Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/252

244 , T. W. DAVENPORT. Christianity in the treatment of- the West Coast Indians, an opinion not shared by the white Christians of that region, who were, on that account, held to be but slightly advanced in the Christian scale. What Mr. Meacham ever did to earn his Eastern reputation, I have not heard. He was given to egotistical display and florid if not fanciful speech, but in works he was not ahead of others who made no pretentions to excellence in ideas or practice. I attended several of his meetings, at which he had gathered a goodly company of In- dians, mainly of the chiefs and headmen of the tribes in his district, but his purpose in holding such meetings was neither declared nor obvious. He did not propose anything new ; he did not exhort to a more thorough and faithful performance of the work expected to be performed by the agents, and the red brothers on exhibition had long before learned the utter folly of resistance to the white millions then reaching from sea to sea. The people of Oregon saw no rational object in Mr. Meacham 's movements or speeches and consequently they did not credit him with being a reformer. They did not think he was a misguided and honest enthusiast. I presume that Oregonians generally and people in the East, who were interested in the Indian problem, read in his "Wigwam and Warpath" how he refused the surgeon's pre- scription of brandy stimulus to revive him in his wounded condition, for the reason that he was opposed to the use of alcoholic liquors; that it was against his principles. His Eastern admirers, however, did not know that at that time and long before, at his Blue Mountain tavern, liquors were on sale to all comers. People unacquainted with such facts judged the Oregon people severely for their want of faith in Mr. Meacham, but really they were not to blame for there was nothing in his official career as Superintendent of Indian Af- fairs to warrant a different opinion. INDIAN LANGUAGES. Common people, even of the enlightened type, seldom feel the full significance of the language they employ to express