Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/138

 welcomed it as our home, & looked upon it with as much satisfaction, doubtless, as any prince ever did upon his new built palace. We entered it and blessed the Lord for his ten thousand mercies of a long, long, tedious and perilous journey, that removes us thousands of miles from the civilized & christianized world. The first three days were taken up in making ourselves as comfortable as circumstances would admit. The 4th day Br. Gray went about preparing the tools & I shouldered my axe, then the trial came. Will the Nez Perces chiefs break through a mountain of prejudices, prevailing among all Indian tribes, and strengthened with the growth of ages, & harden their hands with work. I put an axe upon the shoulder of my friend, Tack-en-su-a-tis, the chief so frequently spoken of in former letters, & told the other chiefs to follow me with their men. A shout echoed through the camp, & every countenance said yes. We were soon all at the timber hard at work. Being better acquainted with the use of the axe, the wife of Tack-en-su-a-tis soon relieved her husband from his awkwardness, and he, with the other chiefs and people, applied themselves diligently to carrying timber. I next requestd a number of pine logs for boards, from the Koos-Koos-ky 2 miles distant. I cut the logs 10 feet and with as much cheerfulness as though they were setting down to a meal of victuals, they rolled them upon poles, & 20 or 30 under each, soon had a sufficient quantity on the ground for doors window sash, floors, etc. Then two, one a chief, took hold of the pitsaw, a most difficult tool to handle, and never have I seen better boards produced in the same way. On the 23d of Dec we moved into our house, a part made comfortable. Br. Gray left on the 28 of Dec for Vancouver, to make arrangements for visiting the Flatheads. We have now, through the astonishing favor of a kind Providence, a house 18 by 42 completed, with the exception of 2 doors, 2 windows, & a part of the under floor. 18 feet of one end is devoted to ourselves, with cellar stove and 2 windows. The remaining 24, with chimney and 2 windows is a school room and place of worship. Posts grooved and filled with small timber split Roof