Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/276

 252 T. W. Davenport. are not intentional demagogues of any degree, but along with and enlivening their avocations is an emanation of mind and feeling which molds and modifies public opinion and con- tinually makes for righteousness. When viewed with ref- erence to the influence they exert upon society, such persons are prominences in the social landscape, but we Americans have become so accustomed to rating men by their success in partisan politics, speech-making and egotism, that we overlook this important part of the commonwealth. If the question were put to the school children, as to the principal men of a county or State, they would look in the official directory to see who had been elected to fill the public offices, when everybody knows that, in the main, the offices have been filled by machine methods and from among those who, from one selfish reason or another, aspire to office. If this state- ment is doubted by the reader let him ponder the assertion, often heard, that the reason why politics and government have become so corrupt is because the best men will not take office ; which is the same as saying that they will not contest with the self-seekers in the political arena. There are times, however, when public affairs get so insufferably corrupt that the people take a spasm of virtue or common sense, jump the partisan game and elect men who are faithful public servants. But so far in our political history such spasms have not been durable. So, the reader may be informed that men who are mentioned herein as influential factors of civilization, are rated independently of the official standard. William Greenwood, of Hbwell Prairie, was a man about whom people delighted to gather, not because he was an edu- cator of the class of Waldo and Applegate, but from a peculiar and pleasing dignity of manner and a large hospitality that made his household an agreeable place of sojourn. Abler men than he met at his board to discuss public questions, while he, an illiterate Virginia gentleman, answered vagarias with smiles, and whose corn-field sagacity generally pointed the right way. I recollect of meeting a goodly number of Republicans at his house for the purpose of considering