Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/268

 260, T. W. DAVENPORT. His hair was cut close to the skin, and his scalp found covered with a festering mass of dandruff, blood and matter, alive with lice, some of them of enormous size. An application of shaving soap and warm water cleansed it; my wife put a cap on him that she had constructed during the operation, and Charlie was helped from the floor, very different in his mood. His antagonism went with his hair seemingly. Con- trary to my expectation, he showed no sign of retaliation or revenge. "Cheer up, Charlie, we are going to make you over into a white boy. You can eat at the same table with us and be the same as my boy." I soon learned by observation that he had a great amount of pride of personal consequence. According to his infant ideas, the brave, the warrior stood at the head of creation, and this was borne out by his head, which was high in the center of the crown, showing to a phrenologist firmness and self- esteem; and lower down the development indicating large combativeness, secretiveness and destructiveness. He had also good intellectual faculties, was not wanting in affection, and while a little slow of temperament, was apt to learn. There was no use, therefore, of appealing to such an organization with the "beauties of holiness" to influence his conduct. If the truth and a proper regard for the welfare of others coulrl not be got into his mind as especially characteristic of the warrior, the brave, his advance in civilization must be hope- less. To make of right doing a chivalrous function, consonant with his rude ideas of personal worth, was my purpose. So, an untruthful person was denounced as a coward; a rude, unkind person, as an inferior sort of being, who did not belong to the true and the brave. A brave boy dared to do right, to shield the weak and helpless, to put them on their feet and help them to an equal chance in life. This was the kind of tuition, and while he stayed in my family it bore fruit. He could be relied upon to tell the truth though dam- aging to himself. He would care for our two little girls and obey me without hesitation and with seeming pleasure to