Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/424



396 EZRA FISHER

Rock Island, 111., March 22d, 1845. Dear Br. Hill:

I received the commission dated Feb. 1st and 28th, and read it with mingled emotions of pleasure and regret.

By that it appears there is some little misunderstanding be- tween you and me relative to the time when my quarterly re- ports become due. I know the commission under which I have been laboring the last nine months was dated the 1st of May; but, my time of service under the former appoint- ment of six months not having expired till the fifteenth of June, I have made all my quarterly reports to correspond with that date. Hence my quarterly report which you ex- pected to be due the first of Feb. was not due till the 15th of March. Yet, not having heard from you after my inquiry of January 10th, I prepared my report one day before the time in order to get it into the mail at as early a date as practicable, and on that evening the commission appointing me a missionary to Oregon arrived, in which you stated that you would hold back the draft of $300 a few days. I greatly hope that I shall find it in the office on the arrival of the next mail, as the time has now arrived that traveling is tolerably good and I have exhausted all my pecuniary means in the preparation for the journey at a great sacrifice of my prop- erty, and that cheerfully, and have already incurred as many debts as I dare till the draft arrives; yet I have to buy all my flour, some clothing and other articles which must be procured before we start. You may judge what my anxiety must be on the arrival of every mail when I find that it con- tains nothing for me. I wrote a letter and put it in the hands of Br. Byron of Dubuque, which you have undoubtedly re- ceived before this.

I forgot to state the sum which will be due me on the first of April, but you will see that it will be $29.00, by a reference to my report. I have made arrangements with Mr. Napoleon B. Buford to take the draft out of the post office and order it paid in his own name instead of mine. When you receive