Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 23.djvu/133

 "The book as you will expect, is very imperfect in every respect but has been of much service We were compelled to press it forward as fast as we could & spent much less time upon it then was desirable & much less then we ought to make it as correct as we might; owing to the lateness of the season It was past the middle of Nov when I left home for Clear Water""

A plate showing two pages of this little 16-page book, the only publication by the missionaries in the Flat Head or Spokane language, photographed in 1892 by Mr. Pilling from the only complete copy known, one in the library of Tualatin Academy and Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon, is shown herewith.

Several imperfect copies, consisting of the last twelve pages, are in existence.

The book was printed in signatures of four pages each, and it was Mr. Fillings' impression that the first four pages were a kind of primer and so were probably nearly or quite all distributed quickly to the Indians.

Though the preparation of the Flat Head reading book had been assigned to Mr. Walker at the General Meeting of 1839, and it was set up and printed by him with Mr. Spalding's assistance, the writer feels compelled to attribute the authorship of the book to his coadjutor, Rev. Gushing Eells, after reading a long letter written by Mr. Walker from Tshimakain, Oct. 1841, in which he repeatedly admits the difficulty he finds in acquiring the language and reducing it to writing and in which he says, referring to the harmonious relationship existing between himself and Mr. Eells:

"But I am happy to say that as a general thing we agree & if there is any point where we have different views we can agree to disagree Probably there is no point where we disagree so much as on the language But here I have given him my full consent to go on & write the language & I will submit & I think I ought to as he has had a better education then I have & is far better acquainted with the phylosophy of language

I am still very ignorant about the language & am at