WORK ON A SHORT TOUR.
REV. MYRON EELLS, SKOKOMISH, WASH. TER.
We have been made sad by the death of one of our most prominent church members, John F. Palmer. He was at the time of his death working at a saw-mill, when he was accidentally knocked off from a platform, about ten feet below.
He was the first Indian to join this church. He lived, however, to see his wife and her two sisters, whom he brought up, members of the church; the oldest one married, and her daughter the first Indian child who received the rite of infant baptism. He was far ahead in many respects of any other of the Indians, especially in regard to old religious superstitions. While many of the Indians seem willing to give up their old ideas as a religion, they find it very difficult to get rid of a superstitious fear. He, however, seemed to have overcome this entirely. This was partly due to his early life. When he was about ten years old he went to live with a white family in this Territory. He afterwards spent several years on board a sailing vessel, and about twelve years ago he came to this reservation, where he served as interpreter ten years. He understood the Twana, Nisqually, Clallam, Russian and English languages, and could read and write the latter, though he never went to school more than about three weeks. Kind persons in the family in which he lived and on the ship taught him, and he had a library at the time of his death worth fifty or sixty dollars, and took several papers and magazines, both eastern and western, and even wrote a few articles for the papers.
“Jack at all trades and good at some,” was the pleasant way in which Dr. Schaff put it, when some of the students in the Theological Seminary at Hartford had done up some furniture for him to send to New Haven. I have often been reminded of this expression, and especially during a short tour I lately made to Dunginess. We missionaries have to be the first part of the sentence, and we console ourselves with the hope that the latter part may sometimes be true. When three miles from home, the first duty was to stop and attend the funeral of a white man who had recently died. Forty-five miles on, the evening of the next day until late at night was spent in assisting one of the Government employees in holding court over four Indians who had been drunk; a fifth had escaped to the British side, and was free from the trial. This kind of business occasionally comes in as an aid to the agent. I seldom have anything to do with it on the reservation, as the agent can attend to it; but when among Indians, off from the reservation, where neither of us can be more than once in six months or thereabouts, it sometimes saves him much trouble and expense, and seems to do as much good as a sermon. It is of but little use to preach to drunken Indians, and a little law sometimes helps the Gospel. The agent reciprocates by talking Gospel to them on the Sabbath on his trips.
On reaching Dunginess the afternoon was spent in introducing an Indian from British Columbia, who had taken me there in his canoe, to the Clallam Indians and the school, and in comforting two parents, Christian Indians, whose youngest child lay at the point of death. The next morning she died, and as no minister had ever been among these Indians at any previous funeral, they needed some instruction; so it was my duty to help dig the grave and make the coffin, comfort them, and attend the funeral in a snow-storm.
The Sabbath was spent in holding two services with them, one mainly a service of song; and as there was a part of the day not occupied, at the request of the whites near by, I gave them a sermon. The next day I found that “blue Monday” had to be adjourned. Years ago the Indians purchased their land, but owing to a mistake of the surveyor, it was necessary that the deeds should be made out again; so, in order to get all the Indians together who were needed, and the proper officer, I walked fourteen miles and rode six in a canoe, and then saw that nineteen deeds were properly signed, which required sixty-two signatures, besides the witnessing, acknowledging and filing of them, which required seventy-six names more. The plat of their town, Jamestown, was also filed and recorded, and all after half-past three o’clock. When this was done, I assisted the Indians to get two marriage licenses, when we went to the church, where I addressed them on two different subjects, after which the two weddings took place, and by nine o’clock we were done. The monotony of the next day was varied by a visit to the school, helping the chief to select a burying ground (for their dead had been buried in various places), a walk of ten miles, and a wedding of a white couple, who had been very kind to me in my work there, one of them being a member of our church.
On my way home, while waiting for the steamers to connect, I took a trip of about fifty miles to help in regard to the finishing of the Indian census of last year for General Walker and Major Powell, and then on my way home, by the kindness of the captain of the steamer, who waited half an hour for me, I was able to catch and take to the reservation the fifth Indian at Port Gamble who had been drunk, and had returned from the British side.
I have never had a vacation since I have been here, almost seven years, unless such things as these may be called vacations. They are recreation, work, and vacation, all at once.
While at Dunginess I learned one thing which somewhat pleased me. A few weeks before, a medicine man made a feast on Sabbath evening, and invited all the Indians to it. In connection with it there was also a large amount of their incantations. The feast was a bait, and the Indians went, the members of the church as well as the others leaving the evening service for it. Mr. Blakeslee, the school-teacher there, wrote me, as he felt very sad about it. On reaching the place, I found that on the same Sabbath evening, before the feast was over, those Christian Indians, feeling that they were doing wrong, left the place and went to one of their houses, where they confessed their sin and held a prayer meeting over it, and on the following Thursday evening, at the general prayer meeting, made a public statement of it. We could ask for nothing more, but could thank the Holy Spirit for inclining them thus to do, before any white person had spoken to them on the subject.