Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 14.djvu/385



REMINISCENCES OF CAPT. W. P. GRAY 345

"I went to the river to take the ferry. I happened to meet my wife's adopted mother, who had just come over. I told her that I was going over to see Ocea and asked her to save me the trip by having Ocea get ready as soon as possible, so that we could be married that evening. She said it was im- possible. I told her I was used to doing the impossible and I would make all arrangements and be there that evening. The ferry quit running at 8 o'clock. I arranged with them to make an extra trip for us and promised them ten dollars an hour for whatever time it took after 8 o'clock. I hurried down town where I bought a wedding ring, hired the necessary cabs, se- cured a license, arranged with a preacher to be there and got Bob Bybee to stand up with me as best man. I went out to see how Ocea was getting along. I asked her if she was all ready to be married that night. I never saw any one more sur- prised. Her mother had thought it was a crazy notion of mine and decided not to tell Ocea anything about it. At first she said she couldn't possibly be married that night, but when I told her that the preacher would be there, the cabs were hired, the ferry would take us over and it would be very awk- ward to stop the proceedings, she decided we had better be married at once. She got Hannah Stone, who is now Mrs. Dr. Josephi, to act as bridesmaid.

"I had worked all summer at $150 a month and I never have had any use for money except to spend it. I always look at it in the same light as the manna that the Israelites had in cross- ing the desert, 'that it will spoil if you keep it.' I gave the preacher twenty dollars for tying the knot. I gave each of the hack men a five dollar tip. I saved enough money to pay our hotel bill and next morning- we started at 5 o'clock on the steamer Wilson G. Hunt, for Celilo. When we got to The Dalles, I discovered I had just $2.50 left. The Umatilla House ran a free bus, but I didn't think it would look well for a newly married couple to go in the free bus, so I called a hackman and when he let us off at the Umatilla house, I gave him the $2.50. There I was with a new wife and absolutely not a cent in my pocket, but the absence of money has never bothered me any