INTRODUCTORY TO A FRIEND. "What is a book? Let affection tell; A tongue to speak for those who absent dwell, Which envious distance would in vain deny. "Formed to convey like an electric chain Corvallis, July 7, 1899. 851109 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION The men and women who made Oregon have already produced more genuine literature than did the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution. A remarkable people-the extract of the greatest nations-had possessed and planted the new land. They gave to the West their best thoughts; and these thoughts more than any other influence shaped the lives, moulded the character and determined the future of the present population. Therefore, these sentiments appeal to us, for they have been woven into our being. They are common property, bequeathed for the inspiration, enjoyment and edification of promising children and busy men and women. Hence it is patriotic and proper to familiarize ourselves with these sturdy Oregon thoughts, clothed sometimes plainly, but yet in the best garb that plain men and women could give them. However, beyond a crude and imperfect collection of excerpts from the writings of these people, published a few years ago by the author of this volume, no attempt has been made to place before the public any exhibit of their literature. The ready sale that attended the first edition, and the demand that apparently exists for a more pretentious work on the subject, occasioned the present publication. In this new edition the scope of work has been so increased as to include contributions from gifted writers who have more recently come into prominence on account of use of choice English as it is spoken and written in the extreme West. But be it said that the interesting task of selecting nuggets amidst a Klondyke of literary gems was somewhat incumbered with the constant fear that in the delightful search many of the most valuable specimens may have been overlooked. Bearing this in mind, the author believes that enough have been gathered and are here presented to convince the reader that in the realm of literature, no state so young as Oregon has done better. J. B. H. Oregon Literature Long ago the scholars of the East passed the lamp of learning from Rome to England, and from England westward to Boston, the front door of America. From Boston the lamp lighted the way of the pioneer across mountain chains, mighty rivers, and far-reaching plains, till the radiance of its beams skirted the golden shores of our majestic ocean. Then it was that the song of the poet and the wisdom of the sage for the first time blended in beautiful harmony with the songs of the robin, the lark, and the linnet of our valleys. These symphonies floated along on zephyrs richly laden with aromas fresh from field and flower and forest, and were wafted heavenward with the prayers of the pioneer to mingle forever in adoration to the God of the Land and the Sea. This was the origin and the beginning of Oregon literature. INFLUENCE OF PIONEER LIFE. A fearless people among savages, the Oregon pioneers surmounted every obstacle, for they had graduated from the hard training school of the plains, and had suffered severe discipline known only to the early settler. Hon. George H. Williams, Attorney-General of President Grant's Cabinet, said: "When the pioneers arrived here they found a land of marvelous beauty. They found extended prairies, with luxuriant verdure. They found grand and gloomy forests, majestic rivers, and mountains covered with eternal snow; but they found no friends to greet them, no homes to go to, nothing but the genial heavens and the generous earth to give them consolation and hope. I cannot tell how they lived; nor how they supplied their numerous wants of family life. All these things are mysteries to everyone, excepting to those who can give their solution from actual experience." But of this one thing be assured, under these trying circumstances, life with them grew to be real, earnest, and simple. They were fearless, yet God-fearing; no book save the Bible, Walker's Dictionary, Pilgrim's Progress, and a few others of like sort-solid books, solid thoughts, solid men-three elements that enter into substantial literature. Immigration steadily increased and the settlements gradually grew, so that all the woods and all the valleys became peopled. Only the bravest dared to undertake the long journey across the plains-for the plains, like the battlefield, develop character-and only the wisest and the strongest survived; hence Oregon was early peopled with the strongest, the wisest and the bravest ; the Romans of the new race. And while there may have been no Moses, no Caesar, no Cromwell among them, there was a generous distribution of men like Joe Meek, Gray the historian, United States Senator Nesmith, Governor Abernethy, General Joseph Lane, Governor Whiteaker, Doctor McLoughlin, and Applegate, the sage of Yoncalla-men of warm heart, active brain, skillful hand, and sinewy arm. And the women were the daughters of the women who came in the Mayflower, and they were like unto them. They spun and they wove, and in any home might have been seen a Priscilla with her wheel and distaff as of old. And, although the legends of our Aldens and Priscillas remain as yet unwritten and unsung, Oregon will some day raise up a Longfellow who will place these treasures among the classics of the age. INFLUENCE OF SCENERY. Critics tell us that literature is rather an image of the spiritual world than the physical-of the internal rather than the external-that mountains, lakes, and rivers are after all only its scenery and decorations, not its substance and essence. It is true that a man is not |