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 he went

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, to CaliforDia and attended the Liueoln Giammar school, of San Francisco and the Grammar School of Sauta Clara. Ileturniu}^ to Ore>,'ou iu i870, lit resided with liis parents on a farm near Brownsville until 1875, wbeu he moved to Poitland, where he has since resided. In 1870 he entered the Portland High School and graduated first iu a class of thirteen in 1878, be- ing selected by them as valedictorian, and he is at present the President of the alumni of t'^at institution. He at once commenced the study of law with the well-knoAMi firm of Thayer it Williams, of Portland, and was admitted to the bar in 1880, meanwhile serving for a few months as Private Secre- tary to Governor Thayer, which position he resigned in December, 1878. At the general election in 1882 he was elected County Schtjol Superintend- ent for Multnomah county on the Republican ticket by about 14:50 majority, his opponent being the joint nominee of the Democratic and ludepeuileut parties. He is now acting as the attorney in Multnomah and Columbia counties tor the State Board of School Land Commissioners. He is build- ing up a very lucrative practice in Portland, and has gained the respect and good will of a host of friends and acquaintances. Mr. Paxton is both a student and a thinker. He has great force and vigor intellectually and physically and extraordinary working ability. He is a man of pronounced and positive opinions, and is possessed of an erect, diguitied bearing, and is a ready and forcible speaker. His height is about five feet ten inches, and his weight one hundred and fifty pounds. His head is large and well- shaped, with prominent forehead and deep-set blue eyes, auburn hair, and heavy brown beard and mustache. He is considered good looking and is a favorite in society. Our lady readers will be interested to learn that Mr. Paxton is unmarried.

PROFESSOR JOHN M. GARRISON,

Who during the past few years has gained an enviable reputation through- out the State as a teacher of penmanship, was born in Atchinson county, Missouri, September 25, 1845, and with his parents moved to Oregon in 1846 and settled near Amity, in Yamhill county, where his father took up a tract of land. His early life was spent on the farm, attending the district schools when at odd times there was one in session. In 1800 he entered the Willamette University at Salem and graduated from that institution in the class of '60 with the degree of A. B. During the next five years he devoted his attention to teaching school, three years of the time being spent in Sa- lem and two years in Corvallis. In 1869 he received the degree of .\. M. at the Willamette University. Having concluded to adopt the teaching of penmanship as a profession. Prof. Garrison at once set about perfecting himself in that particular department of education, which, as every intelli- gent person knows, has too little attention paid to it in the common school system of the present day. Prof. Garrison therefore commenced the forma- tion of classes in penmanship in the leading institutions of learning iu Ore- gon and W^ashington Territory, and success crowned his efforts from their infancy, nntil to-day he is scarcely able to fill his engagements. His system is a thorough one from its rudiments to the close, and scholars under his instruction almost invariably make not only astonishing and rapid, init also