Page:The Souvenir of Western Women.djvu/185

Rh Mr. Douthit said promptly: "I will loan you a horse," and Dr. Alexander, who was present, added, "And I will loan you my wife's saddle."

Thus equipped the bachelor started out leading the horse, saddled and bridled, upon which to bring home a wife and save his land. For three weeks he wandered from valley to hamlet and from hamlet to hillside, wherever a wreath of curling smoke betrayed the presence of a pioneer's cabin, but no wife could he find, and at the end of the time he returned, dejected and disconsolate, wifeless, and, worse no doubt in his mind, to the extent of half his claim landless.

Mr. Douthit, in character and desires, belonged not to the age in which he lived, but to those elysian times which are yet to dawn upon the earth. He cared not for wealth. He wished only enough of this world's goods to meet the needs of himself and his family. He cared not for honors, save such as man gives to man out of the depths of his heart when he discovers in him the embodiment of honor. He loved his fellow man and sought to serve him as brother serves brothers, out of the fullness of brotherly kindness. His word was his bond, and those who knew him accepted it as such. He was an Odd Fellow, and served the order for one term as Grand Master of Oregon. By occupation a farmer, he loved the farm for its own sake. Agriculture he believed to be a high calling, one that brings man into the natural life where he lives simply and attains peace and happiness in the true sense. Every movement instituted to promote the well-being of the farming class received his hearty co-operation. For two years he was president of the State Agricultural Society, and subserved its interests with pleasure and fidelity. He was one of a committee of three appointed to select the lands given by the general government toward the maintenance of a State Agricultural College.

In projecting the first railroad in Oregon, there were two parties, known as the East Side and the West Side companies. Each put forth great efforts to secure the location of the road on its respective side of the Willamette River. While those of the West Side were doing much talking, Mr. Douthit, who championed the cause of the East Side, went quietly among the people and used his influence so effectively that he secured the location of the road on the East Side.

Possessed of that chivalry which is the Southern man's heritage, Mr. Douthit stood a friend and protector of women.

To attend the dying in their last hours was an office Mr. Douthit was called upon to fulfill; not alone to pray at their bedsides, but also to write their wills. In those days the wife was a nonentity in the eyes of the law, and was known in her husband's will as her husband saw fit to place her. On one occasion a man, knowing that death was very near, called Mr. Douthit to write his will. "Now," said the dying man, who was possessed of ample means, "I wish my will to be drawn up in this way: So long as my wife remains single she is to have half of my property; if she remarries she is to have nothing." "Did your wife not help you to acquire this prop-