Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 7.pdf/278

272 Let me say in closing to all dwelling within the old Oregon Country that whene'er you tread within the limits where now rests the body of Jason Lee, remember that by his deeds he honored the Oregon Country, and by his sacred remains he now hallows it.

Someone has said that a man's life history should not be written until fifty years after his death—meaning, I suppose, that if he had any animosities or imperfections during his lifetime they should be permitted to die out and be forgotten. Besides, the progressive and far-seeing statesman, the man who is ahead of his day and generation, is not always appreciated until after events have justified his course. Be that as it may, while there was no lack of appreciation during his lifetime of the man whose memory we honor to-day, and no reason for postponing this event, still it is certain that as time rolls on he looms as a larger and yet more important figure on the horizon of the history of the Pacific Northwest.

As we stand reverently near the dust that was once Jason Lee, I wish to say that, speaking in behalf of the State of Washington, her Governor, and the Washington State Pioneer Association, I am honored in having been authorized to bear a message to you this evening.

We honor the memory of Jason Lee because of his noble, pure and consecrated life, the best years of which were given to the perilous duties of a missionary to our land before it could boast of many white settlers; because he it was who preached the first sermon from the Word of God ever uttered within the bounds of what is now the State of Washington—when his was literally the voice of "one