Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/70

Rh First School in the Pacific Northwest. We now consider for the first time the education of children in the Oregon Country. The first school in the Pacific Northwest was taught by John Ball, of Boston, Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Dartmouth College. Mr. Ball arrived with Nathaniel Wyeth at Fort Vancouver in November, 1832. Here, at the request of Doctor McLoughlin, he taught school beginning the following January 1. Later he was a prosperous farmer at Clatsop, where he died in 1890, aged 94. In a letter to Elwood Evans, author of the "History of the Northwest," Mr. Ball gave an account of that school:

"The scholars came in talking their respective languages—Nez Perce; Chinook Klickitat, etc. I could not understand them, and when I called them to order, there was but one who understood me. As I had come from a land where discipline was expected in school management, I could not persuade myself that I could accomplish anything without order. I therefore issued my orders, and to my surprise, he who understood, joined issue with me upon my government in the school. While endeavoring to impress upon him the necessity of discipline and order in the school, and through him making such necessity appreciated by his associates, Dr. McLoughlin, chief factor, entered. To the Doctor I explained my difficulty. He investigated my complaint, found my statements correct, and at once made such an example of the refractory boy that I never afterward experienced