, likewise with some guessing and with a confusion of her childhood period and her later period as a married woman there. In his appreciative sketch he romantically emphasized her horseback riding. "On her swift steed she swept over the valley and drank in the poetry of the scenes, the anthem of the winds, and the voice of the thunder as it broke through the mountain gorge." Recently she re-read the account in his book, in which he gave her much praise, and says of these early equestrian activities:

I have been looking over some old things, including Mr. Horner's second edition of Oregon Literature. I was greatly amused to find myself riding horseback as a child in the Grand Ronde Valley. I never rode until 1886, after my return to the Valley with my husband, where we lived for a short time before coming to the Sound late in 1888. (Mr. Horner has it 1882). After learning how to ride, I rode twice daily while in the Grand Ronde Valley and for many years after coming to the Sound. Mr. Horner was heavenly kind to me and I loved him for his kindness, and am so happy that he finally called upon me the summer before he