Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/76

Rh by Nature long before the advent of the white man in America. Pulpit Rock, which is about twelve feet high, overlooks an open air auditorium of sloping ground where the Indians assembled to hear the missionaries preach, much after the manner of the Greeks who gathered about the Pnyx to hear Demosthenes deliver his orations. This ancient pulpit was, therefore, very sacred to the more devout Indians. Seated on Pulpit Rock, as shown in the accompanying view, is Joseph Luxillo, an Indian who was baptized by the missionaries with water from Wascopam Spring and who later became an influential preacher on the Simcoe Reservation. He was one of the many Indians who made pilgrimages to this shrine to renew their vows long after Wascopam Mission had been abandoned by the whites.

'Marriage Rite First Observed in Willamette Valley.On Sunday, July 16, 1837, religious service was held in the beautiful grove near the Lee Mission. Jason Lee delivered a sermon on "The Propriety of Marriage, and Duties Devolving upon the Married." In conclusion he added, "What I urged by precept, I am about to enforce by example;" then he offered his arm to Miss Anna Marie Pittman; and Rev. Daniel Lee read the service for two couples instead of one, as Cyrus Shepard and Miss Susan Downing were also joined then in wedlock. Yet another wedding occurred the same day of two people living on French Prairie; thus the marriage rite was first observed in the Willamette Valley.