Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 37.djvu/139

 first timber closely laid, then a layer of grass, upon which is a thick layer of clay. All the timber and stone for the building was brought by the Indians, & much of the labor of filling and putting on the roof. Until the place of worship was ready, we assembled for morning & evening prayers & worship on the Sabbath in the open air, & sometimes, before we closed the exercises, our bare heads would be covered with snow. We might as well hold back the Sun in his march through the heavens, as hold back the minds of this people from religious inquiries. This & the constant intercourse with them in every kind of work, compelled me to use every effort to acquire their language. Frequently while putting up our house, a word must be had, or a stick of timber fall at the risk of life; and on the Sabbath while going over some event recorded in the bible, a new word must be learned or the story must stop half told. The natives, however, are indefatiguable & very ingenious in their efforts to make us acquainted with their language, and I am now enabled to converse quite intelligibly on any subject. My manner of preaching is as follows: We have represented in paintings, several events recorded in the Scriptures, such as the passage through the Red Sea, the crucifixion of Christ, etc. These I explain first to my crier. I then go over with the subject to the people, the crier correcting my language & carrying out the history, but this only forms a starting point for these inquiring minds. They return to their tents, & sometimes spend the whole night in perfecting what they but partially understood on the Sabbath. If one is to leave camp for some distant part of the country, my crier and the paintings are sent for, and the whole night spent in going over the subjects to prepare himself to instruct others. Several are already preaching in different parts of the nation. I am frequently astonished at the correctness & rapidity with which several will go through with many events recorded in the Scriptures. But no history is listened to with such profound attention as the story of the cross of Christ. A paper with His name upon it, is clasped to the bosom with all the apparent affection of a mother embracing a darling child. On the 27 of January, Mrs. S. opened her school, & here a scene commenced, more interesting, if possible, than any we had before witnessed. Nothing but actual observation can give an