Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 23.djvu/398



348 CHARLES HENRY CAREY

copacy and the Board. His devotion to the interests of the Mission; the industry, zeal, prudence, decision and perseverance with which he has prosecuted the work as- signed him, are worthy of all praise. With the excep- tion of Mr. Brewer, farmer at the Balls, all the secular members of the mission have been honorably discharged. The mission property, excepting churches and parson- ages, with the necessary appendages, and the farm at the Balls, has all been disposed of, and so far as we are able to determine, with much judgment and propriety and to the best advantage of the mission. On account of the distance from civilization and the difficulty of obtaining supplies, it was judged necessary to retain the farm at the Balls for the use of the mission family ; and also with a view to directing the attention of the Christian Indians to agricultural pursuits. We are happy to learn the Brother Brewer is diligent and faithful in the work as- signed him, and that he is exerting a good influence upon his Indian neighbors.

The avails of the mission property in Oregon amount- ed to between twenty and thirty thousand dollars. A portion of this has been appropriated to the payment of discharged missionaries ; but the larger portion is secured to be paid in annual instalments, which, as they become due, will serve materially to lessen the amount to be drawn out of the treasury to meet the current expenses of that mission. Among the property disposed of was the "Manual Labor School" which has now become the "Oregon Institute." Should this institute secure the sympathies and receive the patronage of the enlarging community, as we sincerely hope it may, it will probably subserve the great purpose of education better than while it was under the exclusive management of the mission.

Having disencumbered the mission of its secular char- acter, and thus removed every plausible ground of sus- picion regarding the purity of our motives, it will be the policy of the Board, in future, to confine ourselves strictly